Providentia

Indonesian Lawmakers Seek to Pass Anti-LGBT "Rehabilitation" Law

Human rights critics are condemning a new "Family Resilience" law tabled by conservative  lawmakers which has been condemned as sexist and homophobic.   Under the new law, gay and transgender people would be forced to undergo “rehabilitation” — an catch-all term likely to include exorcisms and other “conversion treatments” to purge the country of "sexual deviancy".     “Conversion therapy, such as exorcisms, amount to violence against LGBT people,” said Budi Wahyuni, a former commissioner at the Indonesian women's commission in discussing the new legislation.  

Despite being the world's most populous Muslim majority nation, homosexuality is  legal in Indonesia except for conservative Aceh province (which adheres to Sharia law).  In Aceh, the backlash against sexual minorities is especially severe with public whippings being a common punishment for people convicted of same-sex relations.  In 2018, police  rounded up a group of transwomen and publicly humiliated them by cutting their hair and forcing them to dress in male clothes. 

But even outside of Aceh, anti-gay and transgender persecution remains extremely common throughout the country.   Since homosexuality is widely believed to be caused by possession by "evil spirits", many gay and transgender people are forced to undergo exorcisms conducted either by Muslim imams as well as animist shamans to "cast  out" their inner demons.   If the new law is passed, exorcism is expected to be one of the most widely-applied conversion techniques used.

Exorcisms are already extremely common and are used to treat everything from mental illness to hauntings.  One prominent exorcist speaking of the new law told reporters that he anticipated a boom in demand once it is passed.   Boasting of "curing" ten clients in the previous decade alone, he says that his exorcisms consist of him reading from the Quran as he places his hands on clients and then watches for signs he believes suggest evil spirits are being expelled.  “It's usually a strong reaction but that means they'll be cured quicker,” he explains, adding that he's witnessed vomiting and screaming in the process.   Numerous clinics in Jakarta also offer exorcisms to cure same-sex attraction though they rarely advertise such services openly.

But that may be changing since surveys show a sharp rise in radicalism and intolerance among most Indonesians.  According to a 2017 survey, more than 80 per cent of Indonesians now support the country adopting strict Islamic law, including harsh punishments for same-sex attraction in line with other Islamic countries.   At present, many gay men, lesbians, and transgender people are being forced to undergo exorcisms arranged by their own families in the hope that they would somehow be "cured."

One 31-year-old transgender woman, identified only as "Andin" in an AFP story, reported that she has endured harassment and abuse from her family for nearly two decades.   She remains traumatized by the various "treatments" she was forced to endure, including being bombarded with Quranic verses while trapped in a locked room for days as well as being doused with freezing water by an imam promising to purge the “gender disease”.   On another occasion, she was forcibly taken to an unknown religious guru who showed her a burial shroud and given a harsh choice: Relinquish life as a woman, or go to hell.    "Nothing changed after the exorcism. I'm still LGBT, but my family didn't give up easily,” she said.  "It's traumatising — the horror of that memory stays in my head.”   

Still, despite the rising intolerance, there is a vocal minority opposing the new legislation and they have succeeded in blocking similar laws in the past.   Last year, lawmakers tried to push through a criminal law overhaul that would have made premarital sex a criminal offence, but a sharp backlash led to the bill being dropped.   But people like Andin remain pessimistic about future persecution of sexual minorities in Indonesia, especially when much of that persecution comes from members of her own family.   

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The Possession of James Davenport

Evangelism has a long and strange history in the United States, but there were few  evangelists who had a more, ahem, colourful career than the Reverend James Davenport. 

Born in Stamford, Connecticut in 1716, Davenport was part of an extremely distinguished Puritan family.  His great-grandfather founded the New Haven colony while his father and grandfather were both Puritan pastors.   James seemed destined to follow in their footsteps and attended Yale University so that he could be ordained as a minister,   Whatever plans he had for a quiet career in the ministry ended when he met the overzealous David Ferris in Yale and became part of his inner circle.  Ferris was a radical evangelist who took his inspiration from the evangelical movement that was sweeping parts of Europe and the pre-Revolution American colonies around this time.

Known as the First Great Awakening, Protestant ministers led by George Whitefield in the United Kingdom and Jonathan Edwards in Massachusetts began to reject traditional religious teachings and preached a more personal relationship with God.  This also marked a major split in Protestant churches along class lines.  While the Evangelists talking about being "born again" and publicly proclaiming their faith, the traditionalists were increasingly disturbed at what was happening at the Evangelist rallies, including screaming, "talking in tongues", fainting spells, and cries of salvation.   Although the new Evangelist movement was mainly limited to local revivals in numerous places throughout British North America, at least a few religious leaders were especially prominent, James Davenport among them.

After Davenport  graduated from Yale at the age of seventeen (the youngest on record), he went on to complete his religious training so that he could be ordained as a minister. It was somewhere around this time that he developed a "cancry humour" on his leg, likely a severe ulcer, that would plague him for the rest of his life.  While staying at the house of the Reverend Jared Eliot, Davenport managed to recover to the point of continuing his religious studies.  He credited his recovery to the power of faith and his future vocation seemed even clearer.

Ordained as a minister in 1738, he took up  position at a Puritan church in Long Island though he was only twenty-one years old.  Meanwhile, momentous things were happening as other Evangelists began preaching the "Good News of salvation" and Davenport became convinced that the Day of Judgment was at hand. Inspired by the success of other Evangelists, Davenport decided that God was calling him to follow their example.  As he would later claim, opening his Bible to a passage in which Jonathan and armor-bearer attack the Philistine camp inspired him to launch his crusade in 1741. 

This transition from staid minister to fiery evangelist was somewhat, um, abrupt.  During one marathon session, he ranted at his congregation for twenty-four hours straight before collapsing.  After recovering, he then called on all of his parishioners to make full confessions and chose the most worthy among them to become his formal "brethren" (the less worthy among them were relegated to being called "neighbors").   Though Davenport insisted that it was the Holy Spirit which inspired him to choose who were most likely to be saved,  quite a few parishioners were disgruntled to find out they were considered unworthy. 

Davenport also tried his hand at faith healing.   One mentally ill parishioner who was "distracted and dumb"  (possibly catatonic) became a special project for him as he predicted that she would be "delivered and recover her speech" on a given day as a result of his prayers and fasting over her.  As it happened, she died on the predicted date though she never recovered her sanity or speech.   Not wasting an opportunity, the good reverend insisted that his prayers had been answered and that she had been received into Heaven instead.   Quite a few of his parishioners accepted this explanation and managed to get themselves promoted to "brethren" status afterward.

