Christianity or the Occult? Emerging Trends in the African Diaspora

A senior Roman Catholic scholar launched an attack on a 'sensationalist' response to what is being loosely called 'witchcraft' in Britain, when he addressed an international symposium at Westminster Central Hall yesterday (Monday 22 May), hosted by Jesus House for All Nations, flagship church of the African-derived pentecostal Redeemed Christian Church of God denomination.

The symposium ‘Christianity or the Occult? Emerging Trends in the African Diaspora’ was organized to provide a broader context for the ‘strangeness’ of cultural phenomena – including alleged witchcraft - being imported into Britain with migration. It was supported by African Caribbean Evangelical Alliance (ACEA), the Metropolitan Police, Church Mission Society and Churches Together in England MECA division, and chaired by Rt Revd Pete Broadbent, Bishop of Willesden and Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society.

Professor Anthony Gittins, Bishop Ford Professor of Mission Theology at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago who spent ten years as a missionary in a Sierra Leone village said: ‘Witchcraft is part of life. It should not be sensationalised, exoticised or romanticised. It is driven by fear and the fragmentation of social relationships. It’s something that the community can handle relatively easily. Churches and other agencies can do great harm or great good in dealing with it.

‘Witchcraft is psychic rather than physical although the accused are actual people. It is not to be confused with satanism or ritualistic child abuse. The rush to judgement about other cultures is premature, immoral and inexcusable.’

Irukwu called on government to reveal the extent of the problem to end speculation. Research into the extent of ritual abuse of children, particularly within the African community in Britain had not been published – despite a promise to do so four months ago. The research was commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills (DIES) last year, who did not accept an invitation to attend the symposium. A spokeswoman for the DfES had said earlier: ‘We have no firm publication date.’

Said Irukwu: ‘It is extremely important to have this research published. We don’t know the truth and real extent of what we are dealing with, and rumours and confusion are growing, threatening to stigmatise all African-derived churches.’

Gittins and Irukwu shared a panel with Angus Stickler the award-winning journalist who broke the original story of the link between ‘Child B’ and ritualistic abuse in Angola for the BBC Today Programme.

Irukwu commended Stickler for his ‘bravery’, although the award-winning investigative journalist was criticised from the audience for his ‘brand of journalism’. This ‘made strange’ any cultural phenomena with which it was unfamiliar – and then generalized from the particular. Another participant said it was not true to say, as Stickler had done, that ‘most African churches’ in Britain practised a mix of Christianity and traditional practices.

‘It was important to throw light on what’s happening, and come out in the open to tackle it’, said Irukwu who chairs a denomination of more than 200 African-derived pentecostal congregations. ‘Government and media both claim to have consulted widely on the subject, and yet at no time have I or RCCG churches been approached in their research.’

Of 8,500 allegations of child abuse per year in London, only 51 in the last five years had concerned what police call ‘faith crimes’ of this nature – with just eight convictions in all, Detective Constable Jason Morgan from the Metropolitan Police’s Project Violet had told the sympsosium.

Britain needed to get involved with its African-led churches as they stood poised to make a major contribution to the life of the nation, Irukwu added.

Most African-derived churches – of which there are now around a thousand in Britain – could offer stability, inclusiveness and advocacy at a time when government is seeking solutions to inner-city chaos, Irukwu said.

Irukwu, a former investment banker from Nigeria who was educated on the Isle of Wight and read law at Warwick University, described some of the trends in the emerging diaspora churches. ‘Many of the African-derived churches have grown to affect their community through social action, and relevance. The new trend of African Christianity can be described using words such as vibrant, youthful, engaging and inclusive.

‘I cannot speak for all the African-origin churches in the UK, but I can speak on behalf of over 200 congregations that I oversee here in the UK and Ireland. And where some still are trying to combine traditional and cultural African beliefs with biblical Christian principles, most like ours are following only one doctrine and that is the doctrine of Christ which means love of neighbour and nothing else.’

‘I cannot dispute the fact that there are occult practices taking place in some so-called churches today, and I am repulsed when I hear some of the stories. It is our resolute determination to take a lead in helping our whole community to live and practice just what the Bible says and to follow Christ’s leadership.’

He called on government to consult more widely with the right people in the African community who had the widest access. The group Africans United Against Child Abuse has just received £290,000 from government sources to carry out an advocacy programme despite being unknown to perhaps the biggest single bloc of African-derived churches.

Other speakers included Dennis Tongoi, Africa Region Director for the Church Mission Society, and Professor Paul Gifford of SOAS. A special panel on government child safeguarding initiatives included Marcia Da Costa, Chair of the Metropolitan Police Child Safeguarding Advisory Committee and David Pearson, Executive Director of Churches Child Protection Advisory Service.

The newly-formed Congolese Pastorship UK (PACORU) tabled its new Membership and Practice Regulations – a response to recent publicity about ritual child abuse.

Pastor Jean Bosco Kanyemesha, Founder of London Fire Church in Walthamstow, spoke about the ‘infiltration of impostors and traditional healers’ into the church which had aroused ‘major concern’ among the pastoral community within the U.K and in Congo.

‘The information produced by the press is a real threat and concern to our community. We still live today with the impact of it in our daily church activities,’ he told the symposium.

‘We have therefore sent the tape [of the BBC documentary] to the head office of the Revival Church of Congo, and investigations with the police are in process regarding the person involved in the last BBC documentary (Witch Child), made by Dr Richard Hoskins. This issue has been an immense shock for our whole community. A true disappointment, especially as pastors are seen as ‘spiritual fathers’ in the community.

‘Because the church plays a vital role in the everyday life of our community, it is really important society does not stigmatise us all.’