It’s been discovered that a couple who believed their daughter was a witch had locked her in a room without food and beat her.

A 42-year-old father, Mr. Edet Etok-Akpan, is currently being quizzed at the headquarters of the Cross River State Police Command in Calabar for torturing his six-year-old daughter, Edidiong, as a result of a church prophetess’ pronouncement that the girl was a witch. Edidiong was beaten by her father and locked up in a room with her hands, mouth and face bound for four days before she was rescued by neighbours. It was learnt that Etok-Akpan started beating her on February 19 after an unidentified prophetess in their church told him that Edidiong was the witch responsible for the stagnancy in his life.

This behavior will be deplored by millions of people who all take their moral cues from the same people who wrote “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” “Of course his daughter wasn’t a witch! That’s just silly and he should’ve known better” will say the people who believe a Canaanite Jew rose from the dead. They also must surely believe the witches of the old testament were real (otherwise the bible makes zero sense on that proclamation). Yes, it’s silly and yes, he should’ve been more reasonable. He should’ve done better. It’s not that they hated their daughter – it’s that they should’ve worked harder and thought more critically to make sure they didn’t hold inaccurate beliefs that could pervert their good intentions. Their failure was their irrationality. Take notes, believers, because all of you should do better too.

That’s what bugs me about religion. Religious people almost universally criticize others for not holding the same beliefs as they do, rather than for being less reasonable. Of course, that’s all they can do since their beliefs are all equally silly.