Soon afterward, James Davenport gave up his comfortable congregation and became a traveling preacher, much like his Evangelist heroes.  One of his "brethren", Daniel Tuthill, joined him as an assistant.  Davenport's new mission depended on recruiting converts by reaching as many people as possible in order to save them before the world ended.   His preaching, much like so many of his fellow Evangelists before and since, was filled with descriptions of hellfire, the inherent sinfulness of mankind, and the need for salvation by allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through their hearts so that they could avoid damnation.   

With other Evangelists paving the way, whipping congregations into a religious frenzy, Davenport certainly found his share of receptive converts. One media account describes the kind of sermons he gave and the fever of religion he helped inspire:

Divers women were terrified and cried out exceedingly. When Mr. Davenport had dismissed the congregation some went out and others stayed; he then went into the broad alley, which was much crowded and there screamed out, “Come to Christ! Come to Christ! Come Away! Come Away!” Then he went into the third pew on the women’s side, and kept there, sometimes singing, sometimes praying; he and his companions all taking their turns; and the women fainting and in hysterics. This confusion continued until 10:00 at night and then he went off singing through the streets

Not surprisingly, he also had to deal with the numerous enemies he made along the way.   Along with converting the unbelieving, he also began attacking other ministers, including some he declared to be "unconverted" after they refused to confess their own sins to him.  He declared these uncooperative ministers to be "wolves in sheep's clothing" who were leading their parishioners into "perdition."   Considering that a few of his targets were fellow Evangelists, you can imagine the controversy Davenport inspired.   Many even refused to allow him to deliver sermons in their churches and Davenport was obliged to conduct his revival meetings out in the open.  

Davenport's crusade had mixed success at best.  His illustrious family guaranteed him a few sympathetic listeners among the more established communities but he still had an unfortunate tendency to divide entire congregations.  The sermons he delivered were, well, provocative.  Here is a bit of one of his sermons that one witness described:

"At length, he turn’d his Discourse to others, and with the utmost Strength of his Lungs addressed himself to the Congregation, under these and such-like Expressions; viz. You poor unconverted Creatures, in the Seats, in the Pews, in the Galleries, I wonder you don’t drop into Hell! It would not surprise me, I should not wonder at it, if I should see you drop down now, this minute into Hell. You Pharisees, Hypocrites, now, now, now, you are going right into the Bottom of Hell…. Then he came out of the Pulpit, and stripped off his upper Garments, and got into the Seats, and leapt up and down some time, and clapt his Hands, and cried out in those Words, the War goes on, the Fight goes on, the Devil goes down, the Devil goes down; and then betook himself to stamping and screaming most dreadfully.

Even supposedly "converted" ministers quickly regretted inviting him to give guest sermons to their parishioners.   When some of them visited him to try to get him to explain himself, he denounced them as "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing" and prayed for their conversion instead. 

Still, Davenport was amazingly successful  when he went out to preach to Native American tribes and the support he received with Protestants tended to split along class lines.  The wealthier merchants and farmers mistrusted this new preacher whom they regarded as a dangerous fanatic but the less well-off townspeople loved his antics.   A general court in Connecticut even passed a law in 1741 banning preachers from giving sermons to parishes without the express permission of the presiding minister.    Davenport promptly broke that law and was arrested soon after. 

Appearing before the Connecticut general assembly, he gave his most bizarre performance yet.   Some of the available descriptions of James Davenport's bizarre behaviour at his new trial are downright entertaining.  According to one new story:

"At one point everyone there heard him "vehemently crying out, That he saw hell-flames slashing in their faces; and that they were now! now! dropping down to hell; and also added, Lord! Thou knowest that there are many in that gallery and in these seats, that are now dropping down to Hell! etc.”

Screaming about persecution, Davenport compared himself to Christ with his own suffering and, when the sheriff tried to eject him, he shouted "Lord! thou knowest somebody’s got hold of my sleeve, strike them! Lord, strike them—".     A mob of his supporters quickly gathered and attacked the sheriff and his deputies as they led Davenport to jail.  

On the following day, the court concluded that Davenport was insane and deported him from the Connecticut colony.   Though supporters tried to stop them, Davenport and his assistant were shipped back to Long Island.   Once there, he discovered that his old parishioners were rather tired of his antics and frequent absences.    He was basically ordered to stay at home and tend to his own congregation but Davenport was unrepentant.  As far as he was concerned, he was one of the leading lights of the new Evangelical movement and his crusade would continue.

By 1742, his crusading had taken him to Boston where a group of ministers promptly ordered to explain his attacks on fellow preachers.  His critics included many Evangelists who refused to allow him to preach to their own parishioners.   But this didn't stop him.  Instead, he took to the streets and held open-air rallies that would last whole nights.  As one Boston newspaper described it: 

"Though were you to see him in his most violent Agitations, you would be apt to think, that he was a Madman just broke from his Chaines: But especially had you seen him returning from the Commons after his first preaching, with a large Mob at his heels, singing all the Way thro’ the streets, he with his Hands extended, his Head thrown back, and his Eyes staring up to Heaven, attended with so much Disorder that they look’d more like a company of Bacchanalians after a mad Frolick than sober Christians who had been worshipping God."

People in Boston were forced to put up with Davenport and his disciples singing hymns in the streets at all hours, day or night.  Most of these followers were young people, including children, from the less well-off segments of Boston society.   Though some of them simply came to watch the antics, Davenport's vicious attacks on fellow clergy proved to be extremely popular.  Like everywhere else he went though, Davenport divided Boston society and his exhausted critics finally persuaded Boston magistrates to have him arrested and put on trial.

And what a trial it was!

Davenport was in fine form throughout the hearing, denouncing the unconverted ministers and making grim prophecies about what would happen to them when they faced judgment.  His supporters predictably insisted that he was being persecuted though he was extremely well-treated while in jail (his jailors likely worried about mob violence if any reports of abuse got out).   The outcome was never really in doubt though.   The only two holdouts in the jury were a Quaker and a lay supporter, both of whom objected to the trial being held at all.   When the court declared Davenport to be non comp0s mentis, he promptly decamped for a more congenial city.   It took a considerable amount of time for things to settle down in Boston afterward and his trial would remain a hot issue for years.

The final saga in James Davenport's strange career occurred in 1743 when he was invited to New London, Connecticut.   Despite having already been deported (and risking a heavy fine in the process), Davenport and one of his chief disciples, Daniel Tuthill, set sail immediately.  By this time, Davenport was visibly weaker because of his health problems.   He needed Tuthill's help to walk but this hardly deterred him from his mission.   On arriving in New London, he preached to his followers about the "Messages which he said, he received from the Spirit in Dreams and otherwise, importing the great Necessity of Mortification and Contempt of the World.” 

