Initiation as Abuse?: Exploring Allegations of Child Endangering Against Devotees of Africana Religions

Over the past forty years, litigants in U.S. and Brazilian courts have repeatedly questioned whether devotees of Santeria, Vodou, Voodoo, and Palo Mayombe are harming children when they include them in rituals and ceremonies. This presentation will explore two of those cases, one from the United States and one from Brazil, where claims of abuse were based solely on the child undergoing normal initiation processes in an African diaspora religion. It will compare the cases to one another, exploring the similarities and differences in the practices that were identified as the supposed harm. It will also examine the analogous defenses that the devotees raised to challenge the charges of abuse and the disparate outcomes of the cases.