Never pass up a chance to sit down or relieve yourself. -old Apache saying

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Haiti earthquake

The devastation in this already dirt-poor nation of Haiti is massive. Where do you take the injured when the hospitals have been smashed? Where are you going to get food and water?

I'm sure you already heard about Pat Robertson blaming the earthquake in Haiti on a pact with the devil that the leaders of Haiti struck a couple of hundred years ago, in exhange for giving Haiti independence from France. This is the kind of insanity that emerges when people are at a loss to explain the random suffering regularly encountered around the globe. Religious leaders are quick to blame "sin" as the reason why innocent people suffer. What a fucking cop-out. What a bankrupt ideology.

There is no doubt that many religious people have done many good deeds in service to the less-fortunate among us. But on balance, I'm not convinced that religion per se has been a plus for the planet. The amount of blood spilled, the number of people burned, maimed and killed in the name of God (or Allah, or any of a number of other gods) far outweighs any good that has been performed. Someday.....we as a people will collectively shake off the straitjacket that is religion.

Oops, got off on another rant.

There are some chilling pictures at the link here of the devastation in Haiti. You can give money to the Red Cross at the link here, and you should.

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