I'm watching the absurd spectacle of the Pope making the late Mother Teresa Saint. On the BBC, no less! They are planting a very big kiss on the arse of Vatican.
Nary a counter word, certainly not the excoriating critique by the equally late Christopher Hitchens, himself a true Saint of secular humanism. Hitchen's Video, Mother Teresa, Hell's Angel
Professor Jerry Coyne has his own criticisms here: Re Tom Wolfe and Mother Teresa
Elsewhere Coyne notes that these "miracles" are always for a disease that has a history of natural remission. One miracles required for sainthood one was the remission of a woman's stomach tumour after she'd prayed to Teresa. Get real, Pope! Rumours can go away by themselves, even for atheists. Professor Coyne wonders why the "miracles" are never for something impossible (a regrown amputated limb, for example) given that the very definition of miracle is to do something scientifically impossible.
[Coyne again: NPR touts Teresa's miracles]
What utter, pathetic, nonsense!
Shame on the BBC for slavering over Theresa. As Hitchens showed she was probably responsible for more suffering and pain than she cured, for her medieval beliefs.
The bit below is from one of the comments on Coyne's blog. As Coyne says, it's at once funny, sad and true. (I mean the quote at the end of the post)
[actually on a post of Coyne's re Tom Wolfe's latest book. But it's spot on for religion]
Nary a counter word, certainly not the excoriating critique by the equally late Christopher Hitchens, himself a true Saint of secular humanism. Hitchen's Video, Mother Teresa, Hell's Angel
Professor Jerry Coyne has his own criticisms here: Re Tom Wolfe and Mother Teresa
Elsewhere Coyne notes that these "miracles" are always for a disease that has a history of natural remission. One miracles required for sainthood one was the remission of a woman's stomach tumour after she'd prayed to Teresa. Get real, Pope! Rumours can go away by themselves, even for atheists. Professor Coyne wonders why the "miracles" are never for something impossible (a regrown amputated limb, for example) given that the very definition of miracle is to do something scientifically impossible.
[Coyne again: NPR touts Teresa's miracles]
What utter, pathetic, nonsense!
Shame on the BBC for slavering over Theresa. As Hitchens showed she was probably responsible for more suffering and pain than she cured, for her medieval beliefs.
The bit below is from one of the comments on Coyne's blog. As Coyne says, it's at once funny, sad and true. (I mean the quote at the end of the post)
[actually on a post of Coyne's re Tom Wolfe's latest book. But it's spot on for religion]
