Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Occasionally you trip over some insanity that causes you to wonder what the heck folks were smoking when decisions were being made. The latest example of this is the news here in the New Zealand Herald that the goverment there is funding a homophobic cult to the tune of $860,000. These folks truly believe that … Read more
One little flaw … the belief that only a deity can help is not true.
Belief in faith healing is fairly common, but for most mainstream believers, prayer is generally an addition to proper medical care, not an alternative. Sadly there are some to do indeed view faith healing as the only viable approach to illness and decline all medical care. One such example is a group who call themselves the “Followers of Christ” and are based in Oregon City.
A basic human right is freedom of thought. In essence, folks can believe whatever they wish, so best of luck to them in all such endeavors. Well OK, perhaps we can ourselves exercise another freedom, that of speech, and mock such silly beliefs, however beyond all this is a far deeper concern here – what about their kids?
They don’t get to choose, but instead have this nonsense inflicted upon them, sometimes with dire consequences.
We are all aware that there are clerics who have jumped on HMS Delusional and left the shores of reality far behind, but every now and then one comes along who is pushing out further into the unexplored territory of utter stupidity. It is usually the Islamic ones who do this, as in this latest example, but I have no specific Islamic bias here; if you scan across the entire belief spectrum, you will, without looking too hard, find numerous examples.
(warning: put you coffee down now, or it will end up splatted across your screen)
We have prominent Egyptian Salafi Shaykh Abi-Ishaq al-Huwayni who suggests that Muslims who have a few financial difficulties should go on jihadist raids a few times a year, and bring back prisoners, including women and children, which can be sold in the market like groceries to bring in extra income when times are tough …
<insert stunned silence here>
The manner in which the Catholic church handles the topic of AIDS is quite frankly bizarre, and illustrates the degree of their utter moral bankruptcy. It is highly ironic, not only because they claim to hold the high moral ground, but also because they claim to have an exclusive direct line to God. This of course is a complete delusion, but I need not ponder on that, it is blindly obvious to any critical thinker.
The latest news is that a Vatican cardinal, Cardinal Tarcisio Berton, opened an international conference on AIDS with a speech that strongly defended the church’s two-pronged strategy against the disease – education of consciences and mobilization of Catholic health resources for patients.