Christian witchdoctors? Christian cults?

This is a problem. I am reminded of the Kenyan missionary who told me one time that the biggest problem of Christianity in that nation were the 300 "Christian cults." Sort of a "Jesus - and..." dynamic. But, ah, having to warn your priests?

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Southern Africa's Catholic bishops have warned priests to stop moonlighting as witchdoctors, fortune tellers and traditional healers, and to rely on Christ for miracles.

The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, which represents bishops in South Africa, Swaziland and Botswana, said on its Web sites some priests were adopting the traditional African practice of calling on ancestors for healing.

The bishops ordered priests to "desist from practices involving spirits", and to steer clear from witchcraft, fortune-telling and selling spiritual powers or magic medicines.

"The belief that ancestors are endowed with supernatural powers borders on idolatry. It is God, and God alone, who is all-powerful while the ancestors are created by him," said the pastoral letter to priests issued earlier this month.

Some Christian sects, like the South Africa-based Zion Christian Church, fuse traditional African beliefs about the power of the ancestors with orthodox Christianity.

Some things are just not meant to be grafted in. Wonder - does America have a similar problem. Say...God and mammon, for starters.