To accomplish this great goal, Davenport encouraged his followers to throw away any worldly possessions to which they were attached.  Along with wigs, fine clothing,artworks, and jewelry, they also had to throw away those books he deemed offensive.   To nobody's surprise, this included books by religious authors he regarded as "unconverted", including some of his own fellow Evangelists.  These various works were destroyed in two "bonfires of the vanities" in which his followers danced around the flames while these books were still burning.  

During the last of these bonfires, Davenport and his followers were reportedly in a state of hysteria as they cast clothing onto the bonfire.  According to one account, "some of them in the heighth of their Zeal, conferred not with Flesh and Blood, but fell to stripping and cast their Cloaths down at their Apostle’s Feet; one or two hesitated about the Matter, and were so bold as to tell him they had nothing on which they idoliz’d: He reply’d, that such and such a Thing was an Offense to him; and they must down with them."   Davenport, in his zeal, began stripping off his own clothing, including his breeches which he then threw on the fire.   One woman, perhaps a little distressed by this radical act, snatched the breeches from the fire and basically told the good Reverend to restrain himself.  This was apparently what broke the spell and made Davenport realize that he had gone too far.

And, that was pretty much it for James Davenport.   While his other antics had done little to curb the enthusiasm of his followers, indecent exposure was a bit much for them.   He left town soon afterward and, because of declining health, was taken home to recover.  As for the local townspeople who had taken part in the book burnings, they were later charged though most of them just got off with small fines.  A council of ministers was held later that year which marked the end of Davenport's crusade, not to mention the Great Awakening itself.   While Evangelism still continued, the zeal was somewhat more restrained from that point onward.

As for the Reverend Davenport, he was deeply disturbed by the New London incident and began to wonder whether he had been possessed by God or Satan.  His doubts about what he had been doing, not to mention the deep schism he had caused, left him depressed.   Though he still believed that the Holy Spirit had spoken to him, he recognized that he he had been too arrogant in denouncing his fellow preachers.   By 1744, he had recovered enough to go on a "repentance tour" visiting many of the towns in which he  had carried out his most outrageous episodes so he could personally apologize for what he had done. 

Still, while he was considerably wiser, his great success as a preacher was largely behind him.  His movement broke up and he was largely abandoned by almost everyone, even his "armour bearer" Daniel Tuthill.  Though he made a new tour across Connecticut in which he personally apologized to many of the ministers he had previously denounced,  the spirit had largely gone out of him.  In 1744, he wrote The Confessions and Retractions of James Davenport in which he publicly apologized for much of what he had said in the past and blamed himself for "falling into the Snare of the Devil." 

Reaction to Davenport's confession was largely mixed.  Some critics argued that he didn't go far enough in apologizing considering the harm he had already done while others were prepared to accept his apology at face value.  Davenport resigned his Long Island post and went to a new church in New Jersey where he would spend the rest of his days.  Somewhere along the way, he managed to marry and have three children though little else is known about this final period in his life.  In 1756, with the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, Davenport made one last proclamation that the war was an omen of the coming Apocalypse,  A year later, he was dead at the age of forty-one. 

So what can anyone say about James Davenport's legacy?  His fervent crusading and his humiliating disgrace can probably serve as a warning for modern evangelists whose outrageous claims have a way of blowing up in their faces.   If nothing else, his antics can be considered a prime example of the dangers of hubris (not to mention, ahem, overexposure).   Sadly, modern day pundits seem determined to fall into the same trap as Davenport, even if they definitely lack his personal charisma. 

In an era of smartphones and social media, embarrassing moments have a way of being recorded for posterity.   We may be seeing quite a few "penitence tours" in the years to come.

Endorsing the Canadian Conversion Therapy Ban

When Gabriel Nadeau was 12 years old, he realized he was gay. It wasn't a happy time for him.

Growing up in a small community in rural Quebec meant that his strict family upbringing helped shaped his own attitudes about homosexuality.  "I believed that it was wrong," Nadeau said in a recent media interview.  "Every day of my life as a teen, I was trying to get my sexual orientation changed."   When he sought help from his family, and later from his church,  he was forced to undergo bizarre rituals aimed at "curing" his same-sex attraction.

This included repeated attempts at exorcising his demons.   On one occasion,   four members of his church held him down on a table while he was forced to drink olive oil.  The minister repeatedly shouted at the demon inside him.   "I was obviously crying, crying very much, because I was so traumatized," he said, in describing his memory of that ordeal. "I wanted to change so bad."   When the exorcism didn't work, he tried again.  After seeking conversion therapy at the age of sixteen and, again, at the age of eighteen, he became severely depressed over his failure to change.    Though he eventually worked through his self-hatred, he says he continues to be affected by his exorcism experiences.   

Which is why he welcomes the recent federal announcement that it was introducing a bill to ban the practice of conversion therapy across the country.   The proposed bill defined conversion therapy as "any practice, treatment or service designed to change an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, eliminate, reduce sexual attraction or sexual behaviour between persons of the same sex. It does not include gender reassignment surgery or any related service."   

A long-promised part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's platform, the proposed ban declares conversion therapy to be "a scientifically discredited practice that targets vulnerable LGBTQ2 Canadians in an attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.”   The ban also reflects international consensus from national and international medical groups that have long denounced therapists providing conversion therapy services.   Other parties, including NDP, Green Party and Bloc Quebecois, have already expressed their support for the idea.   The new ban follows similar bans in Ontario, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island.   Conversion therapy is also banned in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton and, while Nova Scotia bans conversion therapy for children under the age of sixteen, allows older minors to consent.  

But the proposed legislation is expected to face opposition from religious groups, some of which have already declared the bill to be an attack on religious freedom.   ""If a person feels uncomfortable with their sexual orientation, who is the government to tell them…[they] have no right to change their orientation?" said Georges Buscemi, the president of Campagne Québec-Vie, an anti-abortion organization.   

As to how prevalent conversion therapy actually is in Canada, a new report released by the The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)  indicates that conversion therapy continues to be offered in many places across the country, and seventy other countries as well.  Along with organizations such as the Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (formally known as NARTH) and other faith-based initiatives, many individual therapists also offer conversion therapy despite the opposition of professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association.  The report also provides testimony of“deliverance sessions” carried out by ministers of the Pentecostal Church in Montreal to exorcise the “demon of homosexuality," among other examples.   

