The Hazards of Belief

StudentDad · 18-08-2014 4:23pm

God may reduce a mountain to gravel for you, just in case he doesn't, bring a shovel.

SD

PopePalpatine · 18-08-2014 4:51pm

Making it (back) into a molehill might be more helpful. :pac:

robindch · 20-08-2014 9:19am

BBC Radio 4 wrote:

Almighty God vs the Red Dragon: It sounds like a fantasy action film but it is in fact a real and disturbing struggle in China. The most vivid case involves a group of people who beat a stranger to death in a fast food restaurant. They said they had no choice because the victim was a 'demon'. The killers are fanatical followers of the Church of the Almighty God, a Christian doomsday cult which claims millions of members across China and pledges to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party - which it calls the 'Great Red Dragon'. Gracie uses her fluent Chinese to gain access to families of those caught up in the cult, including a man who infiltrated it to save his wife.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04d4sbz

Nodin · 25-08-2014 7:37pm

A bit of a good news story, for once.

"A decade ago, Lalibai, then a mother of four, took a stand and refused to remove and dispose of excrement from her village’s dry toilets, work she inherited at age 12. She had been approached by grassroots activists who said it was illegal for anyone to compel her to do this work, and that she had a choice to leave. She decided to claim her dignity and quit. "

"It’s hard to imagine that powerfully outspoken Lalibai, with her henna-red hair and upright posture, had once accepted cleaning human waste as her life’s duty. Each day she would carry her cane basket from house to house, lift the waste from latrines, and carry it outside the village. She hated carrying waste, found it disgusting, and it was making her physically sick. She was “paid” with stale roti, a flat bread. This job was customarily designated to her community, considered a low-ranking caste. She could not fathom any other life. "
......................................
"Lalibai’s parents had her married off at age eight, at which time she moved away from her home state of Rajasthan to Madhya Pradesh. At 12, her mother-in-law passed down to her the traditional job of manual scavenging. "
http://features.hrw.org/features/Witness_Freeing_Women_From_Cleaning_Human_Waste/index.html

Brian Shanahan · 27-08-2014 2:20pm

Another example of a privileged white man making out that it is because of an omnipotent beard in the sky that he is a privileged white guy.

Specifically he thanks god for saving him from ebola, even though as a moderately wealthy American with lots of church backing, and getting sick at a time of mass media exposure of ebola (mostly hysterical) he gets the prompt medical care he needs (after being flown back home) and access to an experimental drug which seems to be effective.

This piece by Michelle Hansen in yesterday's Guardian sums up my views.

Thargor · 27-08-2014 2:28pm

I was grinding my teeth listening to him alright, look at the smug head on him, I wish there was one journalist there to ask him his thoughts on why a god would kill 2000 people and spare him.

recedite · 27-08-2014 4:30pm

Kent wrote:

......during June and July the number of ebola patients steadily increased, and our amazing crew took care of every patient with great care and compassion..

Wonder why he didn't stay on at the Samaritans Purse clinic then, when he got sick. Seeing as the prayers and compassion distributed there were second to none?

Reminds me of that other medical missionary, Mother Teresa, who got advanced medical treatment for her own heart condition, but doled out little more than compassion and prayers to the people under her care.

marienbad · 27-08-2014 5:00pm

recedite wrote: »

Wonder why he didn't stay on at the Samaritans Purse clinic then, when he got sick. Seeing as the prayers and compassion distributed there were second to none?

Reminds me of that other medical missionary, Mother Teresa, who got advanced medical treatment for her own heart condition, but doled out little more than compassion and prayers to the people under her care.

Much much worse than that, by giving the impression that something was being done hindered anything being actually done .

Selfish self-serving parasite .

robindch · 27-08-2014 11:00pm

In India, the Karnataka police will come and get you if you facebook-like anything which intentionally or unintentionally "hurts religious sentiment". With a helpful phone number, email address and facebook page so you can grass on your friends:

http://www.medianama.com/2014/08/223-you-can-now-be-arrested-for-sharing-objectionable-content-in-karnataka/

MrPudding · 31-08-2014 5:46am

recedite wrote: »

Wonder why he didn't stay on at the Samaritans Purse clinic then, when he got sick. Seeing as the prayers and compassion distributed there were second to none?

Reminds me of that other medical missionary, Mother Teresa, who got advanced medical treatment for her own heart condition, but doled out little more than compassion and prayers to the people under her care.

