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January 02, 2008

Religion that Defies Rationality

If you haven't heard yet about "the man with no face," you can read his story and see his photo here. Since the age of 11, the man's face has gradually been overtaken by a horrific tumor so that it is no longer recognizable as a face. It has even distorted his mouth, tongue and gums to the point his teeth have broken off. Every once in awhile you'll read about someone in a poor country who didn't have access to health care and their treatable condition was able to get out of control. That is not the case here. In this case, the man and his mother were Jehovah's Witnesses, so the mother chose not to seek medical attention for her son, instead allowing him to become so grossly disfigured that he had absolutely no opportunity for a normal, happy life. How they could rationally believe a loving God would want this for someone is beyond me, as is how a mother could allow this to happen to her son.

I have seen many less dramatic examples of religious people blindly relying on their interpretation of the Bible and ignoring all common sense. This is ingrained in Christians from childhood. See this excerpt from a children's book emphasizing Proverbs 3:5 (Lean not on your own understanding) and I Cor. 3:19 (The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God). Unfortunately, this approach teaches children not to think for themselves, but rather to ignore their common sense and do what they are told.

Our Creator (yes, I believe in God) gave us the desire to heal others and the intelligence and natural tools to do so. The rational human being can easily see that humans have this ability and this desire and knows they are good. But religious indoctrination often places blinders over the human soul, preventing people from caring about others or acting with compassion. Interesting, isn't it, that religion itself can be so utterly ungodly.

Posted by Becky at January 2, 2008 08:49 AM