Given the opposition they face, many religious groups deny offering conversion therapy  but instead direct interested people towards what they describe as "reparative therapy services" aimed at changing unwanted sexual feelings.  They also deny that conversion therapy is harmful and insist that the option should be made available to those who want to change.    Despite denying that anybody is forced to participate against their will, many parents often request conversion therapy for their underaged children, something the new legislation is aimed at preventing.

Conversion therapy survivors such as Gabriel Nadeau have no reservations about the harm they experienced.  "It's not a matter of religious freedom and just being free to go in life doing whatever you want," he said. "It's a question of security because people might die."    Now twenty-six, openly gay, and living in Montreal, Nadeau says it took years for him to work through his trauma but that he is now where he wants to be.  "I'm so happy and so free," he said. "I would never go back."

Exorcisms to "Cure" Homosexuality on Rise in Indonesia

Despite a well-publicized call by  President Joko Widodo of Indonesia for better police protection of all minorities, including the country's embattled LGBT population, news stories about the widespread use of exorcisms to "straighten" out people with same-sex attractions are disturbingly common.   In November and December of last year, police in the Indonesian city of Padang arrested eighteen same-sex couples and forced them to participate in exorcisms.  “We have an exorcism expert for LGBTs," said one source closely involved with the exorcism movement in Padang.  "Gay men are usually possessed by female demons. We also have a program that will allow transgenders to train in the military.”

People who have undergone these exorcisms reported being slapped, massaged, and "bathed in  holy salt water."    In a recent story by Vice Magazine, a source identified only as "Syifa" reported that her parents had taken her to an Islamic exorcism centre due to their refusal to accept her being with another woman.   Syifa described her personal experience of the half-hour exorcism as being "hilarious" saying  “It was just so dumb to me, but I tried to appreciate what they were trying to do for me.”   While her own experience seemed relatively benign, Syifa said she heard screams and people being whipped in other rooms. “I was lucky they didn’t do anything like that to me,” she said.    Despite the efforts of her parents and the exorcists, she is currently in a committed relationship with another woman.

Long considered a taboo subject in Indonesia, public discussions of same-sex attraction or any other form of "unconventional" sexual behaviour  continues to be condemned by the country's religious leaders.   A 2017 survey conducted by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) revealed that 87.6 percent of a sample of 1,220 Indonesians perceived members of the LGBTQ community as a "significant threat" and verbal harassment remains common.  While not technically illegal under Indonesian law, police routinely harass sexual minorities, including transsexuals and cross-dressers, under vaguely-worded "public indecency" laws.   At the local level, provincial laws are often used to fine or imprison homosexuals and cross-dressers.   In parts of the country where sharia laws are closely filed, including the state of Aceh, anyone caught having gay sex can be sentenced to receiving 100 lashes.

As for the rising use of exorcisms, Yuli Rustinawati, current head of Arus Pelangi (one of Indonesia’s few LGBTQ non-governmental organisations), warns that the normalisation of such conversion therapy can have dire consequences.  “The moral doctrine used against the LGBTQ community leads to unbelievable violence towards them. Then the police join in and force them to undergo exorcisms,” Rustinawati told BBC Indonesia.    Some members of the LGBTQ community even request exorcisms themselves in the hope of "curing" their same-sex feelings with no real success.

While most Indonesians are becoming more aware of gay issues due to foreign news agencies, movies, and television shows from other countries, this increased awareness shows no sign of improving hardline attitudes.   For now,  members of sexual minorities continue to be viewed as "misfits" who have no place in traditional society.   Only time will tell whether this will change in future.

Russian Police Investigate Exorcism Death of Nine-Year-Old Child

Acting on a tip from a family member, police in Yekaterinburg, Russia unearthed the body of a nine-year-old boy who had been killed during an exorcism by a religious sect to which his parents belonged.   Identified only as "David K.", the boy and his parents belonged to a religious sect, the Disciples of Jesus Christ and had apparently been subjected to a violent ritual aimed at "driving out the devil" though the reason for this abuse has not been given.   The ritual had been conducted in the apartment where the boy and his family had been living.  

During the course of this ritual, David was held down by his mother while other cult members, including his father, whipped him repeatedly..  He had also been gagged to prevent him from screaming out.   After the child died, sect members then prayed by the body for two days hoping that he would be returned to life.   He was then buried in a wooded area near the city while the parents and other sect members fled the city to avoid arrest.  An autopsy of the body determined that the boy had died of asphyxiation with whip marks being clearly visible.   

Police have since located the boy's father, 40-year-old Ivan Kazantsev, and a sect elder, Zemfira Gainullina in the nearby Republic of Bashkiria and arrested them.   David's mother has since fled to Belarus where she is being held as a material witness and awaiting extradition.   Both of David's parents had recently immigrated to Yekaterinburg from Belarus

Defending the sect's actions in an online post before her arrest, Gainullina wrote that, "Many times we were persecuted for the name of Jesus Christ, but no-one could blame us for anything, because there was no crime in us....No-one could forbid us to live the way the Lord Jesus Christ leads us.”  According to available sources,  arrested sect members are refusing to cooperate with authorities and insisted that they only obeyed "heaven's law".    In describing the behaviour of Kazantsev and  Gainullina while in custody, a police spokesperson said that "both detainees behaved, to put it mildly, strangely. They  produced the impression of being zombified."   

While the sect has an active social media presence, including footage of Gainullina playing guitar while her followers danced and prayed together, little information appears available, including "private practices" such as the use of extreme corporal punishment, including whipping, on children to "drive out demons."  

An investigation is continuing.

 

 

Newton's Revelation

Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night.  God said "Let Newton be!" and all was light!  Alexander Pope

Sir Isaac Newton was a very complex individual.

Not only did he revolutionize physics and mathematics, but he also made groundbreaking contributions in various other areas of science including astronomy and natural philosophy.  His 1687 work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica is still considered one of the most influential books in the history of science.  It's hardly surprising that his scientific contributions have made his name so well-recognized by scientists and the general public alike centuries after his death.  

Perhaps not so well known were Newton's other accomplishments.  His lifelong fascination with alchemy seemed to be a natural extension of his wish to uncover how all things in nature were interrelated.  He was hardly unique in his alchemical research since many prominent intellectuals had been doing the same for centuries.  Still, there was a certain irony in the fact that the scientific revolution that Newton ushered in helped make alchemy obsolete.  Inspired by Elizabethan alchemist, John Dee as well as the Rosicrucians, Newton had one of the most extensive collection of alchemy texts in England.   The full extent of his research into alchemy will likely never be known given that Newton went to great lengths to keep it hidden.  His writings on the subject only surfaced long after his death and many of Newton's biographers tended to dismiss them as being a source of embarrassment for admirers of the great scientist.

