Although I feel strongly about the need for individual freedom - there is a time where it brings such suffering to others that it needs to be debated. The importance of religious freedom has been well documented and in most cases is an acceptable premise. However, religious fanaticism rarely affects those that promote it. So often the victims of such fanaticism end up being children and in many cases females of any age.
What has spurned me on to write this was the recent story of a Pennsylvania couple who had recently lost their SECOND child to a disease that in no way should have been a death sentence for the child. They belong to a christian sect that believes that the crucifixion of Christ, and the resultant flow of blood during that execution has broken the power of evil and that divine healing is the only acceptable form of recovery. As such, they are against all medical intervention in fighting diseases; the power of god will take them through it.
Their pastor, who I am sure is a real delightful gentleman, said that the death of the children was due to a spiritual lack in their lives. Once again, the deranged belief of adults results in suffering of those who have no choice but to take part. The truly despicable part is that the parents will hide behind the bible while the children sit and suffer - it's not the parents whom are diseased, it's the children, who look to their parents for help and comfort.
Get used to this. And not just in North America but around the world. There are islamic fundamentalists who are so sure of their doctrine and faith that they will murder school children to keep them from learning what they believe is "western education" (or stone women suspected of indecency). When you quickly look into it, it becomes apparent that they are simply against learning period. The acquiring of knowledge, and applying it to the betterment of your life has been a hostile point for religion whether it is to apply such learning to medicine, or in the case of radical islam, to pull oneself out of poverty.
The more you look outside the window, and LEARN about the world and what it has to offer, the quicker these religious beliefs are seen as a shallow attempt at redemption that most of us can clearly see. It once again becomes a sad incident, that in the case of children, many of them are indoctrinated or in other ways harmed before they are able to truly open their eyes and think for themselves.
