Heretics in pointy black hats

In 1692, Salem, Mass., was plagued with witches. Possessed by the spells of neighbors, ailing young girls exclaimed the names of their tormentors in fits of lunacy. They were victims. \nWitchcraft in the 17th century was a felony by British law, and the penalty was a rope that would choke Satan out of their bodies.\nThe Puritan society was "purified."\nIn the beginning of the 20th century, the witches rose again, inflicting poverty in Germany. \nThis time, they weren't merely the owners of brooms or the masters of black cats. They were the Jews, the homosexuals, the handicapped and their friends. Instead of warts, they had distinct noses. They had olive complexions or dark eyes. The profile of the witches had changed, but once again, they stained a pure Aryan society.\nThey captured our adoration in the '50s by starring in our favorite movies, yet underneath those Hollywood costumes were the communist witches. It became a red hunt to weed out the radical liberals who could destroy America with the wrong political ideology. \nThanks to the investigations during the McCarthy era, society was again pure, patriotic and of sound narrow-mindedness. \nToday, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, some families believe their children are sorcerers, according to an allAfrica.com report posted last Thursday. The article says children are left on the streets because they're accused of causing disease with their spells. \nThe idea propagated from the influence of fundamentalist Christian churches. Local pastors emphasize that Satan and witches cause their misfortune.\n"Congolese have always believed in witchcraft," said Jesuit Father Jacques Bakwema in an article from The Observer published in May. "But, traditionally, we identified only old men and women as witches … this is just a convenient way of getting rid of unwanted children."\nIn a Save the Children statistic, the capital of Congo has about 30,000 homeless children, and basically all of them are deserted because their families accused them of sorcery. \nThe article from The Observer described a man, calling himself Prophet Onokoko, who has performed nearly 230 exorcisms, in which he has induced vomiting from children to purge the "demons." \n"These came out of the mouths of children who had spirits," Onokoko said, pointing to a shelf of objects, including a prawn, seashell and two whole Barbel fish. \nOn Oct. 9, Reuters described a preacher named Alex Byamungu who explained how he knew a child was bewitched.\n"… By looking into their eyes," he said.\nIt's a tragedy when adults can look into the eyes of children, and instead of seeing their future, they see their enemies. \nMaybe the witch-hunt in Congo began because of superstition. Maybe families couldn't afford to feed their children after years of war, or maybe it was the spread of diseases. Whatever the reason, once again, a society searches for the simplest resolution to a complicated issue: accusing innocent people. \n Throughout generations, civilization has poked a crooked finger in the face of the feeble or the outsider. We've burned, gassed and abandoned them, even our own neighbors and families. The destruction of our communities in times of hardship is ultimately the result of our wrongful persecution of people. \n Condemnation has become too natural of a reflex. These current times of worldly paranoia, mistrust of our allies and economic distress are symptomatic of what could lead to future witch-hunts. \nShould we mistrust Muslims now because of terrorism? Should we cast out our elders for financially burdening us during recession? Should we attack the French for having the "wrong" wartime ideology?\nOne has to wonder: Have we rid civilization of its demons, or have we conceived them in the process of alienating others?\nWho will wear the pointy hat next?