In writing about alchemy, Newton stated that "They who search after the Philosophers' Stone [are] by their own rules obliged to a strict & religious life. That study [is] fruitful of experiments" which certainly fit in with his empirical search for understanding.  There was also a touch of egoism at work since many of his contemporaries were also searching for the Philosopher's Stone (including Robert Boyle) and Newton didn't want one of them to discover it before him.  Considering that much of the laboratory equipment developed by alchemists would later become part of the standard tools for chemists, Newton's research was more practical than it seems today.  Suffice it to say, Newton never succeeded in finding the Philosopher's Stone but his lifelong fascination gave alchemists an added respectability that they might not have had otherwise.  Newton's work in alchemy may also have played a role in his death in 1727.  An autopsy on his body found elevated concentrations of mercury which may explain much of the eccentric behaviour he showed in life.

In his old age, Isaac Newton's interests turned in a new direction: theology.  As with his work on alchemy, many of his theological writings were only published after his death.  While he remained a devout Christian all his life, many of his ideas on religion were frequently at odds with the Church of England (and he might well have been considered a heretic in earlier times).  He railed against purely mechanistic views of the universe and argued that God created the basic rules that governed nature.  He also stressed that the Bible represented the source of all true wisdom and, towards the end of his life, Newton devoted himself to an in-depth examination of the books of Daniel and Revelation.  Although never published in his lifetime (Newton was reluctant to antagonize the powerful Church of England),Newton's Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John was one of his most ambitious works, at least in terms of providing a reasonable chronology for the events described throughout the Bible.  Drawing on other historical sources (such as Flavius Josephus) and using his own peerless mathematical skills, Newton carefully calculated, among other things, the Crucifixion as occurring on Friday, April 23, 34 CE. 

In analyzing the prophetic texts, Newton carefully broke down each book by applying the same principles to Biblical study that he devoted to studying the heavens.  Although some biographers dismissed his attempts as being a "rambling muddle", Newton used information from the book of Ezekiel and the writings of Maimonides to work out the dimensions of Solomon's Temple which he considered to be a key element in understanding Revelation.  He also developed a future timeline based on his knowledge of astronomy and predicted the Second Coming of Christ in 1948 (although the Last Judgment wouldn't occur until around 3370 CE).   Much of Newton's biblical work seemed to focus on hatred for the Catholic Church (which he considered to be the Antichrist) and the eventual coming of the "True Church" after the "Evil One" (Rome) was destroyed.   Part of this hatred of Catholic doctrine stemmed from his opposition to the idea of the Trinity which he considered false.  He also believed in a literal interpretation of Genesis by the way (although he did suggest that the seven days of creation may have been longer than twenty-four hours).  

If his biographers were apologetic about Newton's fascination with alchemy, they were even less accepting of the theological writings that largely consumed the last years of his life.  He always stayed true to the idea that the universe was inherently understandable and that theology, like science, was a reflection of God's meaning and plan for the human race.  As the chief patriarch of the Royal Society (he was known as "Le Grand Newton" across Europe), Newton's scientific reputation was secure enough but he was still reluctant to publish his conclusions about the Bible.  Weeks before his death, Newton burned a collection of papers at his house in Leicester Fields.  While historians dispute whether the papers he burned were historically significant, one witness later suggested that Newton had burned several manuscripts as well.  Considering the eccentric nature of the alchemical and theological works that did survive, it's hard not to wonder what else Newton was afraid would reflect poorly on him after his death.

Isaac Newton died on March 20, 1727 after a brief illness.  After a public funeral, he was buried in Westminster Abbey in what is now known as "Scientist's corner" (which he shares with Charles Darwin and James Clerk Maxwell among others).  A monument standing by one side of the Abbey shows Newton leaning on a pile of four books labeled "Divinity', 'Chronology', 'Optica' and 'Phil Princ. Math'".  His more, unconventional, works aren't mentioned.

Making a Prophet (Part 3)

Continued from Part Two

Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, Jamaica was a stunning contrast of natural beauty and stark poverty.  The twin legacies of slavery and colonialism left the island with a population consisting primarily of former slaves, people of mixed race ("coloured"), and white colonists who, despite beinga small minority, owned most of the land and resources.  While formal independence from the U.K. would come in the 20th century, life in 19th century Jamaica was often harsh for the freed slaves and their descendants. 

It hardly seems surprising that religion would be a major influence among the island's inhabitants.  Not only with the various branches of Christianity, but also more exotic religions based on traditions imported from Africa.  Obeah and Myalism were widely practiced despite attempts at suppression by the  authorities.  These traditions were often incorporated into more mainstream religions and helped fuel the Christian revivalist movement.  The 19th century was marked by religious clashes and spiritual missions that quickly attracted believers.

Which brings us to Alexander Bedward.

He was born in southeastern Jamaica in 1848 into extreme poverty.  His mother had a local reputation as a healer though his father was unknown.  Never having learned to write and with only minimal reading, he had little choice but to work on one of the big sugar plantations in Colon, Panama.  Whatever future he may have planned changed after a massive fire swept through Kingston, Jamaica in 1882.  Following the fire, Bedward began to have disturbing dreams and erratic behaviour that so frightened his family that they tried to have him put away for lunacy.  He insisted that the dreams meant that God had chosen him for a divine mission.  By 1889, Bedward was formally installed as one of the 24 elders of August Town's Native Baptist church and his religious crusade began.

And what a crusade it was!  By October 1891, Bedward had resigned from his plantation job to launch his healing mission.  Using water from a spring on his property near Jamaica's Hope River, he conducted healing ceremonies based on a divine vision that told him that "the water of the Hope River would be miraculously converted into medicine for soul and body".  Along with his healing, Bedward delivered sermons on a large rock overlooking the river and thousands of people gathered every Wednesday to hear him. 

The descriptions of Bedward's crusade were closely followed by reporters from Jamaica's Daily Gleaner.  Although the newspaper dismissed Bedward as "an ignorant black man living somewhere in the Long Mountain", his movement certainly made news.  In one less-than-complimentary account, Bedward's crusade was described as "one of the most painful and saddening [phenomena] that could possibly be witnessed by anyone of ordinary intelligence, who has his country's good at heart …. [T]he seething mass of ignorance … congregates in the vicinity without a blush of shame at the credulity and infatuation which is [sic] on every side exhibited". 

Not only did Bedward's followers gather to hear him speak, they also brought bottles, jugs, and anything else capable of holding the precious spring water to bring back to their homes.  There were also the invalids who came hoping for divine healing including "lepers, people with running sores, the crippled and deformed, blind, consumptive, asthmatic and in fact every complaint known in the medical world".

