Doctors have warned that patients with HIV are giving up their medicine after being told by Pentecostal church pastors to rely on faith in God instead.
Medical staff working with children and young people say the lives of some church members are being put in danger because they are wrongly being told they can be cured.
In one case, an HIV-sufferer was given a plastic bottle of water by his pastor and told it would heal him. He later stopped taking his medicine and his condition worsened.
Go ahead, ask me again how blind faith could possibly hurt people?
When people have more faith in religious leaders than scientists or doctors the end result is always tragic.
P.S. The link above has a video with more information.
Maybe that's the new GOP health care. Bottled water and a prayer. That should take care of things. Of course the lawmakers and pentecostal preachers will still go to the Mayo Clinic
ReplyDeleteVery unfortunately, this is true. And meanwhile, they will prosecute people who rely on healing to the exclusion of cut, fry, and poison (for cancer treatments). They like having it both ways.
DeleteReligion, like drugs, let's people escape reality and live in some alternate universe where they are perpetual children with "someone" looking out for them and they don't have to make decisions or take responsibility for their lives, other people, the environment, the planet.
ReplyDeletelets
Delete"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."
ReplyDelete--Karl Marx
"Benghazi!!! Death Panels! My daughters Barstool and Wallow are virgins again!!! And my son, the jeep driver for officers back on base is really an infantryman and a true combat warrior!!! Don't waste all that money paying for healthcare for your kids. Have faith instead and send your best gift to my PAC today, because that's what Jesus would do!!!"
--Sarah Heath "The Quitter" Palin
Seems clear to me that these "Christians" just want to get rid of anyone with AIDS, so they sell modern-day snake oil -- a bottle of water -- and are surprised, I say, surprised!, when these gay guys just up and die
ReplyDeleteOf course, these sinners have "gone to a better place."
Better than hanging out with Pentecostal snake handlers and witch charmers, that is. Anything's better than that.
First of all, not to stereotype them as all being super-intelligent nor super-healthy, but I know a lot of gay guys (and almost as many lesbians), and very few of them have Aids to begin with.
DeleteBut even fewer of them would be so naive as to listen to these hypocritical snake-oil salesmen talking out their asses, telling them and others to neglect their health by listening to a preacher's medical advice.
If that same preacher had an accident while operating a chain-saw and loses a limb, does he go to the ER or simply pray, and then just 'hope for the best'?
I think we all know the answer to that question, but I suppose he would say "that's different", huh? Sure it is, Reverend, because then we'd be talking about risking *your* health and *your* life.
Just another 'Do as I say, not as I do' hypocrite. They're a dime-a-dozen these days, and you can get an even better deal with large quantities under the GOP umbrella of RW Fundie Liars, Birchers, Birthers, and Grifters. You Betcha.
Honestly, believing in Christ does not require abject stupidity. However, people with "issues" are easy prey for the unscrupulous religious zealots. I never felt I had to abrogate my intelligence to consider myself a Christian. I also have never felt that I had to abjure science to be a Christian. I did feel that I had to consider the fallacy of the Bible. I don't think you can believe the Bible is the infallible word of God AND think for yourself and believe in science. I think that is where the major split is.
ReplyDeleteToo many big words, but I feel your pain.
DeleteMy husband's aunt suffered severe mental issues which needed periodic hospitalization. Through a lot of trial and error they finally found the right combination to stabilize her. It was great getting to know the real Aunt Ethel. Then she flew out to California to visit her oldest son and wife (who never, ever, came to visit here) They took her to their huge megachurch and the slick bastard..excuse me..the minister convinced her to throw away all of her drugs and trust in jesus. She lived 15 more years of pure hell for herself and those of us who loved and cared for her. They were never ever to get her stable again I hate that my children and her local grandchildren never got to know her as anything but the poor demented soul.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry about your aunt. You sound like a very caring person and to have her taken from you in this way is just, well, I have no words for it.
DeleteI'm bi-polar and my mom belongs to one of those mega churches that believes this same stuff about mental illness. When my Mom started spouting off her nonsense about how a lady at her church was healed from her mental illness, so I just simply told her is was bullshit and if she ever talks to me about it again I would not talk to her again. Thankfully she doesn't bring up religion around me anymore.
Again, I'm so sorry they "preyed" on your aunt.
My Atheist father is famous for saying "there but for the grace of Dog go I."
ReplyDeleteUh, isn't bottled water in certain plastic bottles what causes certain longterm ailments?
ReplyDeleteOh sue that church.
ReplyDeleteSue that pastor.
Sue the entire organization.
Sue their pants off.
You're right, sue them! Money is the only thing that they really worship.
DeleteThe profit margin is much higher using bottled water vs snake oil.
ReplyDeleteI was channel surfing the other night, and there was an Amish family whose daughter contracted stage three leukemia. They gave the doctors a shot, and it worked, but then the doctor recommended a prophylactic dose of chemo and radiation to make sure any rogue cells didn't remain, giving her fifty percent more odds (80 vs 30). They prayed for and answer and decided against it "It's your will, God. Either she's cured or we bring her home "in glory" (code words for "dead in heaven with You). Luckily, someone anonymously reported it to the hospital and they got a court order for the treatment.
The prayer mysteriously changed to "Thank U for a Miracle! Your blessing has left our daughter in remission for five years" It continued with prayer and all sorts of fits of joy and awe. God intervened, it had NOTHING to do with medicine.
These people can block out the sun with one finger, they're THAT smart!!!!!