I am really delighted to be in Malawi for this year's humanist conference.

This humanist gathering is yet another clear testimony of the great work Paul, George, Ollen and the rest of you at the Association of Secular Humanists of Malawi are doing.

Please keep it up. Last year we held a small but significant conference here in Malawi. And like I said at that meeting and later in my report, that convention did not reflect the humanist potentials of this country. It did not. And as you can see from the turn out to this year's meeting and other developments since last year, the great days of humanism in Malawi still lie ahead.

But I want you to know that these days will not come if we do not exercise diligence and make the necessary sacrifice. Yes here in Malawi we have some hard and tough choices to make in order put organized humanism in this country on a firm footing.

And that is why I must commend you all for the progress the Malawian humanist movement has recorded so far since last year. Just within one year, you appointed an executive director who has been very active and has worked hard to raise the profile of organized humanism in the country. George has worked to get your organization registered with the government. He has also made humanism visible in the local media. Thank you George for these new directions you have given organized humanism in Malawi. As you know tough and difficult days still lie ahead.

I hope you can sustain the momentum. And I wish you the best of luck. Fellow humanists, our group in Malawi couldn't have recorded this progress without the able and dynamic leadership of our friend and colleague Dr Paul Muyemyembe. With Dr Paul as the leader, I think the humanist movement in Malawi is in the right hand.

Dr Paul I thank you for your pioneering efforts and distinguished service to the humanist cause. I assure you that generations from now Malawians will look back to your humanist work with thanks and gratitude. And good to see you. I want you all to know that IHEU is pleased to support your efforts to strengthen organized humanism in Malawi.

But I must add that IHEU will work with you, IHEU will not work for you. You need to do your own bit of the work. And as you do that you will find in IHEU both supporters and friends.

Friends, It is encouraging to see humanist groups and individual activists emerge in countries where until recently none existed. It is exciting to see that humanism in Africa is growing from strength to strength.

Fellow Humanists, we need to sustain this momentum. We need to seize this window of opportunity and ensure that the growth and development of humanism in Africa continues. Because that is the only way humanism can fulfill its role of awakening the people of this continent from their dogmatic, superstitious and supernatural slumber.

Early in this 21st century Africa is asleep. Most parts of the continent

are lying prostrate and stagnant mainly due to religious fanaticism, irrationalism and superstition. And I am going to illustrate this using the articles published in the local media in the last few months as a result of the debate on religion and witchcraft. Since I arrived my attention has been drawn to the views espoused by Malawians on these important themes particularly those published by Pastor Nick Chakwera in his Column, Faith and Reason. Even though Nick calls his column Faith and Reason, I really didn’t see much reasoning in his own writings except that he allows opposing rationalist views to be published. Left for Nick this column will be used as another pulpit to promote faith-christian faith at the expense of reason. I am glad that the Association of Secular Humanism exists in this country and has not allowed that to happen.

Friends, this is part of the tragedy we are facing in Africa. We pay lip service to reason and because we have failed to illumine our society with the rational light, the rational good have continuously eluded us.

This is evident in Chakwera's articles on Easter without Genesis? (Malawi News March 2009), The Phenomenally Dumb (PhD) (Malawi News May 2, 2009), End of Atheism (Malawi News May 30 2009), The ABC of Reality Malawi News May 23- 29 2009, My Response to Feedback (Malawi News June 13 2009) Is Witchcraft Real? (Malawi News August 8 2009), Uhmm! Some Corrections (Malawi News August 29, 2009) etc. From what I could see Nick has used his column to wage a pointless war against humanists, atheists and freethinkers, portraying them as those who do not have strong and credible convictions. In his writings Nick goes out of his way to discredit science, reason and critical thought. He tries to whip up religious sentiments to support his weak, porous and flawed arguments while celebrating blind faith, unreason, the infallibility of Christian faith and the Bible, parochialism, ignorance, fear, magical thinking, myth making, misinformation and baseless speculation.

