Fidhooki mewled
The child was in a group home prior to the incident; that indicates that the parents were at least in some part capable of dealing with the situation. There were other children in the household; children that were not in social services that also infers a moderately stable home environment. In the description of the exorcism the victim retreated to the parents bedroom as a safe haven indicating that there was a sense of comfort with the parent making abuse more unlikely. Again we do not have complete information, but the sharp whiff of desperation is absent; the rank stench of fundamentalism is not.
Quote:A nonsensical statement that does not answer the thrust of the argument put forward. Just because you cannot articulate your argument logically, you dismiss it or try and shuffle it past; with a decoy of a personal tragedy to try and deter response. Pathetic.
If you are saying that if these people were not
religous thier son would not have been
exorcised then I agree but I will point
out that is like saying if there were no cars then my
cousin would still be alive because he'd never been
in the car accident that killed him. While accurate
it doesn't take in other factors or the damage
it would do as a whole. Now before you start to go
off on another rant on religion, This is a matter of
opinion between us and I will not rehash it here.
Quote:Those are two completely disconnected statements. I will deal with the second one first. Atheism does not necessarily make you smarter but it does make you considerably more resistant and resilient to the claims of hucksters, mountebanks and charlatans. Does god exist? Show me the proof. Does this treatment work? Show me the proof. You can find water by dowsing? Great, let us do a double blind test and see if you actually find water or if you are just talking out of your arse. You may not necessarily be smarter, but you do more with whatever smarts you have, and develop the capacity for analysis, observation and inquiry to expand your horizons.
Now if you are saying the child would not have been
hurt if these people were not religous then I disagree.
I think you underestimate the power of desperation here
and being an athiest does not make you any smarter
than anyone else despite what you may believe.
The child was in a group home prior to the incident; that indicates that the parents were at least in some part capable of dealing with the situation. There were other children in the household; children that were not in social services that also infers a moderately stable home environment. In the description of the exorcism the victim retreated to the parents bedroom as a safe haven indicating that there was a sense of comfort with the parent making abuse more unlikely. Again we do not have complete information, but the sharp whiff of desperation is absent; the rank stench of fundamentalism is not.
Quote:It isnt nearly so simple; what is the reinforcement mechanism for tools? How often has your high torque drill ever spoken to you? When was the last time that you attended a gathering of dust-collectors and listened to the parable of the planer and the band saw? Religion is what is known as a human universal. It has existed in one form or another throughout every human culture known. Not because it is true; but because it provided answers when we had none. They werent good answers; but they were the best our primitive understanding of the world allowed. We have much better answers now. Religion as a pervasive meme is still present in all aspects of our various cultures. As has been observed previously, faith is rarely challenged and the beliefs of the faithful are given a protected status that is unique (I buck this trend.) The faithful can get away with making pronouncements that would get any other organizations sued; as alluded to in the previous post. If your real estate agent sold you three stories, two baths and a walk in closet and you found yourself in a cardboard box on a rubbish tiff; you would sue. If your religion promises similar outrageous, outright, lies; nothing. The family was a member of a church that promises faith based healing of all types (check out their website it is very shiny and thoroughly pathetic at the same time). The established meme was that through prayer and faith, miracles do happen. Most religions but especially this particular schism hold this to be true. One only has to look at the truly pathetic miracles used to buttress the beatification of Mother Theresa to see this in action. In other words, religion as an established meme allows and encourages this particular type of stupidity to flourish. Religion actively promotes the meme that it has an authority that is not to be challenged an authority that is leveraged by the various leadership castes within it. If a doctor does something untoward you question it. A religious authority is far more likely to get a pass as the established meme not to challenge to actions of those of the same faith kicks in.
So you are blaming the tool for the crime.
Quote:That is a nonsensical statement and completely unconnected to the argument. I know it is hard to stay focused, but do try. Your crass attempts to link your spurious line of thought with a hot button issue are pathetic, trite and sadly predictable.
You know this is like saying illegal aliens have the lowest crime rate...
Quote:No, but they are going to travel that road with more care to the bumps, blind curves and warning signs and with any luck, be more considerate to the other travelers on the route. As opposed to swerving from lane to lane because turn signals are the tools of the devil; tailgating because Mary and Joseph rode ass to Bethlehem, and stopping suddenly for no reason because they, like their lord, wish to move in a mysterious way.
Sorry but jsut because you put them on the what you beleive
is the 'right road' doesn't mean they are going to the same
destination youarrived at..