Religion Rears It's Ugly Head
This is a tough one. It's actually happening right now. Just want to get it off my chest. First a little background......
I have a sister in law who is an atheist, no question. She never pushed atheism on her kids and because of that one of her 3 sons became a devout Christian, goes to church everyday and twice on Sunday. There is also a patriarch in her family, a great grandfather to her 3 kids but someoe who is, if possible , even more religious than her son and is a church elder and so on.
My sister in law's Christian son has 2 sons of his own, both pre-schoolers. Last week both of the kids were diagnosed as having a crippling disease and the prognosis for a long healthy life is not good. To make a long story short, the patriarch has told my sister in law that the kids are inherently crippled because god is punishing her for being an atheist. Not only that, the old man and his congregation has convinced my sis-in-law's son that he should no longer be in contact with his mother. So now my sister-in-law cannot see her son or grandchildren.
She wrote to tell me this. She is understandably, quite upset. My brother, her husband, died a few years ago.
When I hear things like this it just confirms my opinion regarding religion and the power it has over people. Not only that it shows just how stupid it can get. My heart goes out to my sister-in-law and the grandkids she's not allowed to see. I can't see a way out of this one unless the old guy dies. I don't know.
Re: Religion Rears It's Ugly Head
Quote:
Originally Posted by zinjanthropos
To make a long story short, the patriarch has told my sister in law that the kids are inherently crippled because god is punishing her for being an atheist.
Um...has anyone pointed out that this doesn't make any sense? I mean, if it was the atheist woman who was having health problems, I could perhaps see the logic of what he is saying. But why would God punish innocent children? And not just innocent children, but the children of the guy who's a devout Christian ???
Even in his most horrific Old Testament bloodthirstiness, I don't think that the Christian God was ever portrayed as being that much of a jackass. I mean sure, God killed a lot of babies and ordered a lot of babies to be killed by his followers, but at least it was always the babies of wicked people. If this patriarch is serious, he's really setting a new low for his God.