Accused witch burned alive in Papua New Guinea

Just another day in Paradise.

Unspeakable. Witches, desert djinns, evil spirits, Satan etc. should be in the dustbin of history. These beliefs need to be wiped out with proper education.

"We are in the 21st century and this is totally unacceptable," Commissioner Kulunga said in a statement. He suggested courts be established to deal with sorcery allegations, as an alternative to villagers dispensing justice.

Oh, the irony. Apparently Commissioner Kulunga doesn't actually understand what it means to live in the 21st Century.

Courts?!

(Psst!! Commissioner, sorcery isn't real!)

While we in the advanced world are worried about the most intricated applications of political correctness, in other parts of the world they are still burning witches.

One world? Pipedream.

This is just sickening... I wonder what else they get up to that isn't reported. God, you'd think some parts of the world still lived in the Middle Ages.

“We are in the 21st century and this is totally unacceptable,”

Sadly, no your country is not.

He suggested courts be established to deal with sorcery allegations,

You mean your country has no courts to deal murder? Sorcery is irrelevant.

That is so messed up. They need leadership there!

Old belief system, modern flammables.

Witches make me nervous. But burning them seems very excessive to me.

I would just like to add that Stella Artois is a fine beverage.

We can not understand the reality of the people in the jungles, so first, how about trying to learn about the natives in Papua New Guinea, sure we do not care about witches etc..but their cultures are very different so to them, they are just doing what is NORMAL for their set of beliefs.

We can not understand the reality of the people in the jungles, so first, how about trying to learn about the natives in Papua New Guinea,

The "reality" is that they use religious fanaticism to perform ritual killings. The 20-year old mother is dead, and you can bet the offspring of the "witch" will be next (if they haven't been killed already).

(Psst!! Commissioner, sorcery isn't real!)

What’s “real” is really just a matter of perception. Sorcery is real for a lot of people in PNG, real enough to burn someone alive, in fact.

It wasn't that long ago when they were cannibals and head hunters.

Some of them still are.

"What's "real" is really just a matter of perception. Sorcery is real for a lot of people in PNG, real enough to burn someone alive, in fact."

Ah, yes. The cultural relativism argument. Hoorah.

In the meantime, a human being was burned alive for something that, while perhaps (ahem) "real" for a lot of people in PNG, is in fact still not actually real.

I'll state it categorically: Sorcery isn't real. It's not.

It's no more real than the justifications for slavery, racism, discrimination, and any other host of atcocities humankind has dreamed up over the centuries to A) punish those perceived as different, B) deflect blame for circumstances that are well and truly outside of human control, and/or C) control those too foolish to know any better.

The underpinnings for these superstitions lie in poor education and poor economics, and just as the modern world has largely shed the primitive trappings of our dark and ignorant past, so too should those in PNG, particularly when they foster crimes of this nature. It's time for PNG to join the 21st Century. Kicking and screaming, if necessary.

The question is not whether JT posters believe or not believe in sorcery, heck just go to Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil etc...and try to tell the people that there is no witchcraft!! Hahaha!! Good luck!!

Some natives still believe that sorcery is REAL!! Surprise!! Surprise people!!!

Some "regular" white folk at this very moment, from the USA to the UK also believe in sorcery! White and Black magic, so what is the big surprise to hear that it is alive and well in such a far off island country as Papua New Guinea???

Welcome to the stone age. Even the Romans banned Druidism, which carried out human sacrifices, 2000 years ago. It's about time Papua New Guinea caught up.

so what is the big surprise to hear that it is alive and well in such a far off island country as Papua New Guinea??

The surprise isn't that people believe in sorcery. It's absolutely no surprise at all that human beings have a propensity for pinning all the good and evil that occur in the world on some ephemeral power that can't be seen, heard, or touched.

Humans: We're stupid like that.

The surprise is that in this day and age, people are still being burned alive for sorcery.

Funeral pyres for witches don't exist in places like Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, or Brazil. And they most not in the United States.

LFRAgainFeb. 09, 2013 - 07:57AM JST

When viewed from a modern, 21st century perspective what you say makes a lot of sense. And I’m sure most people would agree with you. But like it or not, a significant number of Papuan tribes people don’t share your perception of the world. What’s real for them is just that “real for them” and what you say makes no sense at all.

I dare say that if you took your argument to any number of isolated villages in PNG and shared your ideas about how backwards and ignorant those people are; the only “kicking and screaming” going on would be by you as they dragged you to the cooking pit.

Kuya 808,

Just because a significant number of people believe something vulgar and cruel to be true doesn't necessarily make it so. Nor do sheer numbers, no matter how significant, generally spare the minority from the inexorable tide of civilization. I daresay this very argument has been "successfully" brought to countless now-forgotten, now-extinct isolated tribes throughout the world and throughout history, much to the detriment of those in them who would still cling to such superstitions.

I daresay this very argument has been "successfully" brought to countless now-forgotten, now-extinct isolated tribes throughout the world and throughout history, much to the detriment of those in them who would still cling to such superstitions.

If by "successfully" you mean annihilating them and relegating their cultural identity to the dust bin of history, then I guess "civilization" is on a winning streak. Personally I find that concept "vulgar and cruel".

Vulgar? possibly. Cruel? Yes, in all likelihood. But reality nonetheless.