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And it seems alarmists are on the prowl with regards to Satanism. People have harmed each other as they rushed to view the so-called satanic acts that have never been proved beyond mere rumours.
Just recently, residents stepped on each other’s toes when rumour went around in Harare’s Hatcliffe that two school children turned into vampires in an alleged act of Satanism.
This was just a hoax as proven by investigations.
Similar incidents have been reported, especially in schools, with investigations showing that people are quick to label strange happenings as Satanism.
We note that Satanism is an underworld and strange religious system and is bad enough to cause harm to the innocent and even to those who practice it.
But it does not manifest itself so easily and so cheaply.
While there might be some people of dubious character in our communities trying their hand in black magic, most of those accused of being Satanists have turned out to be innocent souls. Perhaps the Satanism scares are spurred by that the majority in our society believe that it is possible to cause harm to others by invoking evil spiritual powers through a series of rituals.
Such people might be justified because, as we have said before, there are some bold enough to risk everything by dabbling in suspect belief systems.
But our major problem seems to be that those who practice Satanism are not usually open about what they do.
As a result of that and in search of the truth, people are quick to label any strange occurrences as Satanism.
A close analysis of the recent events linked to Satanism clearly shows that people tend to be subjective and not objective over the issue.
The lurking danger is that if the trend continues, many innocent people will be harmed in such hunts for Satanists.
It is time for Zimbabweans to seriously reflect on the issue and not use the socially constructed labels that are based upon preconceptions to label others as Satanists.
The difficulty that those who are eager to identify Satanists face is that there is no direct and empirical evidence to prove that someone is really practising Satanism.
And this is reflected by just taking a look at recent articles in local newspapers which have proven that many people loosely apply the term Satanism to an assortment of happenings. But this is not to say that people wishing to cause harm to others can act with impunity or should be allowed to.
The majority of those who rush to spread rumours about Satanists and equally those who rush to mete instant justice on those accused of being Satanists are Christians.
If they are true Christians, they must by now know that one cannot fight Satan physically.
What do you get for assaulting someone accused of being a Satanist? If you are not lucky to escape with a fine, you may actually get a lengthy jail term for your quest to defeat Satan using your physical realm.
Let God deal with the Satanists and the best those interested in helping him can do is to pray.
In fact, if people go around claiming to be Satanists they would not have broken any law. They will perhaps be shunned by most people or get a beating here and there.
But if they commit any action in practising their beliefs they are likely to be committing a criminal offence.
John 8:44 perhaps comes nearer to describing the actions of Satanists: “You belong to your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.
“He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Of course, the major part of our criminal law deals with such offences against the person or a person’s property and this comes in handy in case the Satanists cause physical harm to others.
We are not saying Satanists do not exist. We are only calling for caution when dealing with such an underworld belief system.
The satanic cult scare is in many ways similar to witch-hunting and this is criminal according to our laws.
We note that the stories, rumours and allegations about Satanism and satanic cults arise from people’s preconceptions to find Satanism in unrelated incidents and activities.
The media must take part of the blame for aiding the spreading of the rumours on Satanism by publishing unsubstantiated stories.
We understand the trepidation in some with regards to Satanism, but we call for much reflection when dealing with the subject.
Otherwise some might find themselves in trouble with the law for causing alarm and despondence or even for murdering someone they believe is a Satanist.
Online Reporter