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Atheist:
Sanal Edamaruku, President of the Indian Rationalist Association, talks about a psychotic “godman” who tramples infants to “bless” them:
According to the video description, two days after this interview, the “godman” was arrested and this ritual ended. Thank goodness.
Maybe some people ought to get together and “bless” him like he blessed those children…
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Yes this is shitty stupid! What is worse is the unthinking delusional STUPIDITY of the ignorant moronic parents!!!!! This illustrates the BASIC problem with ALL delusional irrational BS whether it be religion or alien-abducted-tinhatted-goofballs. Anytime you do not stop and think “IS THIS HARMFUL” or in anyway useful, you get this type of activity. This no more silly then praying for healing rather then seeing a doctor.
But I must not be too hard on these people. Think about it!! Which sounds sensible?
I’m going to step on the child and bless it.
or
I’m going to help your child by jabbing this needle into its butt and push (ya it hurts) a liquid contain invisible bugs into the child. Oh you can’t see the bugs because they are too small to see. These bugs then kill the bugs making your kid sick.
On the surface they both are stupid things to do. The difference lies in education. Until they are properly educated many people will do the ‘step on the kid’ thing because it is something my G’ma says is good. And my G’ma don’t trust invisible demons being pushed into the kid to fight other invisible demons.
And have you noticed any xtian charities that really teach anything in these countries??? They will indoctrinate them away from the old magic into a new magic, that’s about it.
Again this will continue until people are not only educated but can see the relevance of the subject.
Actually the microscopic anti bodies make about 1000 times more sense than trampling.
Put it this way, if trampling makes more sense to uneducated people than modern medicine, then impaling their children in a pit of spikes would make more sense as well, I can’t see any way, educated or not, that people could think this is a good idea, if they really think so then they need to be sterilized immediately.
Oh my fucking god! (and I’m an atheist) There are no words to describe how wrong that is. What is wrong with these people?
I cant formulate a decent reply because the question “how could any one do this?”, “why would any one let some one do that to there child?” and “what the fuck is wrong with these people?” just keep going though my head.
This is just fucking insane, just fucking insane.
I’m sorry for the swearing but how can you not swear after watching that?
It’s important to look beyond this alone as a reason to stomp on religion, for the real cause behind this barbaric act is the lack of exposure and access to education, information and evidence-based health care. Their superstition is bred from fear and ignorance (themselves a source and creator of poverty), which can be soothed by the assurances and claims of self-appointed holly-men (godmen), whom might also be deluded, or opportunistic or both. And guess what? One or two out of every five stood upon infants (that don’t get injured in the process) won’t get diarrhea or river-blindness (or whatever) in their first three years of life….so it works! Can’t you see, it works? Stuff like this happens in rural areas all over in the Third World.
Sickening. This is about the most disgusting thing I have ever seen.
Man religion is totally a mental disease that effects large amounts of our population. Cure, schooling and advocating reason. This is just pathetic and sickening.
Sanal Edamaruku is Awesome.
I recommend people check out The Great Tantra Challenge from 2008.
Where Sanal challenged India’s most “powerful” tantrik to kill him using magic on TV.
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/2368
Thanks for posting; I had not heard of this.
Thanks a bunch… Hahahahahahahaha
I wonder if this is much different than religious circumcision or has western culture simply become anesthetized to that?
Ummm- I doubt it, having twin boys and witnessing the procedure…. btw, Isreal, which is the area of origin for the circ, is not in the west…
oops, sorry. jumped the gun a bit there… but I cannot understand how someone could equate stepping on children to the removal of a small ( and I mean small in infancy) piece of skin… yes, by design there are a large number of nerve endings in the genitals, but C
OME ON! There are health reasons ( and, yes . religious) for a circ…the health reasons scientifically based. I cannot say the same about bearing your foot down on a CHILD. Yikes. Crazy freakin’ people in this world. Yikes again,
I’m certain this has been discussed before, but as for me, being European, holding down an infant, ripping the foreskin off the glans (it’s still pretty much stuck on it at birth) and chopping it off (not to mention precisely the small target the doctor has to work with), sounds equally barbaric if not done for a specific medical condition.
On this issue, I think Americans do it as per the “fox that lost her tail” fable. These people probably bring their kids to be trampled by this “godman” for similar reasons; cultural tradition.
