The idea that religion is harmless and that it is good for people, is patently false.
The raging torrent of evil shit that religion is responsible for claims more victims every second we allow magical thinking to be acceptable and “OK” in our society. It is a double header today, two videos for the price of one post.
Magical thinking kills children. Belief in god kills children. Christianity when insulated far enough away from the light of reason, kills children. Here is one instance, this child died surrounded by adults who were praying to god to restore her to health. She fracking had diabetes. Diabetes is a treatable condition with access to medical treatment.
But no. That is a little too sane. A little too rational.
The father testified in court that he thought “God would heal his daughter…”
The mother, a good ‘christian’ woman was also convicted and could face up to 25 years for her ignorance along with her husband. Send them away for 100 years, it does not matter as the damage is already done. The child is dead because her parents were mired in wilful religious ignorance. They were living in a foolish bronze age delusion that encourages belief in magic and myth at the expense of the real and the rational.
Our tour de force of religious stupidity limps onward. First on the agenda the book called “To Train up a Child” by Michael and Debi Pearl(their website has ‘mysteriously gone 404, since their book was instrumental in the death and torture of children, go figure). This ‘child rearing book’ prescription for the torture and abuse of children is an absolute travesty and prima facie evidence for how religion cloaks itself in morality while advocating the exact opposite.
Want to see evil in action? Let’s grab a review from Christianbook.com. (TW for ignorance and sadism)
If your a christain the bible clearly instructs us to use the rod, ” Withhold not correction from the child; for if thou BEATEST him with the ROD, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the ROD, and shalt deliver his soul from hell (Prov 23:13-14).” “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chastenth him betimes (Prov. 13.24).” “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child let to himself bringeth his mother to shame(Prov. 29:15).” “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child: but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him (Prov 22:15).” How can you misinterpet that? (Jesus-fuck, how indeed could you misinterpret that? I mean other than using your rationality and moral instincts to identify that the abuse and torture of children is wrong, how could you?)
They only beat her for 7 hours before she died.
Read that again. If you’re not feeling a little (or a lot) sick to your stomach by now, you have a problem, because you’re not grasping the enormity of the evil being perpetrated here. These people, backed by their particular religious nonsense, tortured to death an innocent child. There is no morality to be found in religion.
I point to QualiaSoup’s assertion on what morality actually is: “Empathy, Experience, Reason and Knowledge – When we KNOW better, we can DO better. It does not get any more straightforward than this. Religion is a barrier to knowing better and therefore has no place in any rational system of morals. How many more grievous examples do we need before we can finally say that religion is an (ongoing) atrocity and a putrid stain on humankind that needs to be banished for the good of the species?
16 comments
August 21, 2011 at 1:43 pm
What’s the difference between religious belief and quackery? « Questionable Motives
[…] gamut from exercising quaint beliefs – some of which motivate the killing of children (see here and here) to outright medical quackery and no human society – no matter how developed in […]
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August 22, 2011 at 12:00 am
Bleatmop
Disgusting. I’m glad my parents only complimented me with faith healing when I was a child. They weren’t so brain addled to trust only in prayer, and they had a minister that said that god worked through the doctors. These children above didn’t even have that much of a chance.
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August 22, 2011 at 12:08 am
The Arbourist
I was lucky to be born into a family that was not really into the church thing. It is just so darn frustrating because this is preventable. We know better, we have some 100 years of medical science that helps people and flying in the face of our meager progress in medicine we have these simpering fools who kneel down and pray to frakking god… god..in the 21st century to heal their child.
The profundity of ignorance on display shakes me to my core. Your child is slipping into shock in front of your eyes and you call a prayer circle instead of a ambulance. Unjust death and shitty circumstances are par for the course for the world we live in, but it should not have to happen here where we have the means and KNOW better.
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August 22, 2011 at 10:43 am
intransigentia
If you want to be further disgusted, here’s a site with quotes from their book and now-404ed site – major trigger warnings apply: http://whynottrainachild.com/2010/04/20/quotes-from-ttuac/
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August 22, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Hermana Linda
Intransigentia, thank you for linking to my site. I would like to point out that most Christians are as sickened by what the Pearls teach as the non-Christians. These teachings are based on twisted scriptures taken out of context and yet many are confused by the small amount of truth which is mixed in with the dangerous poison.
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August 22, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Mystro
Out of context? What, would you say, is the proper context for the passages instructing parents to beat their children with rods?
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August 23, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Hermana Linda
Sorry, I forgot to mention mistranslations (although that was implied in my word, twisting). The scriptures do not say to beat your children with rods. More information at http://suffer-the-little-children.webs.com/therodorshebet.htm
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August 23, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Mystro
I took “twisted scriptures” to mean “scriptures that are inherently evil” not “scriptures that are misconstrued”, so I missed that implication.
As to your article, it provides these possible translations: rod, staff, shaft (of spear, dart), club (of shepherd’s implement), truncheon, sceptre (mark of authority) , or a clan/ tribe.
