Date Line June 10, 2007

"Superstition Brings Bad Luck."

I love phrases like that; and so try to use them as often as possible. In reality, it is paradoxical. Consider that paradox: "superstitious about being superstitious." The usage of the state of mind to avoid the state of mind which is destructive. In medical terms, one might say it is taking poison to prevent death from a poison.

Hum. Combining poisons to gain something good? That is table salt. That is genetic disease in a world where having it will extend ones life. Sickle-cell anemia as defense against malaria; diabetes as defense against freezing to death; anemia as a defense against bacterial disease.

Curious stuff.

The universe is great, it has designed everything to survive, reproduce, and make it interesting. That which is alive and seeks your destruction does so out of ignorance, or your unwillingness to find a common ground which will allow both of you to prosper.

Hum? Where did that thought come from? Just popped out.

Well, back to our starting point: "Superstition Brings Bad Luck."

The black plague involved idiots (OK, they were Christians) who killed those who were clean or kept pets who killed the contaminated. They burnt Jews and witches rather than clean their homes and kill the rats.

The Jews were killed because they were clean; being clean protected them from disease and removed those things which attracted infected rats.  (Plus they were symbolically killing Christ, preventing, in their belief system, his return.)

They killed the witches because they practiced herbal medicine and kept cats � who killed the rats who carried the lice who transmitted the plague.

Superstition, ignorance, the things which are used to enslave the minds of fools, these are the things which cause plaques. Christians thrive on such things; as do fundamentalist Islamists.

Think about the Black Death of 1347, within a year it claimed over 25 million Europeans; Christian all. These were people who did not wash, did not clean their houses, tossed garbage in the streets and feared black cats (or cats in general).

In short, Christians were people who attracted disease.

There are those who have a knee-jerk reaction to me pointing out the evils inherent in Christian action and thought. But be honest. Would blood diseases (AIDS, Hepatitis and so on) be spreading as they do, if Christian fundamentalists weren�t actively refusing to support, or actively blocking, condom and needle exchange programs? Would there be as much drug usage if drugs were as legal as tobacco, and the locations for their usage controlled (as they are being with tobacco)?

If people could be openly gay, would there be a negative stigma to being HIV/AIDS tested? If the reality of human sexuality were accepted, would there be as many STD related disease problems?

If the scriptural prohibitions against blood contact were applied and the invented health destroying dogma ended, would there be as much illness? Would there be as much illness if Christians simply followed the teachings and specific words of Jesus; words which said explicitly to care for the sick?

Christians follow a doctrine: Inflict the most harm on the most people.

If you doubt that, test each of their practices by it. Anti-abortion? Bring into the world a child who cannot be supported, was unplanned, possibly unwanted, and raise them in a home from which, statistically, the most criminal types are produced. Pro-life is (as the statistical evidence on crime reduction post-1972 Roe v Wade has shown) is really pro-crime, pro-violent crime.

Look at medical care. Send troops to kill (violation of scripture) in a war of choice and when they are injured, deny them proper treatment. This inflicts harm on those killed, the families of innocents killed, on the soldier, their family, their community, and the economy as a whole.

Inflict the most harm on the most people; it is a Christian thing to do.

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