The local authorities and clergy were especially outraged by the healing sessions featuring nude men and women bathing together by the thousands. Medical doctors denounced Bedward for his outlandish claims and the false hope he gave patients.  Stung by his numerous critics, Bedward remained defiant during his Wednesday sessions and people still gathered at the river for healing.  The Daily Gleaner gave regular editorials denouncing the "Bedward craze" and unsavory hints at his family's previous attempts at having him committed began to surface.  Meanwhile, the "Bedwardites" (as they were being called) were making arrangements to build a temple to honour their prophet.  Colonial authorities were increasingly worried by Bedward's sermons directed against the upper-class Jamaicans who "grabbed the substance of the poor". 

On January 16, 1895, Alexander Bedward gave a sermon denouncing the white minority and predicted the end of the world in which the wicked would be punished and the faithful rewarded.  He railed against the government and the Clergy as "vagabonds, thieves, robbers and liars" and called on his followers to drive out the white population.  That was enough for the government to lay a charge of seditious language against him and Bedward was quickly arrested. His subsequent trial in April of that same year (with an all-white jury) returned a verdict of Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity.  Although Bedward was sent to a local asylum, he was released a few weeks later after a successful appeal.  Bedward returned to his mission and the healing sessions went on as before (though he eventually insisted that his followers be fully clothed when they bathed in the river).

Although skeptics claimed that Bedwardism would eventually "run its course", the movement continued into the early years of the 20th century.  By 1910, Bedward and his followers had built an impressive compound in August Town complete with a chapel.  While Alexander Bedward was still seen as a threat by the colonial authorities, he had enough support to prevent any attempt at arresting him again.  It's hard to say how  far the movement might have gone if Bedward hadn't had one final vision...

In 1920, believing that the millennium was at hand, Alexander Bedward announced to this followers that he would ascend into heaven on December 31, 1920. As you might expect, the Gleaner scoffed at this revelation but thousands of his followers gathered at the compound in hope of being "saved".  Many of these followers sold all their possessions and the tailor shop on site provided simple white gowns for them to wear for the big event.  Due to fear of rioting (and a possible black uprising), a military regiment was sent in to maintain order.  Throughout the day, Bedward's followers were repeatedly told that his ascension was postponed (he had originally promised that it would happen at ten in the morning).  By late afternoon, the followers were told that the ascension would be "spiritual" rather than physical and, by evening, most of the followers went home disappointed.

Although this event broke up much of Bedward's support, he was still able to rally six hundred followers for a "manifestation" in Kingston that following year.  Police took no chances and promptly arrested him and many of his followers.  Once again, he was declared Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity but there was no release this time.  Up until his death in 1930, Alexander Bedward was held in Jamaica's Bellevue Asylum. 

Much like Richard Brothers and Joanna Southcott before him, Bedward's supporters slowly drifted away following his imprisonment and death.  Many of these followers later became part of Marcus Garvey's Pan-African movement as well as the growing Rastafarian religion.  In some circles, Bedward is still considered a martyr and an early leader in Jamaican nationalism.  Leaving aside questions about his mental state, his religious crusade inspired tens of thousands of people at the peak of his popularity.  

Although I have focused on three very different prophets in this series, the similarities among their movements and the people who believed in them seem apparent enough.  So why do some religious leaders launch major movements that continue after their death while others sink into obscurity?  Heaven only knows.

Witchcraft Accusations Lead to Increase in UK Child Abuse Cases

Child protection workers across the United Kingdom are reporting a startling rise in recent cases of child abuse linked to accusations of witchcraft, possession, and black magic.  Cases linked to harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation are also reportedly on the rise.   

While the highest number of cases were reported in Lancashire, Bradford, and Leeds, nearly two thousand child protection cases resulting from matters of religion and belief in supernatural causes were reported nationwide.  This amounts to thirty-eight new cases coming to light each week.   While incidents of abuse linked to faith or belief were less visible in the past, high-profile cases have made social workers agencies better able to identify religious and cultural factors that can underlie child abuse.  

Abuse in these cases often result from a belief in evil spirits that can “possess” children.  Since possessed children are believed to be able to infect others through sharing food, or simply being in their presence, they are often subjected to torture in an attempt to "drive out" the evil.    Other signs of "possession" can include normal rebelliousness, nightmares, or simply falling ill.   Children are also sometimes made into scapegoats due to various family misfortunes including job loss,  financial problems, marital difficulties,  illness, or death.

Among the cases that have come to light in recent years was that of fifteen-year-old Kristy Bamu who died in 2010 during the course of an attempted exorcism by his sister Magalie Bamu and her partner, Eric Bikubi.   Kristy and his sisters had been accused of witchcraft and subjected to horrific torture that only ended when Kristy confessed to being a sorcerer.  He was then drowned and an autopsy found over one hundred injuries on his body.   Bikubi and Bamu both received life sentences.

In a similar case, seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq was deliberately starved to death in 2008 by her mother Angela Gordon, and her partner, Junaid Abuhamza, in a Birmingham apartment.   While the motive for this crime was never made clear, police linked it to the "strong belief in evil spirits" shared by Gordon and Abumhanza.   Both received extended prison sentences.  

But cases of female children as either having had or at risk for female genital mutilation are also at a record high.   In 2018/2019, there were 1000 such cases reported, up six percent from the previous year.    “Rising cases of FGM and child abuse linked to faith or belief are extremely worrying and are destroying the lives of children and young people in communities across the country,” said Cllr Anita Lower, the Local Government Association’s lead on FGM. “Social workers have become better at identifying the signs of FGM and belief-related abuse, but the true incidence rate is likely to be higher as these crimes are under-reported.”

Though FGM remains illegal under UK law, girls ranging in age from infancy to the onset of puberty are often 

Despite the rising number of cases reported, most of which involve people from cultures with a strong tradition of witchcraft and spirit possession, Metropolitan police warn against stigmatizing immigrant communities as belief in the supernatural can be found in all cultures.

For more information

 

 

Making a Prophet (Part One)

We may never know for sure what first inspired Richard Brothers to declare himself "Prince of the Hebrews" but his strange career as a prophet, and the followers who believed in him, makes for quite a story.

He was born in Placentia, Newfoundland in 1757 (on Christmas Day of course) and his father, an English soldier stationed there during the Seven Years' War, arranged for his son to be educated in England.  After graduating from the naval school at Woolwich, Brothers embarked on a naval career and was promoted to Lieutenant before retiring in 1783.  Serving in the merchant marines, he traveled across Europe before settling down and marrying in 1786.  The marriage didn't last long (it ended quickly when he learned about his wife's infidelity).  Whether due to his marital breakdown or growing religious fervour, Richard Brothers began to question whether his oath of loyalty to the British government was consistent with his religious beliefs.  This refusal to swear the oath cost him his military pension.