There was compassion?

MrP

robindch · 31-08-2014 11:43pm

Remember that US medic who survived Ebola, almost certainly because of an experimental drug or medical care? Well, actually goddidit. God did not comment on reports that well over one thousand people died, most of them poor and with dark skin.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/ebola-survivor-dr-kent-brantly-speaks-25068849

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/25/ebola-africans-die-god-american-doctor

Turtwig · 01-09-2014 2:00am

/pedant.

Iirc the current strain has a survival rate of about 40%. That's well within the bounds of the two Americans spontaneously surviving. The medics at the time said it's impossible to determine what difference, if any, the experimental drugs actually had. They could have made all the difference our none. Only rigorously constructed drug trials will tell if they're better than placebo or not.

A definite significant factor is that in the US they were able to supplement all essential missing nutrients and minerals. In Africa they have no way of determining what deficiencies are present in the body so mostly only can guess - and even then they don't have the same amount of intravenous resources.

robindch · 01-09-2014 11:07am

A reporter visits the World Congress of Families and comes away with a novelty squeezy toy.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/01/i-went-to-the-world-congress-of-families-and-all-i-got-was-this-lousy-foetus-stress-toy

MrPudding · 01-09-2014 11:54am

robindch wrote: »

A reporter visits the World Congress of Families and comes away with a novelty squeezy toy.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/01/i-went-to-the-world-congress-of-families-and-all-i-got-was-this-lousy-foetus-stress-toy

Who's idea was it to get stressed people to practise crushing foetuses?

MrP

legspin · 01-09-2014 12:14pm

robindch wrote: »

A reporter visits the World Congress of Families and comes away with a novelty squeezy toy.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/01/i-went-to-the-world-congress-of-families-and-all-i-got-was-this-lousy-foetus-stress-toy

A squeetus?

robindch · 01-09-2014 1:53pm

Manufactroversy win - Israel to discontinue fluoridation of tap water

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-discontinue-fluoridation-of-tap-water/

Meanwhile, here in Dublin, the city council is to vote today on banning fluoride from the public water supply. David Robert Grimes is unimpressed:

http://3menmakeatiger.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/holy-fluoride-batman-open-letter-to.html

Hotblack Desiato · 01-09-2014 9:12pm

Councils do seem to spend rather a lot of time voting on things which are not within their powers to change, don't they :rolleyes:

Hotblack Desiato · 02-09-2014 11:30am

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/diagnosing-miracles-1.1912024

7,000 people claim to have been cured at Lourdes, but the Catholic Church says only 1 per cent of those cases are miracles. Dr Michael Moran sits on the committee that decides which cures are medically unexplainable

69 'verified' cures, but not one amputee among them. Dreadful return from 200-odd million visitors.

Thargor · 02-09-2014 11:37am

but the Catholic Church says only 1 per cent of those cases are miracles.

:rolleyes:

Oh FFS, its hard to picture the type of adults that come out with statements like this. The Holy Stone of Clonrichert being upgraded to a class II relic is supposed to be an absurd storyline but statements like that are A-OK?

Nodin · 02-09-2014 3:04pm

Thargor wrote: »

:rolleyes:

Oh FFS, its hard to picture the type of adults that come out with statements like this. The Holy Stone of Clonrichert being upgraded to a class II relic is supposed to be an absurd storyline but statements like that are A-OK?

.....that what we thought, until somebody pointed out they do rate relics and they can get upgraded....

MrPudding · 02-09-2014 4:55pm

Nodin wrote: »

.....that what we thought, until somebody pointed out they do rate relics and they can get upgraded....

It sounds like something from Father Ted.

MrP

Delirium · 02-09-2014 5:03pm

MrPudding wrote: »

It sounds like something from Father Ted.

MrP

"The Holy Stone of Clonrichert v2.0, now with bluetooth and wi-fi functionality."

robindch · 02-09-2014 5:04pm

MrPudding wrote: »

It sounds like something from Father Ted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xECUrlnXCqk

Brian Shanahan · 02-09-2014 5:31pm

Nodin wrote: »

.....that what we thought, until somebody pointed out they do rate relics and they can get upgraded....

Or that by the proper application of a relic you can make your sexual organs (among other things) relics too!

recedite · 03-09-2014 12:56pm

Turtwig wrote: »

/pedant.