Circumcision can easily be done at a later age, where the receiver can actually consent to it (after all, the scientifically-proven benefits don’t kick in until a boy is ready to have a sex life and even then they become irrelevant with proper sex practices).
If the choice were forced ( this is purely hypothetical, of course), do you think your mom would’ve chosen circumcision or baby-stomping? They really are rather difficult choices to equate, aren’t they?
There are no health reasons to remove the foreskin (and the associated layer of muscle which comes off with it) that are not covered by teaching boys to wash properly and giving girls the HPV vaccine. This has been debated here at great length before. Circumcision, whether male or female, is genital mutilation.
Custador,
1) There ARE medical reasons to remove a foreskin ( and this is primarily adult-oriented, though one could argue proactivity in the infant procedure): Phimosis and paraphimosis- the former being a stenosis, or narrowing of the foreskin that prevents retraction and causes pain with erection and intercourse,as well as attempted hygiene practices- and the latter, which is an UNREDUCEABLE retraction of the foreskin which causes painful edema (swelling) of the glans- when acute, this constitutes a medical EMERGENCY. Prosthitis and balanitis may arguably be reduced in incidence by proper and frequent hygienic practices, however, there may be some segments of the population who are unable, for a variety of reasons, to provide proper self -care.
Other reasons include preputial neoplasms; though rare, they do exist, hence an indication which you may not argue. Another is a tear in the frenulum, the band of connective tissue between the foreskin and the ventral (underside) aspect of the penis, which can cause significant bleeding due to arterial damage.
Additionally, hypospadias, a defect which causes the urinary meatus (opening) to develop more proximally on the penis ( closer to the body, rather than distally, as per the norm) may require removal of the foreskin to prevent obstruction of the flow of urine. If there is inadequate release of urine, the back pressure through the urethra, bladder, ureters to kidneys can cause post- renal failure. Is hemodialysis worth saving a foreskin?
2) There is NO muscle involved in the prepuce removed. There are three layers of tissue in the prepuce: epidermis, subdermal tissue, and mucosa. Feel free to cross reference an anatomy text. Any edition wil do.
3) FYI, the HPV vaccine is being looked at for boys in the near future, so that they are not carriers of the virus, providing a two-pronged approach in immunology ( no pun intended). Also to consider, are the legions of parents who will not comply with recommedations for vaccination of girls (or boys) because of irrational fears or concern that it will ecourage sexual activity in their children (ridiculous as that is).
4) The American Urological Association has endorsed a study citing the greater numbers of Langerhans cells in the preputial mucosa being a host site, or site of attachment for HIV. The presence of these cells in the rectal mucosa is a primary reason why anal sex has such high rate of HIV transmission compared to other practices ( acidic vaginal secretions diminish the viabiltiy of HIV- however, transmission rates then increase with sex during menstruation, presumably because of relative alkalinization of the environment). This information has significant impact in areas of the world where HIV is endemic and cultural or ecomonic reasons prevent adequate HIV prevention and/or treatment.
5) Lastly, while I respect your personal negative feelings about the procedure, likening it to clitoridectomy is faulty. A more accurate analogy histologically and anatomically would be amputation of the penis (to clitoridectomy). Perhaps,in a stretch, you may compare the suturing shut of the labia to circumcision in its comparative gravity and mutilation.
Please do not attempt to blow medial smoke up my ass. It is an exercise in futility, and I shall leave it at that.
Respectfully and regards-
Precisely!! All good reasons for a circumcision! And as is apparent, except for the HIV vulnerability, phimoses and similar conditions are specific problems that need to be addressed. For my part, I’m condemning habitual circumcision for cultural purposes ONLY.
I should have worded that more carefully: There are no PREVALANT health reasons for circumcision. Of course there are reasons in specific cases, but in general it is just a painful genital mutilation of an infant.
I suggest you take your own advice and look in a clinical procedures book – circumcision removes more that just “Epidermis, subdermal and [dermal] mucosa” (you could have just said “skin”, you know). I have actually posted the full list to this site before, but I’m damned if I remember which thread and I’m not typing it out again to somebody who can’t follow their own advice.
This I just have to quote this:
“The American Urological Association has endorsed a study citing the greater numbers of Langerhans cells in the preputial mucosa being a host site, or site of attachment for HIV. The presence of these cells in the rectal mucosa is a primary reason why anal sex has such high rate of HIV transmission compared to other practices”
One, Langarhans cells are present in every inch of skin on your body. Including the SHAFT of your member..
