Woman burned alive for being a witch

[uncanny474]

Religious people doing stupid things that end up hurting/killing people?

Wow...that's SO new!

Come off it. It's not the religions that make people do stupid things--religions are just an excuse for them to do something they would have done anyway.

If power invariably corrupts, then I think it says something about the species being given that power, even moreso than it does the nature of power itself. People have shown me time and time again that they will act horrible to each other at the slightest provocation. I can't believe y'all are surprised.

 

[Slycne]

But seriously, 14.000$ is crap =/
For something of that scale, I'd say she deserved a lot more. I mean her mother just got burned alive in front of her and there giving her just enough to buy a car.

The average yearly income of someone in Nepal is ~$200. So $14,000 is actually a pretty substantial amount there.

 

[Random berk]

Yeah, a while back the Nepalese people wouldn't let Westerners into the mountains to take mitigating action against GLOF's at Tsho Rolpa. The shamans told them that the spirits of the mountains would be angered at the foreigner's presence. These witch doctors should be stamped out, they do way too much harm with their mystical bullshit, and prevent people from being helped by actual good ideas.

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I don't mind religion in general but it's things like these that sometimes make me hate it. People killing other people over pure fiction. And in such a horrible way. Bah! Makes me sick.

Don't get me wrong. Religion has it's good things too. Acts like these just sometimes make those good things hard to see.

People do stupid shit constantly, religion is merely a wayward justification. If religion weren't there, they'd find some other justification to be stupid assholes.

Would it be better if the woman was burned for monetary or political purposes (which I suspect are closer to the true reasons)? I somehow doubt she or her children would care.

Without religion, it would be one less crazy justification for killing people, and that's the whole point. Also, your assertion that without religion people would still kill each other just the same is downright false, as evidenced by the statistical fact that the least religious countries in, at least, western society, have the lowest criminal rates in the entire world.

The bolded part probably means that you either haven't been around religious people enough or are religious yourself and are rationalising your beliefs. Religions shape people's perception of reality, don't you dare tell anyone they're "merely" anything.

The PRC is living proof that you don't need religion for groups of people to kill each other, unless I missed that part where the Chinese students were killed by the Army because of something other than them advocating for the fifth modernization [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Modernization] and other government reforms.

 

[Double A]

Did she turn anyone into a newt?

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/18/world/asia/nepal-witchcraft-burning/index.html

I hope those responsible are burned at the stake themselves. They killed the woman right in front of her daughter.

Beat you to it by 5 hours.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.351436-Nepalese-woman-accused-of-witchcraft-burned-alive#13907511

The response time sure is slow around here.

The other forums I go to take at least a day or two more to find the articles. We're pretty good here, relative to others anyway.

 

[Imper1um]

At least they got a million rupees. Now, they can afford that bigger Rupee bag!

 

[Siege_TF]

So people kill from religious beliefs, without having religious beliefs? Sounds interesting. Good luck naming examples.

The Lord's Resistance Army
"Although the LRA has been regarded primarily as a Christian militia, the LRA reportedly evokes Acholi nationalism on occasion, but many observers doubt the sincerity of this behaviour and the loyalty of Kony to either ideology."

In other words a bunch of murderous rebels operating under the guise of upholding religious beliefs, but really just being a bunch of murderous rebels.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm just waiting for this to happen in America. Then we'll be able to say with complete seriousness: ''AMERICANS''.

Dont be ridiculous Americans would never burn anyone for being a witch. they do communists and black people!

And homosexuals, don't forget them.

and muslims, and "terrorists" too.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

Religious people doing stupid things that end up hurting/killing people?

Wow...that's SO new!

Irreligious people making blanket statements regarding religious people based on outliers/fundamentalists?

Wow... that's SO edgy!

Spoiler

Except it's not and making such claims actually heightens the bad results of religion

 

[Helmholtz Watson]

I don't mind religion in general but it's things like these that sometimes make me hate it. People killing other people over pure fiction. And in such a horrible way. Bah! Makes me sick.

Don't get me wrong. Religion has it's good things too. Acts like these just sometimes make those good things hard to see.

People do stupid shit constantly, religion is merely a wayward justification. If religion weren't there, they'd find some other justification to be stupid assholes.

Would it be better if the woman was burned for monetary or political purposes (which I suspect are closer to the true reasons)? I somehow doubt she or her children would care.