It seems to me that beating anything with a clan or a tribe of people is impossibly incoherent, so that means it must mean one of the others. Whether its ‘rod’ or ‘truncheon’ doesn’t matter much, it still says beat children with a weapon of some sort.
So, my revised question to you is
What, would you say, is the proper context for the passages instructing parents to beat their children with some kind of bludgeoning weapon (the weapon depending on which translation you go with)?
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August 23, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Hermana Linda
If you read the entire article you should see that we do not believe that the Bible means for us to beat our children at all. We are too apply the guidance of our authority. The passages also speak of young men, not children. If you poke around my site a bit you will find that I have a lot of arguments against spanking.
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August 23, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Bleatmop
I love the dodgeball played by theists on this. Hermana chose to use the No True Christian Dip followed by the Mistranslations In The Bible (MITB) Duck and finally the Avoid Your Argument And Declare Victory (AYAADV) Dive. Too bad this didn’t last a bit longer so we could have a Dodge and another Dodge to round out the ADAA approved 5 D’s of Dodgeball.
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August 23, 2011 at 10:17 pm
The Arbourist
You know Bleat, I was considering a long careful dissection of some of the argument presented. Buuuuut, the way you put it is so much better. :) Incisive criticism, funny video and presentation, full marks good sir, full marks!
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August 23, 2011 at 11:22 pm
Mystro
“If you read the entire article you should see that we do not believe that the Bible means for us to beat our children at all.”
Oh you mean that bit about ‘bible says no killing the child, but rods can kill so it can’t mean a real rod’. Yeah, that’s total BS. Any weapon can kill, and yet most can be used in such a way to only injure or maim. The fact that your ‘loving’ bible is against killing in this particular instance in no way implies a non-literal ‘rod’.
Further, if it actually meant ‘authority’ instead of ‘rod’, then the bible wouldn’t even have to mention ‘no killing’ as (like the author of the article says) one cannot kill with authority. It would be like instructing people not to use the smell of oranges to carry water.
Plus that ‘authority’ translation is conjured out of nothing. The author even provides all the possible translations at the beginning, and as I’ve noted already, the only one that isn’t a weapon is ‘tribe of people’.
” The passages also speak of young men, not children.”
What is that term for people/men who are younger than adult people/men? Oh yeah, that’s right. We call those children. Not that beating adults is somehow a good thing. This fine hair you are splitting, even if you were right, would still make the teachings in these passages atrocious.
” If you poke around my site a bit…”
No, I think I’ve had about as much of your evasive dishonest representations as I can handle. I am glad you are against spanking though. At least in that regard, you are morally superior to the bible.
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August 24, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Hermana Linda
The reason I came here was to let you know that not all Christians interpret the bible to be telling us to spank our children. :-)
If you know any Christians who believe that they must spank, you can direct them to my site for arguments which are tailor-made for Christians. I realize that it is futile to try to use such arguments with non-Christians since we do not share the same “givens.” Doh.
I realize that I’m not going to convince you to believe that the Bible is not violent and you’re not going to convince me that the Bible is not God’s Word. If that were possible, my father would have already done so. ;-)
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August 28, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Depose the gods
THE WOMEN IN YOUR FAMILY ARE YOUR “HOLY PEOPLE”!!! THEY ARE YOUR INTERFACE WITH THE GODS!!!
Their role throughout history is to communicate the god’s wisdom so the entire family can progress when reincarnated. Effectively acomplishing this task may buy them a quality opportunity to ascend in their next life.
Your job as a future mother is to learn the god’s ways [ed. *Snip*]
[ed. What the frack is this bullshite? Please stop posting drivel to the blog]
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January 21, 2012 at 3:56 pm
Chad Walker
The idiocy of the one writing this article kills children. It kills their brains dead. Same with the comments. This type of nonsensical emotion-driven evangelical atheism is so idiotic that it actually kills 10 thousand brain cells for every minute that one reads it. It is even more idiotic than the worst religion because it claims to be rational. At least religious people don’t tend to boast about themselves this way. Especially when the one who is boasting is too dim-witted to recognize the difference between argument and emotional vitriol.
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January 22, 2012 at 7:58 am
The Arbourist
Thanks for trolling… – Chad.
his type of nonsensical emotion-driven evangelical atheism is so idiotic that it actually kills 10 thousand brain cells for every minute that one reads it.
Proof positive I suppose…
It is even more idiotic than the worst religion because it claims to be rational.
I think you may have to provide some evidence for that claim, because really you seem to be say that preferring rationality over quaint mysticism is bad thing.
Especially when the one who is boasting is too dim-witted to recognize the difference between argument and emotional vitriol.
Sadly, the case of projection is made, as not one argument of substance was put forth in that frothy offended diatribe so graciously served up by Chad.
Come back when you have an argument to offer.
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