Two, the primary reason for transmission of HIV through anal sex is that the skin around the sphincter often tears (albeit a tiny amount) as a result of thrusting, resulting in an open portal of infection for infected fluid.
Three, you don’t know what female circumcision is.
Four, “Please do not attempt to blow medial smoke up my ass. It is an exercise in futility, and I shall leave it at that.” – considering that’s exactly what you’ve just tried (and failed) to do to me, you’re a hypocrite. FYI, on the shelf above my desk I’m looking at two pharmacology textbooks, four clinical anatomy textbooks and two medical dictionaries.
I should have worded that more carefully: There are no PREVALANT health reasons for circumcision. Of course there are reasons in specific cases, but in general it is just a painful genital mutilation of an infant.
I suggest you take your own advice and look in a clinical procedures book – circumcision removes more that just “Epidermis, subdermal and [dermal] mucosa” (you could have just said “skin”, you know). I have actually posted the full list to this site before, but I’m damned if I remember which thread and I’m not typing it out again to somebody who can’t follow their own advice.
This I just have to quote this:
“The American Urological Association has endorsed a study citing the greater numbers of Langerhans cells in the preputial mucosa being a host site, or site of attachment for HIV. The presence of these cells in the rectal mucosa is a primary reason why anal sex has such high rate of HIV transmission compared to other practices”
One, Langarhans cells are present in every inch of skin on your body. Including the SHAFT of your penis.
Two, the primary reason for transmission of HIV through anal sex is that the skin around the anal sphincter often tears (albeit a tiny amount) as a result of thrusting, resulting in an open portal of infection for infected fluid.
Three, you don’t know what female circumcision is.
Four, “Please do not attempt to blow medial smoke up my ass. It is an exercise in futility, and I shall leave it at that.” – considering that’s exactly what you’ve just tried (and failed) to do to me, you’re a hypocrite. FYI, on the shelf above my desk I’m looking at two pharmacology textbooks, four clinical anatomy textbooks and two medical dictionaries.
This probably isn’t so much a result of his religion as it is his fetish. Even so, I had to stop the video at around 20 seconds because if I continued watching I would have burst a vein in my head. Glad they caught this fucker.
Wish you had caught him, instead.
Go to YouTube and search on ‘Africa child witches’ – there are lots of clips showing what pastors in the churches set up by evangelical groups are doing to little kids. It’s unbelievable, and the parents are paying for their kids to be abused. And where are the American churches that ordained these fuckers? Nowhere to be found.
I think you may have a lead in Sarah Palin’s contact list….
At least we Atheists humanely slaughter babies before we eat them… Of course in some religions, they believe that torture makes the baby-flesh taste better, which is ridiculous.
Whatever. A1 Steak Sauce makes baby flesh taste better. C’mon, deathburger! Get a grip!
:(
!!!!!!!111!!!1!!!ELEVENTYONE!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!
I may be naive, but I know I am curious…. what is lthis 111 stuff? I have seen it b4… is it a joke on the 666? Am dying to know!!
Apparently when people were typing a lot of exclamation marks, they’d occasionally forget to hold the ‘Shift’ button, so there would be random 1s in it as well. Nowadays people use it purposefully and ironically to express extreme/stupid OMG moments on teh intarwubs.
Observe:
LOLWUT!!!!1!!one!!!!
Oh thank you! That is really funny. I luvs teh intertubes!!!!111!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!
I can only say I am thankful (TO MYSELF) that I chose to read the comments b4 the video. Now I can spare myself some horrible images that would offend the sensibilities of MOST human beings, not to mention this mother of three. Thanks to y’all for your comments.
Yeh Neophyte, you probably did youself a favour. Some things defy description, so I can assure you that what you’ve got in your head is WAY tamer than what this nut-job actually does. I’ve got 2 kids only a little older than the poor little buggers being abused on the clip, and I swear i was just speechless, mouth agape, dumb-struck. That primal urge to help in these instance was triggered and it really did my head in.
Could I maybe have 5 minutes alone with this guy, in a locked room?
Only if you’re the goddamn Batman.
I guess there’s now a condition called Stepped-on Baby Syndrome.
Not a syndrome, just pure physical trauma.
I lol’d