Dear Baya,

Do you believe in witchcraft? Do you believe in witches? I know you wrote a book about witchcraft when you were younger and have lived in a village in Nepal where people believe there are witches. It would be great to hear what you think.

Of course, it's more serious than that. You've often explained to me that witchcraft beliefs weren't completely crazy. If we suffer - we are very sick or a friend is killed in a car crash - we ask what caused this. If the pain is great we may find it difficult to accept that God did this. Surely He wouldn't hurt us so, and, if He does, does it mean that we also have to blame ourselves for the sin which made Him angry? Wouldn't it be better to blame someone else - a witch?

That's the sort of thing you mentioned, but I'd like you to explain it in a little more detail.

And if witchcraft is a reasonable explanation which many people have adopted, how did the beliefs decline to my world where we tend not to blame witches? How did we give them up?

And if people believe in witches, how do they know a person is a witch? Isn't there a danger of false accusations and confessions, especially if torture is used?

So, I'm not talking Harry Potter stuff, but a really serious (but brief, please) explanation of the beliefs in evil people. This might also help me to understand why people 'demonize' others and why people talk of attacks on supposed communists or others as 'witch hunts'.

Lots of love,