Archbishop hits out at rise in ‘repugnant’ child sacrifice practices in Uganda: CEN 1.02.09

Child sacrifice is an abomination the church must eradicate through the preaching of the Gospel the Primate of Uganda declared in his Christmas letter to the nation, saying the greed for money and lust for power that lay behind witchcraft were repugnant to the Lord.

“Many are the crying mothers who have lost their children to child sacrifices,” Archbishop Henry Orombi said on Dec 11. “Some think: If I sacrifice human blood I shall have money – then have peace and happiness.”

“God is grieved by such ignorance,” he declared as the shedding of “innocent blood is a curse to the Nation and brings barrenness to social achievements.”

Reports of child sacrifice have played across the pages of Uganda’s newspapers this month, following the arrest of a prominent Kampala property developer, who allegedly engaged two witchdoctors to decapitate a 12-year old boy in a ritual ceremony. The head of the child was to have been buried under the foundations of a building under construction, providing magic protection for its owner, the Kampala press reported.

On Dec 4 Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo told reporters “child sacrifice has confronted the nation with its ferocity, barbarity as well as frequency,” and had “become a national danger.”

“Witchdoctors deserve special condemnation,” the government minister said.

Greed was the culprit, Archbishop Orombi said. The message of Christmas was one of peace, he said, but “many in our society have lost their peace because of greed. The desire to have more creates imbalance and those without resent those who have more than their fair share.”
God “never blesses corruption and stealing,” he said. “The Prince of Peace has been born that your hearts may know contentment and learn to give rather than take.”

For Uganda to break free from the grip of sin and pagan practices, “this country [must] face and deal with the ugly face of corruption if health should come to the nation.”

“There is need for change in the way we treat one another,” he said, as “we must pursue love and not violence in our streets.”

The Archbishop’s call for an end to the culture of corruption and repudiation of witchcraft and paganism, however, was not a call for the Anglicizing of Uganda. Archbishop Orombi has championed the inculturation of Anglicanism within the context of African worship, urging church leaders to take what is good from local cultures to help propagate the Gospel.

The Diocese of Northern Uganda last week reported that Archbishop Orombi upbraided Bishop Nelson Onono-Onweng, asking why the royal bwola dance had not been performed during his visit to several rural archdeaconries. Performed only on the orders of a chief, the bwola dance is one of the highpoints of the culture of the Acholi people of Northern Uganda. The dance is performed at state ceremonies, funerals of local dignitaries and during the visit of important guests to the region.

The bishop responded that his archdeacons had declined to authorize the dance, as they thought it would be disrespectful to offer “pagan” dances at Christian worship services.

Archbishop Orombi told the Northern Uganda clergy that it not only was permissible, but desirable to used “sanctified local songs and dances to worship the Lord,” the diocese said.