Aug 25 2003
When Religious Fanaticism Goes Terribly Wrong
An 8 year old boy died during a prayer service Friday in a Milwaukee Church at the hands of religous wacko’s who were trying to ‘remove a spirit from’ the autistic child.
Faith Temple of the Apostolic Faith, on the Northwest side of town is where the incident took place, and the pastor who was performing the ceremony, or whatever it was, expects no charges to be filled in connection with the boy’s death:
“He just passed away,” Pastor David Hemphill said of the boy. “God is a mysterious person, and if he wants to call a life back, he does.”
Never mind the fact that they allegedly had an autistic child (many of whom are ultra sensative to stress and pain) tied down with bedsheets for over two hours while they attempted to chase the ‘devil’ out of him.
What really gets me when stories like this come out are how the people always quote some bible passage that supposedly lets them off the hook for whatever it is they were doing wrong. This pastor said, “We did what the Book of Matthew said, Chapter 12.”. Well, I just took a minute to read Matthew Chapter 12, and the only thing I can see this pastor might be talking about is this, “Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.”
Did I misread St. Matthew? Because I couldn’t find any reference to wrapping children up in white sheets, or that somewhow, people besides Jesus had the power to heal the sick. At any rate, aren’t we in the 21st century over the whole “Anyone with a malady must be possesed by evil demons?” crock of BS? If these kind of wacko’s had their way, they’d be excersizing the demons out of anyone who kicked a soccer ball with their left foot.
And the defense is always the, “Well we interpret the scripture to mean $VARIABLE” where $VARIABLE is whatever shit they’re trying to pull, or whatever their trying to defend themselves against, in this case, having a young boy die while they were performing their little miracle.
You can see the same sort of thing going on with the shenanigans going on right now in Alabama about the ‘right’ of a judge to put a marble statue of the 10 commandments on display in a public courthouse, thereby endorsing his faith as the ‘offical’ religion of the courthouse, and by extension, the Alabama legal system.
Of course, the lawsuits started flying, and the Surpeme Court choose not to hear his case, which left a lower court ruling stand that ordered for the removal of the piece, on the grounds that it violated the Constitutional Ammendment that provides for seperation of church and state. Then last week, all eight Alabama federal judges ordered the thing down as well. Well naturally, the judge who put the statue up wasn’t convinced that he was wrong, and his defense is now something along the lines of “Gods laws overrule the laws of man.”.
This my friends, is fanaticism at it’s core. The judge, Chief Justice Moore, says his reading of the Alabama Constitution leads him to believe that the Ten Commandments are perfectly legal where they sit, since Alabama’s heritage is founded on religous beliefs. In his world, and the world of all the fundamentalists like him, God’s law trumps human law.
Which is fine… Unless you happen not to believe in God to begin with, or your higher power of choice goes by a different name like Allah, Buddah, Marth Stewart, etc…
And thats what these people who support the judge are missing when they talk about their freedom of speech being trampled on by not being allowed to have the statue sit where it does.
This country was founded by religous people, yes. But they founded this country because they felt their religous ideals were being trampled in their home country, hence when they got here, they were smart enough to write into our Constitution that while people have the right to practice their own religion, the Government shall have no business in promoting one religion over another.
When a Federal Judge disobeys his country’s laws and state’s court orders so he can push his particular religion, that’s not seperation, that’s integration — which is historically ironic considering Alabama’s famous segregation stance of the past.
If you think I’m wrong, ask yourself how many supporters this guy would have if he had a two ton statue of Islam’s holy book, the Book of Koran, installed in the rotunda of a state courthouse, and how fast he’d be riddiculed for supporting a particular religion.
Just because it’s Christianity the judge and the pastor are using as their defense doesn’t magically make them impervious to the laws that we humans have put in place.
Amen, brotha. What’s the difference between these guys using a Bible passage to excuse a death and terrorists using the Qu’ran to legitimize mass killings?
Answer: there is no difference, other than quantity of death. And, frankly, I think we could all drudge up some other examples of Christianity-driven mass killings that would even the score.
The thing that really gets me is that there doesn’t seem to be any members of the religious majority in this country who a very much in support of separation of church and state. Why is that?
What I mean is: I’m no gun nut. I probably will never own a gun. However, I would be one of the first people out there marching against a repeal of the second amendment.