Iirc the current strain has a survival rate of about 40%. That's well within the bounds of the two Americans spontaneously surviving. The medics at the time said it's impossible to determine what difference, if any, the experimental drugs actually had. They could have made all the difference our none. Only rigorously constructed drug trials will tell if they're better than placebo or not.

A definite significant factor is that in the US they were able to supplement all essential missing nutrients and minerals. In Africa they have no way of determining what deficiencies are present in the body so mostly only can guess - and even then they don't have the same amount of intravenous resources.

60% kill rate is still very high. I'll bet you my bottom dollar that this is going to develop into a world pandemic. It only a matter of time. Previous outbreaks have generally stopped by themselves only because they occurred in isolated places out in the bush, and when everyone was dead the disease burned itself out. This one has made it to the cities, and there will be no stopping it now.
Check out this video; its farcical.
http://www.itv.com/news/2014-09-02/ebola-patient-escapes-liberia-clinic-to-search-for-food/

oscarBravo · 03-09-2014 1:21pm

recedite wrote: »

This one has made it to the cities, and there will be no stopping it now.

Meh. Unless city folk make a habit of licking ebola-ridden corpses, I don't think we've too much to worry about.

Turtwig · 03-09-2014 1:41pm

recedite wrote: »

60% kill rate is still very high. I'll bet you my bottom dollar that this is going to develop into a world pandemic. It only a matter of time. Previous outbreaks have generally stopped by themselves only because they occurred in isolated places out in the bush, and when everyone was dead the disease burned itself out. This one has made it to the cities, and there will be no stopping it now.
Check out this video; its farcical.
http://www.itv.com/news/2014-09-02/ebola-patient-escapes-liberia-clinic-to-search-for-food/

Ironically 60% kill rate is what makes this outbreak more lethal. In the past mortality rates of 90% and above limited the spread of the virus. Because there's more survivors who are free to move around the infection spreads easier. Africa has a huge problem though. Ignorance is a killer - and there it's causing all sorts of problems. Funeral rituals are still not being augmented. Dead bodies were dumped into local water tables. Relatives are breaking into hospitals to break their loved ones outs. They don't understand the illness, their suspicions and superstitions are at all an time high and they have a bunch of foreigners telling them what they should be doing.

The only way this current strain could become rife in Western Society is from muppetry ignorance. People start fearmongering and the likes on facebook spreading and gulping up inaccurate information. Soap kills ebola. This medical chart explains all:

10557350_10100972874972679_6822153511951018196_n.jpg?oh=a05ac6df6fbeaaac6364ae61fd2c796d&oe=5476E99F&__gda__=1415288170_e2c2c794e9f72d8cb756a263912b988d

10557350_10100972874972679_6822153511951018196_n.jpg?oh=a05ac6df6fbeaaac6364ae61fd2c796d&oe=5476E99F&__gda__=1415288170_e2c2c794e9f72d8cb756a263912b988d

recedite · 03-09-2014 2:35pm

Turtwig wrote: »

Soap kills ebola.

Its almost as delicate as the AIDs virus then.

Brian Shanahan · 03-09-2014 6:25pm

recedite wrote: »

60% kill rate is still very high. I'll bet you my bottom dollar that this is going to develop into a world pandemic. It only a matter of time. Previous outbreaks have generally stopped by themselves only because they occurred in isolated places out in the bush, and when everyone was dead the disease burned itself out. This one has made it to the cities, and there will be no stopping it now.
Check out this video; its farcical.
http://www.itv.com/news/2014-09-02/ebola-patient-escapes-liberia-clinic-to-search-for-food/

The big problem facing Ebola vis a vis becoming a pandemic is that it is hard to transmit from person to person. That's the main reason why we get a scare every few years over it, when the idjits in the media read about its high kill rate, conveniently forgetting about the last time they ran a scare story on the disease.

If you're going for a likely pandemic candidate, your money is best put on the influenza virus, still.

recedite · 03-09-2014 8:03pm

Brian Shanahan wrote: »

it is hard to transmit from person to person.

These things are relative. With around 2000 cases, including some healthcare workers who were presumably taking some precautions as well as trusting in jesus to protect them, its not that hard to transmit. Even a droplet of infected saliva in the eye seems to do it. Transmission would be mainly by sex or infected needles if/when it gets into Europe. It seems to be fairly similar to the AIDs virus in terms of transmission and origins, but is more contagious and quicker acting.

The Hazards of Belief

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