The main justification for this law?

[Jinx999]

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc ... peal/8103/
Appararently it helps by preventing lynching.

[Epsilon]

You know what else would prevent lynching?
Taking any person who participates in a lynching and throwing him in jail for the rest of his life. Continue this until people get the message that the government determines punishment, not the mob.
---------------------
Epsilon

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

With the population as a whole truly believing in witchcraft, that approach would get the government lynched.  Assuming you could find enough officials who didn't believe to start such a program in the first place.
Central Africa isn't like medieval Europe, where you'd occasionally get bursts of witch-hunting hysteria.  The dominant paradigm is that every bad thing that happens, everywhere and at all times, must be the fault of a witch.
Fighting that is going to take more than just throwing a few people in jail.
--Sam
"This is graveness."

[robkelk]

You know what else would prevent lynching?
Taking any person who participates in a lynching and throwing him in jail for the rest of his life. Continue this until people get the message that the government determines punishment, not the mob.

First they would need to build a jail...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Epsilon]

If the problem is their backwards, toxic, ridiculous religious beliefs then those should be destroyed first.
---------------
Epsilon

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

If the problem is their backwards, toxic, ridiculous religious beliefs then those should be destroyed first.
---------------
Epsilon

My point.
--Sam
"I weave a lethal net of baked goods that few can escape."

[Ayiekie]

The population as a whole in Europe and America believes in witchcraft too.

Or in homeopathy, crystals, stainless steel/copper/magnetic bands, horoscopes, biorhythms, hypnotherapy, vitamin C for colds, crop circles, that the US government keeps aliens at Area 51, the evil of vaccinations, and many, many, many other things that are on the same level of credulousness.

(Then, of course, there's the fact that many people in Europe and America literally believe in witchcraft due to their religion.)

Of course, they're generally better educated, so they have a lot less excuse.

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

To be sure, those poisonous religious beliefs should be gotten rid of too.
The difference here is in fervor of belief (not magnitude, mind you) and frequency of application to daily life...
--Sam
"You broke my cure for cancer!"

[CattyNebulart]

that the US government keeps aliens at Area 51,

To be fair that one at least used too be true, there where Illegal Aliens working in are 51 as Janitors.

Granted you meant a slightly different kind of alien, but still.

Nutritional Science is surprisingly hard and complicated, and studies often post inconsistent results. At least getting large amounts of Vitamin C is unlikely to harm the person (for a variety of reasons).

Granted I agree that the other believes weather it is in Harry Potter or in their Invisible Friend in the Sky have proven harmful in the past and should be eradicated, but doing it in a way that doesn't trample people's rights is tricky.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Ayiekie]

I've yet to see a single study suggest that Vitamin C cures colds. Plus I'd probably never have had one in my life if it did. That it's good for you (and good at preventing scurvy!) doesn't make it any less bunk that Vitamin C tablets are sold as cold remedies.

And while it ventures into more controversial territory to say so, I'll also note that countless people have suffered and even been murdered due to many Westerner's conviction that a bearded man in the sky made the planet with a strict "men can't have sex with each other" rule.

The more I think about it, the more depressingly close it seems "modern" society really is to this story.

[Black Aeronaut]

Sheesh. So someone that predicts the weather would be accused of witchcraft and sent of to the pen? Somebody build some schools quick, 'cause DAYUM!

[CattyNebulart]

I've yet to see a single study suggest that Vitamin C cures colds. Plus I'd probably never have had one in my life if it did. That it's good for you (and good at preventing scurvy!) doesn't make it any less bunk that Vitamin C tablets are sold as cold remedies.

Granted, but the comparative harm is quite low. you spend some money, spread the cold a bit and get better. Compare this with say drinking radioactive water because it's supposed to be good for you...

Or even worse that sex with a virgin will cure aids (a common belief in Africa).

Those believes do direct harm to you and those around you.

And while it ventures into more controversial territory to say so, I'll also note that countless people have suffered and even been murdered due to many Westerner's conviction that a bearded man in the sky made the planet with a strict "men can't have sex with each other" rule.

Yes I did note invisible friend in the sky as a harmful belief.

The more I think about it, the more depressingly close it seems "modern" society really is to this story.

I agree, the problem is with those meatbags whose mind places greater emphasis on anecdote instead of statistically significant data, and who try so hard to find patterns that they see them even if they don't exist. and where self-deception is critical to the proper functioning of the mind... Maybe if we outlaw humans the problem will go away? ;P
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."