Reports this week from opposite sides of the world reflect the rather disparate views of folk religions by varying legal systems. Today's New York Times reports that in Tajikistan, a new law passed early this year outlaws traditional fortune telling. The "fate viewer"-- who also sometimes prescribes folk remedies-- is a centuries-old profession in the country. Practitioners have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity lately as the country suffers economically. Proponents of the new law say it was designed to protect the population from a drain on their finances, prohibit "un-Islamic" activity and reduce the number of people practicing medicine without a license.
Meanwhile Lifesite News yesterday reported on a case decided in May by a criminal court judge in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Judge Ricardo Augusto Schmitt ordered confiscation from bookstores of all copies of a book condemning witchcraft written by Catholic priest Jonas Abib. The book is titled "Yes, Yes! No, No! Reflections on Healing and Liberation." In obtaining the court order, the public prosecutor argued that Bahia's state constitution requires the state "to preserve and guarantee the integrity, respectability, and permanence of the values of Afro-Brazilian religion." He accused accused Abib of "making false and prejudiced statements" about spiritualist religions and inciting disrespect for their objects of worship.