Without religion, it would be one less crazy justification for killing people, and that's the whole point. Also, your assertion that without religion people would still kill each other just the same is downright false, as evidenced by the statistical fact that the least religious countries in, at least, western society, have the lowest criminal rates in the entire world.

The bolded part probably means that you either haven't been around religious people enough or are religious yourself and are rationalising your beliefs. Religions shape people's perception of reality, don't you dare tell anyone they're "merely" anything.

The PRC is living proof that you don't need religion for groups of people to kill each other, unless I missed that part where the Chinese students were killed by the Army because of something other than them advocating for the fifth modernization [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Modernization] and other government reforms.

Did I so much as imply that religion is the only reason for which people kill each other? Point me to the place where I did so. Ridiculous and dangerous ideas aren't limited to religion to be sure, but a lot of them are covered and protected by it.

No, but you come off as sounding like you believe that religion is the primary cause of such behavior, which is nonsense. As I just pointed out, the PRC has proven full well that you don't need religion to commit monstrous acts.


Tell me, are you also against the concept of money? What about the consumption of alcohol? Do you oppose that as well, seeing as how it has ruined families and helps cause abusive parents/spouses? What about the ability to have a political opinion and vote? I mean those two things(political opinion and voting) have lead to war in the past, so why not get rid of those as well? The reason why I'm asking this is because it seems like you only want to focus on the negative side of religion and overlook the good that it does, and if that approach is applied to other things, than why not rally against the concept of money, drinking alcohol, having a political opinion and the ability to vote? Haven't the things I listed also cause problems in this world?

I think you need to take a more moderate/balance outlook on religion.

 

[Ithera]

Simple, superstitious and uneducated people running amok. Fear mongering at it's finest, yet it may have been nothing but a tool for personal revenge? As long as poverty and ignorance prevail this brand of stupidity will flourish.

However, a PhD doesn't seem to a guarantee better behavior. No doubt the Escapist can make a extensive list of "intelligent" people prone to mass hysteria and flights of fancy.

 

[TheRookie8]

meh shit happens ... it's a fucked up world whatta you gonna do

you can't stop people from doing horrible and stupid things... at least not short of committing some horrible acts yourself to force them

You can stop them. Some people don't want to. Others just don't know. But you can.

You can't choose how someone will act, but you can choose how to react.

I'm a little hazy about committing horrible acts to stop horrible acts...that statement seems too general, and a person can choose not to act in that manner.

 

[ScreamingNinja]

Don't be a witch then! Problem solved.

 

[debrox]

I don't mind religion in general but it's things like these that sometimes make me hate it. People killing other people over pure fiction. And in such a horrible way. Bah! Makes me sick.

Don't get me wrong. Religion has it's good things too. Acts like these just sometimes make those good things hard to see.

People do stupid shit constantly, religion is merely a wayward justification. If religion weren't there, they'd find some other justification to be stupid assholes.

Would it be better if the woman was burned for monetary or political purposes (which I suspect are closer to the true reasons)? I somehow doubt she or her children would care.

Without religion, it would be one less crazy justification for killing people, and that's the whole point. Also, your assertion that without religion people would still kill each other just the same is downright false, as evidenced by the statistical fact that the least religious countries in, at least, western society, have the lowest criminal rates in the entire world.

The bolded part probably means that you either haven't been around religious people enough or are religious yourself and are rationalising your beliefs. Religions shape people's perception of reality, don't you dare tell anyone they're "merely" anything.

Correlation does not equal causation. Leave the use of statistical argument to the big boys who understand it.

edit:
Also, why are there so many people cracking unfunny jokes over this event? The internet always does this unfunny feat at the sight of legitimate tragedy. A follow up is how anyone could laugh at them.

 

[aashell13]

So, to recap: a shaman accused this lady of being a witch, so they burned her?

Is a little consistency in occult policy too much to ask? why not burn both, or neither?

 

[cswurt]

What's the difference between a shaman and a witch?
They're both bullshit


... Except shamans can turn into ghost wolves.

 

[JaceArveduin]

And the crow calls the raven black!!! A SHAMAN accused the woman of being a witch...teh feck?!

Wow, truly terrible.

yeah. it kind of funny that witchdoctors are ok but witches are not.

I'm glad I'm not the only one to catch that.