Recently a thirteen-year old girl lost her life in mysterious but unfortunate circumstances but available evidence point towards the death being related to superstitious belief. Anytime someone dies, especially a child the resulting sadness and grief is really agonising and immeasurable. But in this case it is even more sad and unfortunate because that innocent child could have been alive today if medical attention was sought when she became ill, rather than resort to superstition.
But belief in superstition in our society is even more widespread that we may imagine. Perhaps we do not realise how widespread it is because it does not result in fatalities too often. If one lives or has lived in a rural community he/she would realise how deep seated are superstitious beliefs in Guyana. When someone is ill for a long time and doctors take a long time to diagnose that person’s condition we are familiar with the infamous advice from relatives/friends to seek help from the “outside doctor” which is a reference  to the “obeah man” or a Hindu, Christian or Muslim priest who are “versed” in casting out evil spirits. These so-called “outside doctors” are not else but perfect confidence tricksters who fleece and exploit people and amass huge wealth in the process. This is a scourge which we should work persistently to cast out from our society because of the harm and destruction it is causing. The case of the young girl is just one instance.
Perhaps our social researchers should do a survey to establish how widespread and deep seated the belief in superstition in our society is. The findings may be shocking but it would be helpful as a first step in the direction of eradicating this social scourge, which would not be an easy task but an imperative, nevertheless.
It is incredible that in this so-called modern world, that is increasingly being exposed to science and better education superstition is till so much entrenched and it is causing so much harm in almost every society on this planet.
Leo Igwe in an article entitled: AN ANTI- SUPERSTITION CAMPAIGN MANIFESTO FOR AFRICA points out: “The time has come for the recognition of the negative and harmful effects of superstitions in Africa. The time has come to combat the dark and destructive influence on the continent. The time has come to launch and execute a campaign against superstition and unreason in the region “
“Superstitions are irrational beliefs and notions. They are misconceptions of what is. Superstitious beliefs are based on fear, magical thinking, ignorance and blind faith. They lack evidence or proof and do not have any basis in logic, fact, commonsense or in reality. Superstitions include doctrines, dogmas, customs, and traditions, practices often connected with religion, with the unknown, with the mysterious and with the supernatural. They include belief in gods, ghost, juju and charms, witches and wizards, in ritual sacrifice and medicine, in magic and miracles.”
In his well researched paper “The problems with beliefs” Jim Walker concludes:
“Beliefs and faiths represent a type of mental activity that produces an unnecessary and dangerous false sense of trust and wrongful information (thinking coupled with the feeling of ‘truth’). Faith rarely agrees with the world around us. History has shown that beliefs and faith, of the most intransigent kind, have served as the trigger for tragic violence and destruction and sustained the ignorance of people. Replacing beliefs with predictive thoughts based on experience and evidence provide a means to eliminate intransigence and dangerous superstitious thought.”
“Beliefs and faiths do not establish “truths” or facts. It does not matter how many people believe or for how many centuries they have believed it. It does not matter how reverent or important people think of them, if it does not agree with evidence, then it simply cannot have any validity to the outside world. All things we know about the world, we can express without referring to a belief. Even at its most benign level, beliefs can act as barriers to further understanding.”
Stamping out superstitious beliefs will never be easy because of historical, cultural and religious reasons it has become embedded in the minds of millions over time. But it has to be uprooted through education and persistent campaigns. At the same time the law has to stretch its long arm and deal with these so-called “outside doctors” who are nothing else but confidence tricksters and ruthless exploiters.