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Sources

Satanism Creeps In Among South African Teens

A February double murder in the South African city of Soweto illustrates a quiet rise in demon worship among teenagers, influenced in part by American pop culture icons.

In Soweto
In Soweto
Valérie Hirsch

SOWETO In a Soweto stadium, men and women wearing vicar collars are praying to drive away the devil. They conclude with a religious hymn, chanted by a few hundred teenagers who have come to attend the funeral of 15-year-old Thandeka Moganetsi and 16-year-old Chwayita Rathazwayo, friends who were stabbed to death Feb. 18 by two classmates who practice Satanism.

Thiko and Tumelo were arrested the following day and are detained in a youth center in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg. Thiko, nicknamed “Big Boy,” received a Bible and some candy from visiting family members. The two boys recount without emotion the chain of events of that fatal afternoon. “At school, we were the leaders of Satanism,” Thiko says. “Thandeka and Chwayita wanted to be initiated to become celebrities like Beyoncé.”

After school, the four teenagers met up. “We placed red and black candles in a triangle on the ground, and the girls cut themselves on the arm,” Thiko continues. “With their blood, they were to sign a pact with Satan. But Chwayita got scared and refused. So we became angry. After that, we don’t remember. We were possessed by the devil. When we came back to our senses, there was blood everywhere. We were overcome by panic. We burned our T-shirts and went back home. I felt like a demon.”

The boys left a candle and blades on site. Big Boy buried Chwayita’s skirt behind his house, and police found a satanic bible under his mattress.

South Africa is second only to the United States for harboring practitioners of Satanism. “They have in common a high level of violence, very powerful fundamentalist Christian churches, huge social inequalities and a society that sanctifies material,” explains Nicky Falkof, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

“Satanism first started spreading in the 1980s among Afrikaners, who were anxious about the end of the apartheid. In the past few years, it has begun flourishing again, but now it is no longer limited to white South Africans,” she says.

Why worship the devil?

Though there is no organized church, Satanism is combined with occult African beliefs in townships, Falkof explains, and it is largely a teenage practice, “often a resistance strategy to face an unhappy situation,” she says.

Videos by Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Kesha have popularized symbols sometimes associated with the Illuminati, a supposedly secret organization said to seek world domination, according to vague theories by American evangelists. Gestures, jewelry and tattoos reproducing occult symbols, triangles, eyes, red and black colors associated with the devil — all of these are popular among South African teenagers

.

[rebelmouse-image 27087894 alt="""" original_size="500x335" expand=1]

Thandeka, one of the victims, was wearing one. According to police inspector Hennie de Jager, who has registered 48 satanic cases over three months in Johannesburg and Pretoria, “People are making young girls and boys believe that they will become rich and famous.”

Sordid cases regularly make newspaper headlines. There was, for example, the case of 18-year-old Kirsty Theologo, who was burned alive in 2011 by six of her friends in southern Johannesburg. And last year in Soweto, a teenager killed four members of his famiy.

Tumelo discovered “Seth” (Satan) during a concert. “I was told he gave powers, and I did research on the Internet,” he says. With his almond-shaped eyes and smiling face, he looks not like a killer, but instead like an angel. “I wanted to get revenge on my father, who beats us when he gets back from the mine. I was hoping the devil would push him to drink until he dies of it.”

The boy shows a black mark on his palm, similar to a Christian Stigmata. “Every time I did something good, it started itching,” he says. Tumelo initiated Big Boy. “We smoked weed, we read the satanic bible and drank blood,” Big Boy says with a sometimes tragic, sometimes frightening look. “We sacrificed rats and a chicken. The spirit spoke to us in a deep voice. It even ordered us to kill our parents, but we refused.”

Since his father died of AIDS in 2008, Big Boy has been depressed. “He was taciturn and had fits of anger,” his mother explains. Also ill and appallingly thin, she claims she knew nothing about her son’s misconduct.

“We wanted to build a kingdom and get rich, but we went too far,” Big Boy says. “The vicar told me to pray to God when I feel depressed. I would now like to become an altar boy to be able to identify the good spirits.”

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Green

A Naturalist's Defense Of The Modern Zoo

Zoos are often associated with animal cruelty, or at the very least a general animal unhappiness. But on everything from research to education to biodiversity, there is a case to be made for the modern zoo.

Photograph of a brown monkey holding onto a wired fence

A brown monkey hangs off of mesh wire

Marina Chocobar/Pexels
Fran Sánchez Becerril

-OpEd-

MADRID — Zoos — or at least something resembling the traditional idea of a zoo — date back to ancient Mesopotamia. It was around 3,500 BC when Babylonian kings housed wild animals such as lions and birds of prey in beautiful structures known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Ancient China also played a significant role in the history of zoos when the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) created several parks which hosted an assortment of animals.

In Europe, it wouldn't be until 1664 when Louis XIV inaugurated the royal menagerie at Versailles. All these spaces shared the mission of showcasing the wealth and power of the ruler, or simply served as decorations. Furthermore, none of them were open to the general public; only a few fortunate individuals, usually the upper classes, had access.

The first modern zoo, conceived for educational purposes in Vienna, opened in 1765. Over time, the educational mission has become more prominent, as the exhibition of exotic animals has been complemented with scientific studies, conservation and the protection of threatened species.

For decades, zoos have been places of leisure, wonder, and discovery for both the young and the old. Despite their past success, in recent years, society's view of zoos has been changing due to increased awareness of animal welfare, shifting sensibilities and the possibility of learning about wild animals through screens. So, many people wonder: What is the purpose of a zoo in the 21st century?

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