What I mean is: I’ll probably never have the opportunity to incriminate myself in a courtroom, but I’d be raising hell if someone suggested we repeal the 5th amendment.
Where the hell are the people in the religious majority who are fighting for separation of church and state? Do your religious beliefs cloud your judgment so much that you can’t see why this separation exists? Where the hell are the Christians in Alabama who ought to be writing letters to this Alabama cowboy judge?
Probably the same reason you don’t see many middle-/upper-class people protecting labor rights.
Sorry Matt… But I’m just not following your comment:
Probably the same reason you don’t see many middle-/upper-class people protecting labor rights.
I’m kinda lost, do you mean that these people aren’t saying anything because they see nothing wrong, or that they are afraid to speak up??
With regards to the content of Dan’s post, I’m still in shock. It just kills me how these non-denominational so called “bible-based” churchs have the ability to completely transform a person–and not always for the better.
Granted, for some people, these structures are very very helpful. Some people need the guidance because they are just plain messed up. Any postive influence is better than nothing.
In the article the author speaks about a person who was seemingly normal and kept their children clean and dressed nicely, but after exposure to this church they parent started ignoring personal hygene and the cleanlyness of their children. That’s not really suprising, most churches of this type tend to preach a philosophy of “disregard your material life for your spiritual life” Churches of this type also seem to endorse a lifestyle the discourages personal responsibility for the actions of the believer. Generally speaking, the practitioner can pretty much exhibit any sort of behavior, and as long as they repent at church, their slate is wiped clean. I’m serious about this. Cheating on your significant other? No problem, just profess complete and utter guilt and ask for forgiveness for your weak human sinful condition. BAM! Your slate is clean.
Er. yeah. That’s nice. Love using that religious “get out of jail free” card.
But, like i said, for most people, they need some sort of structure otherwise they cannot survive in society. At least they’ve got something that keeps them off of the street and out of the crack houses….
w3rd
I’m kinda lost, do you mean that these people aren’t saying anything because they see nothing wrong, or that they are afraid to speak up??
A lot of people don’t seem to care about things that have no direct affect on them. Another example would be males fighting for equal rights for women.
Dan, just a quick heads-up to letcha know that I referenced you in my own post on the subject.
…And apologies in advance for being OT, but I haven’t forgotten you Matt.
It’s so sad, so sad. A complete waste.
You know, I think it’s basis is on pure prejudice, to try and get to the real core. It may be about one “religion” or another so we could call it being fanaticism, but really these people have a problem with anyone being different than they are. Anything can be twisted, and fanatics come in all flavours, the religious and non-religious.
Above, MWARDEN said:
“The thing that really gets me is that there doesn’t seem to be any members of the religious majority in this country who a very much in support of separation of church and state. Why is that?”
To answer him, they are there, but they are not a majority because of the large amount of indoctrination that goes on in so many places (i.e:to think independantly is evil). I’d be one of those people. Often we are the “heretics”, so we are ignored, often “cast out” ourselves, out of churches, etc.
Like the “prayer protesting” going on outside government official’s offices in Alberta, Canada. It’s just crap, and makes no sense at all. But when I mention that to anyone outside my own family that is “Christian” - woah, stand back.
I feel so deeply for the suffering of this boy, and of his parents. This was a crime, pure and simple, and it’s criminal that no one wants to do anything about it.
I came across your article while doing research for a paper on religious fanaticism in recent times, and upon reading the comments posted by readers, felt compelled to post one of my own.
I live in Utah, which is about as far from the seperation of church and state as Ethiopia is from becoming a world power. There is so much state sanctioned bigotry and intolerance in my state that I know is directly caused by the unchecked power of the dominant religion. (If anyone doesn’t know, the LDS church controls just about everything in this state.)
I am not trying to bash Mormons, I have many friends who are Mormon, and I don’t hate the people who practice this religion. It is the doctrine itself that I have a problem with and the fact that for those of us who live here and are not LDS, the way the government is feels extremely oppressive.
So many people who live here are indoctrinated with the fact that to be LDS is to be chosen by God, and that non-LDS people (they actually call us Gentiles) are below them. I have heard that this is not true of Mormons in other states, so I guess it must have something to do with being close to their Zion.
It was refreshing to see that there are “religious wackos” everywhere and they are just as successfully ruining the lives of people around them as I feel the LDS church-run government of the state of Utah is doing here.