During this same period, he began an intense reading of the Bible as well as various other religious works (including the mystical writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg).  Losing his pension meant that he had no money to pay his rent and he was forced into a workhouse to support himself (this was mandatory due to the UK's Poor Law system at the time).  For whatever reason, Brothers began to experience religious visions during the six months he spent in the workhouse, most of them focusing on the role that the British people would play in the reclaiming of Palestine and his own unique role as a prophet.  In one of these visions, Brothers heard the voice of an angel proclaiming the fall of London (which the angel called Babylon the Great).  After Brothers pleaded with the angel for mercy towards the city, God reportedly agreed to spare London for a time.  He also reported that a "heavenly lady" would eventually descend from Heaven to shower him with the love and happiness that his religious views convinced him he deserved.

By 1782, Richard Brothers had a new mission.  In addition to being a prophet of the Lord, he also had the gift of healing.  Although large crowds dutifully gathered, his spiritual gifts were never all that spectacular and his "miracles" tended not to impress too many skeptics. For that reason, the doubters were hardly convinced when Brothers announced that he had been chosen as an apostle of a new religion.  As the new "Prince of the Hebrews", it was his responsibility to lead the Jews back to Palestine and reclaim God's kingdom.  As a descendant of the House of David and "Nephew of the Almighty",  it was Brothers who would identify the "hidden Jews" among the people of England ignorant of their true heritage.  Armed with a rod of rosewood that he had carved himself, the new Prince announced that he would use it to work miracles much as Moses had done before.

A pamphlet that Brothers published in 1794 was titled, A REVEALED KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROPHECIES AND TIMES, Book the First, wrote [sic] under the direction of the LORD GOD and published by His Sacred Command, it being the first sign of Warning for the benefit of All Nations; Containing with other great and remarkable things not revealed to any other Person on Earth, the Restoration of the Hebrews to Jerusalem by the year of 1798 under their revealed Prince and Prophet (i.e., Richard Brothers). In his work, Brothers declared that the people of Western Europe (and especially the British people) were the descendants of the ten Lost Tribes of Israel and that the "hidden Jews" of England would be part of the new Kingdom of God on Earth.  While he wasn't the only prophet preaching the notion of Anglo-Israelism, Brothers was definitely the most flamboyant.  He actually attracted a quite a following for a while, including  prominent clergymen, politicians, and writers. 

Richard Brothers' crusade was sabotaged by his own lack of good judgment, unfortunately.  Not only did he prophesy the death of King George III, he also denounced the war against France as "many men fighting against the Spirit of God".  After declaring that "God will break the Empire in pieces" due to British colonialism, he was soon charged with "fond and fantastical prophecies" and quickly declared to be criminally insane in 1795.  Still,  the intervention of one of his disciples (who also happened to be a member of Parliament) led to Brothers being sent to a private asylum in Islington instead of Bedlam.  Despite his incarceration, he kept on writing pamphlets and made numerous predictions relating to world events.  Brothers also spent the last thirty years of his life designing palaces, government buildings, and uniforms for the New Jerusalem that would arise after he was revealed as Prince of the Hebrews and Ruler of the World on November 19, 1795.  Suffice it to say, this particular prophecy didn't pan out. 

In writing about his imprisonment in the asylum, Brothers wrote, ""No man must be deemed insane who is inoffensive in his actions, and is civil in his actions, and is civil in his language, who is able to work at any kind of employment for a livelihood, to receive or give instructions, or to take proper care of himself. All men are not born with the same faculties for learning, teaching, inventing or executing; and wisely has God ordered it so, to make the diversity of properties in the mind appear, by the greater variety of ways and improvements for the general good of all."  The fact that he and his followers were considered to be lunatics weighed heavily on him but he never recanted his crusade.

Richard Brothers was finally released from the asylum in 1806 but his followers had largely abandoned him by then.  He died in the home of his last follower, John Finlayson in 1824.  Even after Brothers' death, Finlayson continued writing pamphlets and manifestos describing the new Christian kingdom and generally trying to keep Brothers' crusade going.  Despite his best efforts, Richard Brothers was quickly forgotten although other prophets with a similar message developed followings of their own. 

Next installment on Sunday.

Continue to Part Two

Sacrificing Edith

On May 1, 1879, Charles F. Freeman plunged a knife into his five-year-old daughter, Edith,  apparently believing that it was God's will.  As his wife would later testify, he then walked the room with her dead body as he prayed and wept   Afterward, he  took the body to bed with him and kept it with him all night.   On the following morning, Freeman then gathered his fellow worshippers together and proclaimed that God would raise her up on the third day.  

He didn't.

Charles Freeman was a farmer who lived with his wife and two children in the tiny village of Pocasset, Massachusetts (now part of the township of Bourne).   Having converted to  Second Adventistism a year before, Freeman had become a leader among the local believers and was well-known for his fiery sermons.  The Second Adventism movement was a radical offshoot of the Adventist church founded by Willliam Miller in 1844.   After the Great Disappointment, when Miller's apocalyptic predictions failed to materialize, the sect which Charles Freeman joined continued to preach the imminent coming of Christ.   Along with their message of salvation, the Second Adventists also fanatically proclaimed that God would send signs to announce Christ's Second Coming.

As for Charles Freeman, he became convinced that God had a special purpose for him, both as a missionary to the unbelieving and to rally those believers whose faith was lagging.   Believing that he needed to make a great sacrifice to prove God's power, Freeman became inspired by the story of Abraham being called on to sacrifice his son Isaac.   He would later report that, two weeks before Edith's murder, he had heard God commanding him to sacrifice a member of his family.   After discussing this command with his wife (whom he ordered not to "stand in the Lord's way"), the only question remaining was who was to be sacrificed.   As Freeman would later report, though he prayed that he would be the one chosen, he was told in a dream that his daughter, Edith, was the one who had to be killed.   Edith was the youngest in the family and the favourite child which presumably made her the ultimate test of her father's faith.

While his wife Harriet objected to Edith's death,  she gave in eventually when Freeman insisted that God would either reconsider at the last moment (as in the story of Abraham and Isaac), or else Edith would be resurrected on the third day.   After the older daughter, Bessie, was taken out of the room by her mother,  Freeman then carried out his murder plan.

On the following day, Charles Freeman called together all of his fellow sect members and told them what he had done.   While he had described his plan for a great sacrifice, nobody had any idea that he would kill his daughter.   Amazingly enough, the fellow-worshippers declared that Freeman had been right to carry out such an act of faith and praised him for it.   They also agreed that God would raise Edith up on the third day as a sign for the unbelievers. 

