Pseudo-science, no excuse for manslaughter

Good afternoon and welcome to another sunny weekend. For once, I have not one but 4 news articles which have attracted my attention this week. Let's look at the all.

Firstly, my attention was brought to this amusing site Election Meter

If you notice, it has the all too predictable poll on Evolution vs Creationism. I would like to also draw your attention to the part of the graph which marks the 2nd of May.

This my friends, is what happens when PZ Myers encourages people to vote on an issue. I'm glad it shows quite a nice bias to a scientific theory. As a result it brightened up my day a little.

Onto some more sober news, the Saudi Gazette has published a story which detailed the arrest and trial of a 70 year old man, accused of witchcraft. Now I don't know about you, but 840 lashes and a 3 year prison sentence for having different beliefs is fucking inhumane. I'm seriously glad that I live in the UK where this thing is not supported by law (with the humorous exception of the Stockport Witches, which I might add, only includes barring them from worshipping in another religious place). Its shocking that some people are so closed minded that they can't accept people examining other options. I would advocate more on this subject, but it seems rather tricky to comment upon, considering the nature and the tensions in the area.

Onto faith healing now and another trial is taking place in Oregon, where a couple have been accused of manslaughter. Again we've seen another trial, which suggests an increase in common sense on these issues. I'll be glad if people finally see that conventional medicine actually does work.

And finally, a more peculiar article. Apparently, some homeopathic remedies may have side effects. Now I'm rather confused with this idea. Somehow, someone isn't diluting them like they apparently should be doing........ I'm rather confused here......

TV Evangelist cures deaf man of Blindness

Journal of Imaginary Sciences, Vol 10, (2009),

TV Evangelist cures deaf man of Blindness

Today the Christian community declared it was amazed as a deaf man was cured of blindness by faith healer, Peter Popoff. H. Martin attended Popoff’s service, intending to see whether God could heal his deafness, a problem which had been growing steadily worse over the past few years. However, when Popoff spoke to him, he did not heal the deafness, instead he stated that he had healed the cataracts in the man’s eyes. H. Martin’s response to this was “Whut? Speak up man!”.

Popoff is a well known faith healer having worked for many years healing people of their illnesses.In the 1980s, James Randi brought accusations against Popoff, accusing him of faking his miraculous powers. As a result, Popoff, filed for bankruptcy in 1987. However, several years later he made a comeback and is continuing his ministry.

When requesting an interview with Popoff, he declined and instead made an official statement:

“The healing that was carried out on Mr Martin was to remove the cataracts which would form in his eyes. God reached down and spoke to me saying that demons were planning to give this God-fearing man blindness. Instead I prevented this from happening and the family is very grateful. I am sorry that I was unable to cure his deafness too, however, God has informed me that it is a test for him to overcome.”

Unfortunately, when we came to interview Mr H. Martin the only response we got was: “Whut? I can’t hear you because that preacher shouted down mai ears!”