1. Comment #54957 by Dr Benway on July 9, 2007 at 12:53 pm

When religious duties overlap with pro-social values, no one complains It's only when religious duties run counter to human decency that people are upset.

I wish it were generally accepted that ordinary human solidarity is possible without religion.

Sigh.

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2. Comment #54959 by AmericanHumanist on July 9, 2007 at 1:11 pm

In interviews with Hitchens, viewers can always count on the host asking, "Religion poisons everything? C'mon, everything?"

This article illustrates one of countless examples of the affirmative answer to this question.

Yes, religion poisons absolutely everything.

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3. Comment #54960 by konquererz on July 9, 2007 at 1:12 pm

There isn't anything that religion can't taint, tarnish, or poison is there? Its infuriating to see people killing in the name of religion or anything else, but especially religion. I was once told by a teacher that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. He obviously heard it from someone else as well, and I think that saying goes make a long time. But the saying is absolutely true! I hear religious people stating that "all religions and all people in a religion aren't bad, some religion does some good some of the time". Well, thats really not good enough. Religion is only as strong as its weakest link. The link that thinks killing people in the name of god is the weakest link, creating a burden on society, much more so than it helps society.

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4. Comment #54984 by Nick6742 on July 9, 2007 at 3:04 pm

This article is on point. During my first week of med school we had to write our own Hippocratic oath's. One student wrote 3-4 sentences on procedures he would not do because of religious conviction. There are also some girls who attended a conference with several of us and refused to share a hotel room with even 1 male because of religious convictions, forcing us to book 2 hotel rooms needlessly.

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5. Comment #54993 by Shuggy on July 9, 2007 at 3:48 pm

konquererz:

I hear religious people stating that "all religions and all people in a religion aren't bad, some religion does some good some of the time". Well, thats really not good enough. Religion is only as strong as its weakest link. The link that thinks killing people in the name of god is the weakest link, creating a burden on society, much more so than it helps society.

And one purpose of religion is supposed to be to make people do good. When religion makes people do evil, like doctors harming patients, one's sense of justice is outraged.

Nick6742:

...procedures he would not do because of religious conviction. There are also some girls who attended a conference with several of us and refused to share a hotel room with even 1 male because of religious convictions, forcing us to book 2 hotel rooms needlessly.

But people still have a right to freedom of conscience. If one doctor won't do, say, abortions, because s/he considers that the foetus suffers, and another because s/he believes it destroys a soul, are we allowed to say "Your reason is OK, you needn't do them, but your reason is irrational, you must do abortions"? Or if the women refused to share because the guy (not Nick, of course) was a creep who was going to come on to them? Drawing these distinctions is not always easy.

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6. Comment #55019 by Insightful Ape on July 9, 2007 at 5:45 pm

As a doctor, I am embarrassed, ashamed and outraged by the actions of these beasts. This is absolutely incredible. However, there is no shortage of less extreme cases, such as doctors refusing to discuss contraception on religious grounds.

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7. Comment #55033 by Pandemonium on July 9, 2007 at 6:58 pm

I wonder if these persons actually were religious nutter/proto-terrorists before becoming doctors and simply pursued and used the trust and power accompanying the position in order to position themselves to be able to do this sort of deed. After all, they were young, recent immigrants, and it was an obvious way to get in easily.

Sort of like the creationists now getting degrees in biology in order to attempt to gain credentials in order to try to knife knowledge in the back.

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8. Comment #55464 by Macque on July 11, 2007 at 7:28 am

I just had a discussion with a colleague regarding ritual mutilation of infants. He is a practicing christian, and was shocked by the BBC article exposing the practice of ritual female genital mutilation in some religions. I agreed with him, and said I can't believe jews have been getting away with it for centuries. He looked at me with a puzzled expression.
I explained that circumcision was routinely carried out on every male child of jewish parents. He replied with a dismissive wave of the hand "yes, but that's normal."

Exactly.

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9. Comment #55518 by nothing on July 11, 2007 at 11:43 am

Does anyone really think our species is going to survive beyond the 21st century, given just how insane many, if not most, of us are?

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10. Comment #55925 by youmemeyou on July 12, 2007 at 11:15 pm

nothing

Your name is an affective clue. In any case, let me be the first to present to you 160 well-educated, strategically selected reasons for optimism:

http://edge.org/q2007/q07_index.html

You're welcome.

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11. Comment #58275 by Mike Dudley on July 24, 2007 at 8:12 am

"Remember that Stalinism itself was self-defined as "a great experiment" on the human being and that fascists loved to say that they were cutting out the tumors of society and extirpating the "bacilli" that caused disorders in (another revealing phrase) "the body politic."

Hmmm. Bit like Che Guevara, then?

... and all the time I thought that was the poster of some kind of moral hero.

Sorry to digress.

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