Random Stuff XII: Faith-based Edition
Federally Funding Fundies:
On Monday the Washington Post reported about a Bible-thumping-and-hate-fueled cheerleading session in favor of Samuel Alito's confirmation for a seat on the US Supreme Court. Amidst the usual right-wing lies about the "far-left judicial activism on the Supreme Court" protrudes this highly disturbing, militant proclamation by Rev. Herbert H. Lusk II, the pastor of Philadelphia's Greater Exodus Baptist Church:
My friends, don't fool with the church because the church has buried a million critics. And those the church has not buried, the church has made funeral arrangement for.
A footnote adds that Rev. Lusk has received more than $1 million in grants from the US government under Bush's Faith-based Initiative. Oh, great. The knowledge that my hard-won federal tax dollars are supporting religious extremism warms the cockles of me 'eart. Oh well, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what I've been paying to fund the current Administration's other idiotic faith-based enterprises.
I guess this officially makes us even for Piss Christ, wouldn't you agree? Now can we have our Constitution back?
[via Pharyngula]
Faith-based Medicine:
I've been reading an interesting, albeit not fascinating, science history book called Science as a Way of Knowing: The Foundations of Modern Biology, by John A. Moore. It's a review of (mainly) evolution, genetics and developmental biology from a historical viewpoint. I've learned quite a bit about really early biology and medicine, from the Middle Ages and before. The ancient Greeks, and the medieval Arabs who inherited and built upon their knowledge, took a laissez-faire approach to medicine. They tried to intervene as little as possible. After all, their patients usually got better on their own; a supportive role for the doctor was seen as far more reasonable than an aggressive role (for good reason, given the primitive understanding of human physiology). A report from an Arab physician in the 12th century nicely contrasts this approach with the "faith-based" medicine practiced by Christian Europeans in the Middle Ages:
They brought me a knight with an abscess in his leg, and a woman troubled with fever. I applied to the knight a little [poultice]; his abscess opened and took a favorable turn. As for the woman I forbade her to eat certain foods, and I lowered her temperature. I was there when a Frankish [i.e., western European] doctor arrived, who said, 'This man [meaning the Islamic physician] cannot cure them.' Then, addressing the knight, he asked, 'which do you prefer, to live with a single leg, or to die with both legs?' 'I prefer,' replied the knight, 'to live with a single leg.' 'Then bring,' said the doctor, 'a strong knight with a sharp ax.' The doctor stretched the leg of the patient on a block of wood, and then said, 'cut off the leg with the ax, detach it with a single blow.' Under my eyes the knight gave a violent blow. He gave the unfortunate man a second blow, which caused the marrow to flow from the bone, and the patient died immediately. As for the woman, the doctor examined her and said, 'She is a woman with a devil in her head. Shave her hair.' They did so; she began to eat again-like her compatriots-garlic and mustard. Her fever grew worse. The doctor said, 'the devil has gone into her head.' Seizing the razor he cut into her head in the form of a cross. Then he rubbed her head with salt. The woman expired immediately. After asking them if my services were still needed, and after receiving a negative answer, I returned, having learned from them medical matters of which I had previously been ignorant.
This, too, can eventually be yours if the US insists on teaching religion in biology classes. Deploy the leeches! Sharpen the trephines! The Exorcist is coming to a hospital near you!
On Monday the Washington Post reported about a Bible-thumping-and-hate-fueled cheerleading session in favor of Samuel Alito's confirmation for a seat on the US Supreme Court. Amidst the usual right-wing lies about the "far-left judicial activism on the Supreme Court" protrudes this highly disturbing, militant proclamation by Rev. Herbert H. Lusk II, the pastor of Philadelphia's Greater Exodus Baptist Church:
My friends, don't fool with the church because the church has buried a million critics. And those the church has not buried, the church has made funeral arrangement for.
A footnote adds that Rev. Lusk has received more than $1 million in grants from the US government under Bush's Faith-based Initiative. Oh, great. The knowledge that my hard-won federal tax dollars are supporting religious extremism warms the cockles of me 'eart. Oh well, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what I've been paying to fund the current Administration's other idiotic faith-based enterprises.
I guess this officially makes us even for Piss Christ, wouldn't you agree? Now can we have our Constitution back?
[via Pharyngula]
Faith-based Medicine:
I've been reading an interesting, albeit not fascinating, science history book called Science as a Way of Knowing: The Foundations of Modern Biology, by John A. Moore. It's a review of (mainly) evolution, genetics and developmental biology from a historical viewpoint. I've learned quite a bit about really early biology and medicine, from the Middle Ages and before. The ancient Greeks, and the medieval Arabs who inherited and built upon their knowledge, took a laissez-faire approach to medicine. They tried to intervene as little as possible. After all, their patients usually got better on their own; a supportive role for the doctor was seen as far more reasonable than an aggressive role (for good reason, given the primitive understanding of human physiology). A report from an Arab physician in the 12th century nicely contrasts this approach with the "faith-based" medicine practiced by Christian Europeans in the Middle Ages:
They brought me a knight with an abscess in his leg, and a woman troubled with fever. I applied to the knight a little [poultice]; his abscess opened and took a favorable turn. As for the woman I forbade her to eat certain foods, and I lowered her temperature. I was there when a Frankish [i.e., western European] doctor arrived, who said, 'This man [meaning the Islamic physician] cannot cure them.' Then, addressing the knight, he asked, 'which do you prefer, to live with a single leg, or to die with both legs?' 'I prefer,' replied the knight, 'to live with a single leg.' 'Then bring,' said the doctor, 'a strong knight with a sharp ax.' The doctor stretched the leg of the patient on a block of wood, and then said, 'cut off the leg with the ax, detach it with a single blow.' Under my eyes the knight gave a violent blow. He gave the unfortunate man a second blow, which caused the marrow to flow from the bone, and the patient died immediately. As for the woman, the doctor examined her and said, 'She is a woman with a devil in her head. Shave her hair.' They did so; she began to eat again-like her compatriots-garlic and mustard. Her fever grew worse. The doctor said, 'the devil has gone into her head.' Seizing the razor he cut into her head in the form of a cross. Then he rubbed her head with salt. The woman expired immediately. After asking them if my services were still needed, and after receiving a negative answer, I returned, having learned from them medical matters of which I had previously been ignorant.
This, too, can eventually be yours if the US insists on teaching religion in biology classes. Deploy the leeches! Sharpen the trephines! The Exorcist is coming to a hospital near you!