What followed was a bizarre "wake" (in every sense of the word) as Freeman and his followers waited for Edith to be resurrected.    In an interview with a local newspaper, Edith's grandmother asked the reporter not to say anything to the surviving child about her sister's death.   The rationale appeared to be that Edith would be resurrected soon enough with no harm done.    When nothing happened on the third day (or afterward), the sect members were genuinely astonished.  Some even went so far as to accuse God of breaking His promise with Freeman by not raising Edith.  Not surprisingly, Charles Freeman had already been arrested for his daughter's murder.

The funeral for Edith Freeman was widely attended.   According to the newspaper description,  the Methodist church where the funeral was held was packed to capacity with hundreds more standing outside the building.   The Adventists were all in attendance, most keeping an eye on Edith's coffin hoping for a last-minute miracle, and the tension between the Adventists and the rest of the community was understandably high.   After the pastor lectured the Adventists on their false beliefs, the new Adventist leader (replacing Freeman who was in jail), Alden P. Davis, was prevented from making a speech under threat of arrest. 

Not deterred, Davis managed to make his speech in the churchyard after the service.   The speech, which contained a stirring endorsement of Charles Freeman and his sacrifice, stirred up the crowd even further, including threats of forming a lynch mob.   While no violence broke out, it was likely a near thing.    Even other evangelists expressed their horror at the murder.  An editorial in the New York Evangelist published shortly afterward stated that,

"We hope that this murderer would be treated as all murderers should be, and that it will not be admitted that religious fanaticism is to justify human sacrifices. The law expressly holds that crime committed while a man is intoxicated as if the man was sober; and so Mormons, Adventists, and Spiritualists should be held responsible for offences against law, notwithstanding their pretended revelations of a higher law. There is no safety in society if any other principle prevails.

Though Harriet Freeman was regarded as a willing participant in Edith's  death, she was later released and Charles Freeman was indicted for murder.  

At a special session of the Supreme Court on January 1880, a sanity hearing was held and several medical experts argued that Freeman was fit to stand trial.  John Davis Long, who was governor of Massachusetts at the time, then ordered Freeman sent to the nearby Danvers Lunatic Hospital where he would be held for the next three years.   In a new sanity hearing held in 1883, Freeman insisted that he fully recognized killing his daughter in a  fit of madness.  Stating that his stay in Danvers taught him enough about mental illness to recognize it in himself, he pointed out in his testimony:

"When I got to Danvers, I found a condition of things with which I was wholly unfamiliar.  I found people there who saw God and had communication with Christ, who believe that they were with Christ, who believed they had special revelations, who interpreted signs.  The question arose in my mind, knowing as I did, that these men were insane, unreliable men, many of them filthy and others treacherous, knowing them to be insane, the question arose in my mind whether I was also not insane."  

During his testimony, Freeman wept openly on the witness stand as he described what had led him to kill his daughter.  "I was sent to the insane hospital. and, as I have just stated, I saw my error," he said. "I regret it as the most dreadful act that was ever perpetrated.  I feel that I have been victimized.  I do not blame any person or persons, but I consider it an unfortunate affair from the beginning and for which perhaps no one person has been responsible." 

The prosecutor questioning him was very careful to point out the legal implication of Freeman giving in to his religious visions.  To that,  Freeman replied that "I thought we ought to obey God rather than man."   As for the question of remorse, Charles Freeman's answer was likely less than what the courts deemed acceptable: "I can not conceive of an honest man feeling remorse if he acts up to the very highest concept of his duty at the time."   He did feel that he had enough of religion and vowed never to return to Pocasset or the Second Adventists   All that his release plan involved was to find a job and to support his wife and remaining daughter. 

Harriet Freeman described her husband as being kind to his children and being a good provider for this family.  After his religious conversion in 1879, everything changed.  Not only did he neglect his business and devote himself to Second Adventistism, he also began experiencing visions telling him to send a message  to the world.. His newfound religious enthusiasm certainly caused problems with the rest of his family (his brother-in-law threatened to shoot him at one point due to his proselytizing).  

The presiding judge declared that he had no doubt over Charles Freeman's fitness to stand trial.   That trial was then held in December of  the same year and the outcome was never in doubt.  Not only did the court hear evidence from several medical experts that Freeman had been insane at the time of the murder but even his defense attorney wholeheartedly agreed that he was insane.   

In her own testimony,  Harriet Freeman provided more details about the vision in which he had been told to sacrifice Edith came after several days of going without food and sleep.  Though she admitted to agreeing with her husband that he needed to sacrifice their young daughter, she defended herself by saying that she could not believe that he would ever hurt Edith.   She regarded it as a test of faith, much like Abraham and Isaac, and that God would stop him from going too far.  Describing how her husband had acted on previous occasions, she said that his faith had been tested in the past and that he would not be allowed to do anything to endanger their children. 

On the night that Edith died however, she was told by her husband that God had asked him to make a great sacrifice.  She then saw him "leave the room, and when he came back he had the child in his arms; it was dead; he walked the room with it and prayed and wept; he took it to bed with him and kept it with him all night; the whole scene is like a terrible dream, which one remembers, but can't distinctly connect, and which, when I try to think of it, seems like an awful recollection." 

Weighing all the evidence, Judge Morton declared that he had never seen such a case in which there was no conflict in the testimony.   Since Charles Freeman faced the death penalty for Edith's murder, the judge fully recommended that the jury find him not guilty by reason of insanity.    The jury agreed and returned that verdict after only ten minutes of deliberation.   Charles Freeman was  sentenced to the Danvers Lunatic Hospital for the rest of his life. 

What little information there is on the Freeman case seems to end with his sentencing.  During his trial, he indicated that he functioned well in the Danvers hospital and seemed resigned to work there in one of the jobs assigned to inmates.  I have been unable to find out what became of him and how long he lived after his sentencing.   As well, the fate of Harriet Freeman and her surviving daughter isn't given either.  

While religious fundamentalism is still widespread, the case of Charles Freeman continues to resonates today.   The religious hysteria that apparently drove him to kill his young daughter has its parallels in similar cases, often involving exorcism to "drive out" evil influences.  Still, the death of Edith Freeman provides important lessons in avoiding other tragedies    Not only in terms of watching for the kind of hallucinations and delusions that can lead to murder, but also the bizarre enabling behaviour shown by Harriet Freeman and her husband's fellow believers.  Would Charles Freeman have committed murder without the support provided by Harriet and the others?  And where to draw the line between religious mania and mental illness?

Questions that need to be asked, time and again.