Nick Chakwera's thoughts and views are a reflection of the intellectual rot and cultural darkness in Malawi and in the rest of Africa, caused by religious indoctrination and brainwashing. It is sad and unfortunate that today most Africans can no longer think or reason for themselves. Most people are afraid to think- afraid to apply their reason to issues that affect their lives. And as you know anyone who cannot think for himself is a slave.

Most Africans do not want or are reluctant to exercise, entertain or tolerate any thought or view that is not in accordance with so called Word of God(as if God speaks or has ever spoken) which for the Christians is the Bible and for Muslims, the Koran. What a shame Friends, it is a big shame that Africans can no longer express original and independent thought without pandering to the scriptures. Because they are afraid of contradicting or of saying something that is in conflict or could be critical of what is literally a primitive text. Africans must wake up to the idea that the Bible (or the Koran as the case may be) is an outdated piece of literature that cannot guide our generation. Yes the Bible is a book from questionable sources, filled with lies and falsehood and should not be made the an unquestionable standard for our thought and morality. The Bible corrupts the mind, distorts reality, misrepresents facts and hampers clear, critical and commonsensical thinking. I want to add that because Africans have refused to think clearly, critically and independently, Africans have refused to grow, develop and flourish intellectually socially and morally. Africa will not renew and recreate itself. And the black continent will continue to play a second fiddle to other continents that value critical thinking, scientific temper and technological intelligence.

This is manifestly clear in the efforts to combat witchcraft in Africa. Witchcraft is a primitive superstition which predates the advent of Christianity. And like all superstitions, witchcraft is a belief informed by fear and ignorance. For centuries witchcraft has been used to perpetrate and justify atrocious acts and human rights abuses. Witchcraft has corrupted efforts to explain issues, understand and tackle problems commonsensical. Today efforts to eradicate this mistaken belief and the problems it is causing in Malawi and in other African countries are being undermined by Christian fanatics who use the Bible to justify, fuel and incite witchcraft accusation, witch persecution and killing.

Nick Chakwera pitched his tent with these evangelical throw backs when he said that witchcraft was real. What a misleading assertion. And he went ahead to use Biblical verses to support this erroneous opinion. Of course he was greatly mistaken. Biblical verses are not evidence (That the Bible says so does not make it so). The Bible supports witchcraft because the people who wrote it were witchcraft believers. Nick like most people in Malawi and throughout Africa cannot draw a clear distinction between the reality of a belief and the reality of what is believed in. He does not know that a 'real belief' does not imply the reality of what is believed in. In fact belief does not confer reality on what is believed in. Belief does not make a fiction fact. One can believe in something that is real or unreal, in a fact or in a fiction. One can mistakenly believe a fiction to be a fact or a fiction fact. That a belief is entertained for a long time by the majority of the people-by the elders, by men and women of God- does not make what is believed in real. Myths and misconceptions abound in human cultures. And witchcraft is one of those myths that abound in African culture. Witchcraft is a misconception of nature and how nature works.

Witchcraft is a 'real belief' in what is unreal-witches and wizards. Witches are imaginary entities without any real existence. Africans need to wake up to the fact that there are no witches or wizards. That witchcraft is superstition and has no basis in reason, science or common sense.The time has come for Africa to do away with this primitive superstition.

Fellow humanists we need to take this message of enlightenment and intellectual awakening to all parts of Malawi; to our families, friends and communities; to our schools, colleges and universities; to our politicians and lawmakers, to all churches and mosques, to all pastors. Imams and witchdoctors particularly now Malawians are considering enacting legislation against teaching children witchcraft.

But I know this is not going to be an easy task especially with reports of witch aircrafts flying and crashing in Malawi, with Malawian women giving birth to 'baby-stones' and with pastors and witchcraft doctors fuelling witchcraft belief and other superstitions through their preaching’s and activities.

Still I want to assure you of the support of IHEU and other humanist and freethought groups around the world as you embark on this important campaign.

Thank you