Yesterday, I finished reading Sam Harris (author of “The End of Faith”)’s latest mini-book, “Letter to a Christian Nation”. The book is Harris’ reply to the criticisms he received after writing the first book, in the form of a letter (as the title suggests) to an average American “born again” Christian.
I highly recommend the book, though, again, the ones who need it the most will dismiss is as “the work of Satan”.
One part of the letter incensed me - I didn’t believe such a thing was possible in the modern world. But there’s no end to human depravity, it seems. From the book:
Consider, for instance, the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is now the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States. The virus infects over half the American population and causes nearly five thousand women to die each year from cervical cancer; the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that more than two hundred thousand die worldwide. We now have a vaccine for HPV that appears to be both safe and effective. The vaccine produced 100 percent immunity in the six thousand women who received it as part of a clinical trial. And yet, Christian conservatives in our government have resisted a vaccination program on the grounds that HPV is a valuable impediment to premarital sex. These pious men and women want to preserve cervical cancer as an incentive toward abstinence, even if it sacrifices the lives of thousands of women each year.
I was absolutely shocked as I read that. My only thoughts were: “YOU… FUCKING… MONSTERS!”
And there’s more:
[...]Reginald Finger, an Evangelical member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, recently announced that he would consider opposing an HIV vaccine - thereby condemning millions of men and women to die unnecessarily from AIDS each year - because such a vaccine would encourage premarital sex by making it less risky.
Now, please…
1- Don’t talk to me again about how religion and faith do “good” in the world.
2- Don’t tell me that such monsters are deranged extremists, not “true Christians”, and not representative of Christianity. The Bible agrees with them, which makes them more Christian than you are. And you agree that they have a right to those beliefs. It’s your “tolerant” idea that beliefs are “sacred” that protects such vermin from criticism and allows them to exist.
Sorry for all the anger, but this had to be said.
Related posts:
Subscribe to this blog
Wow, those guys ARE fucking monsters.
Good old tolerance aye.