Comments on: Faithful Dad, Faithless Dad

By: Chino F.

Chino F. — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:12:42 +0000

Let me supply some scientific proof of the other side of the argument (that prayer can work). Only, it’s a Youtube documentary from Paranormal TV:

The Power of Prayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjYqHcIVg8M

But very legitimate, in my view.

By: BongV

BongV — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:52:34 +0000

On the flip side it is pretty much a scientific medical fact that patients with strong religous faith have faster and better rates of recovery.

Citations please.

Absent such citation, I would attribute the faster recovery to more nurturing – rather religiosity.

By: FREDO

FREDO — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:49:51 +0000

It is apparent the author of the post uses the stories to set up a anti-church, anti-christian debate. The truthfulness of the 2 stories could just as easily be reversed, with the fist one about the vision of the orphaned child true, and the parent denying medical care false. I take issue with the use of ‘father’ as the presumably negligent superstitious parent that caused the child’s death. (possibly a hint of marxist feminism in this post?). While it is often quoted that ‘patriotism is the refuge of scoundrals’ this is a good example of how religion may also. Say a parent did cause a child’s death due to refusing fairly routine medical care… how would the parent explain this? Say you drive your car off the road and injure someone because of sheer stupidity, is that the likely answer by the negligent driver.. gee, sorry, i was just stupid, drunk, doing something embarassing, etc.. or would they make up a less damning lie, like saying they swerved to avoid hitting a cat or something? Religion is useful that way, as a way to divirt blame or responsibility for our faults. On the flip side it is pretty much a scientific medical fact that patients with strong religous faith have faster and better rates of recovery. We should not view Religion and Medecine as mutually exclusive and competing options, but rather as collaborative cures best when taken together in the proper measure. This was the mistake of the parent in the story above, not that he had faith or religion, and was skeptical of modern medicine and doctors.. but it was the degree of extremism of his beliefs that proved fatal.

By: Non-malignant

Non-malignant — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:26:50 +0000

That is why i commented, “A smell of garlic”. But unfortunately that short comment of mine was deleted. :-)

By: Chino F.

Chino F. — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:20:23 +0000

Hmm, seems the real target of this post is the Catholic Church… though I’m sure many here agree about the effects it had in our country, no?

By: GabbyD

GabbyD — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:06:21 +0000

my concern is about labeling people of faith as irrational.

we’ve already agreed that all actions entail benefits and costs. We’ve also acknowledged that people don’t SEEM to do the most efficient thing all the time.

note the word “SEEM”. when someone does something, he does it coz its important for him to do it, and it outweighs the negatives.

outsiders cannot always see why its important, cant see all of the benefits.

an example here is prayer. there are reasons why a person may pray for healing, that are different from the need for healing itself.

to be clear, i think that withholding medical treatment for religious purposes is wrong. modern christianity abhors this. But its NOT wrong because its irrational.

the reason its wrong is that society made a decision that life of persons already living is VERY IMPORTANT.

most of modern christianity supports this view, and therefore is against withholding medical treatment.

so much so, that it trumps whatever other considerations an individual might have.

indeed, you can’t kill ur self for any reason — religious or otherwise. you can’t kill people for anyreason save for saving ur own life (excluding war).

these acts will be punished severely.

i agree with this state of things.

note too the phrase “already living”. by this i mean persons outside the womb — for reasons that escape me, society does not protect persons still in the womb. (here, modern catholics support this view)

By: Joe America

Joe America — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 07:34:03 +0000

Hmm, Ryan,

You think I know what I mean? Some things are like leaves in the tea cup, best left to be read and pondered. Or paint splashed on a canvas.

But I will say that I believe in esp and the interconnection of souls, and that the elegance represents the gift of our capacity to find good and beauty around us when, genetically, we are but advanced apes. Somewhere in there is the devil, or our tendency to do bad.

But I like rational people, too.

Joe

By: Chino F.

Chino F. — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 06:53:26 +0000

What I see though in this article is the point that the country’s problems are caused by irrationality. This I agree with. With a lot (not just a bit) more brain, we should see less stupidity… and unethical behavior. Unfortunately even that is laughed at by the masa. The good guys really have to dare to be different.

By: Chino F.

Chino F. — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 05:19:11 +0000

Yep. There is such a thing as rational faith. You gotta learn to accept these outrageous concepts… they often turn the world around don’t you agree? ;)

By: UP n grad

UP n grad — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:14:28 +0000

You also seem to be doing sleight-of-hand with the word “rational”, equating it with the end-outcome. In other words, you are framing your question to get a specific result. But you delude yourself with this game, don’t you think?