Are Britain's fringe churches preaching a deadly message?

[emad]

Are Britain's fringe churches preaching a deadly message?

An African girl is murdered in the name of religion. A boy's torso is found floating in the Thames. Hundreds of children go missing from school. Paul Vallely investigates
Published: 18 July 2005

There is more than one way to tell this story. So let's start with the first fact: a Newsnight report.

In a church hall, hired from the local Church of England vicar, somewhere in north London, a group of worshippers are gathered. They are black, mainly African, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At the front a pastor, clad in denim, is speaking to them in English. "If you believe," he screeches into his hand-held mike, "say 'I believe'." As you sleep, he tells them, "the husband of night he come to make sex with you."

Then you hear the voice of the reporter: "This is a mass deliverance service. The pastor has complete control." A girl who has passed out is pulled to the side by two men, her feet dragging on the floor. "This girl is just 10," the reporter intones dramatically. Later we see the child having water poured down her throat as part of an exorcism. "Children watch as mothers fall to the ground," he continues as another woman wobbles to the floor.

The second fact. Five years ago an eight-year-old girl named Victoria Climbié died in north London after being abused by relatives who had brought her to Britain. The Home Office pathologist who examined her said it was the worst case of deliberate harm to a child he had seen. Victoria had also been taken by her relatives to a fringe church which was popular with Africans, the Universal Church Of The Kingdom Of God in Finsbury Park.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article299847.ece

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Very scary!