Man gouges eyes out during church service

I heard about this one last week, and since thoughtquake is back up and shaking, I had to put in my two sense. This hits me as sad, not because this man lost his ability to see, but because he lost his vision a long time ago.

A man has gouged out his own eyes in the Northern Italian town of Viareggio while attending a religious service at the local San Andrea Cathedral, local police have reported.

According to witnesses, the man, who is originally from England though he has been living in the Tuscan town for the past few years, was attending mass when he suddenly "stood up, started to shout and pulled out his eyes with his bare hands."

According to Police, the man later told staff at the nearby Versilia hospital that "a voice" had told him to "gouge out his eyes". He had been rushed to emergency services but doctors have been unable to save his sight. Source

This is a clear-cut example of how mental illness can be hidden by religion. The scriptures didn't cause this man to rip out his own eyes. It may have contributed, but I have to say that gives FAR too much credit and power to the preacher. The truth of the matter is that this man was obviously mentally ill, and as such, needed psychiatric help.

This is why it gets to me when people can call religious belief "innocuous" or "harmless." even in situations when it doesn't lead to cult-ship or bigotry. This man could have gotten help, he could have been institutionalized, and if that had been the case, he would still have the ability to see. There were probably many red flags where someone could have pointed and said, "I think this man needs help." These now obvious signs I'm sure were dismissed for the excuse of "He's just very religious." If your delusional to the point of mental damage, there is nothing worse than associating with a group of mentally healthy people who are also delusional. This man being in this church was like pouring salt on a wound. Instead of people telling him to be rational or logical, he had an entire congregation that I can only assume did nothing but unintentionally encourage his illness. This idea that religion can somehow be therapy makes me cringe. It would be like if you took a schizophrenic conspiracy theorist and put him in a group of people who look for bigfoot. It's never good to replace one delusion with another. Or I should say, Crazy should be cured, not redirected. That's a pretty good quote. I think I'll write that one down... oh wait...

I may get some flack for this post. It just frustrates me that, without the guise of religion, this man's condition would have been easily recognizable, and this whole gruesome scene could have been avoided. It truly is a tragedy.

~Zach

Oh We're not upset that WE have to pay, just that our Church does...

So, I began this blog to get my thoughts, rants and things onto the internet. I couldn't so much as cough in the airways without stumbling into this little gem.

Fox News: Taking Away Liberties

Are you really surprised? I'm beginning to think that getting material for this blog from Fox News may be a bit too easy. Maybe I should take a challenge, something worthy of me scouting around a bit...

naaaah, I'm living in the middle of the Apocalypse right now, so I could use an easy outlet.

He said the government can tax your life and can tax your death, but they’re not supposed to tax your church.

And that’s exactly what he said is happening in Mission.

“The city of Mission is taxing churches,” he said. “And that’s clearly unconstitutional.”

This is one of the many reasons I rage so hard. not only is it ignorant, it's an absolute lie, spread entirely by those that live in this so called "Christian Nation." If these people would pull their heads out of their asses for two seconds, maybe, just maybe they'd stop cherry-picking documents to suit their fancy. Here's more

The purpose of the “Transportation Utility Fee” is to raise money for public works projects in Mission like street construction and road repair.

It’s unpopular among residents, some of whom have put up protest signs on their yards.

But it’s particularly controversial because the town has included churches in the program.

GOOD! This is a GOOD thing. A step in the right direction. CHURCHES SHOULD BE TAXED. The Idea that some building shouldn't be taxed because it makes people feel good about themselves is asinine. Now, I'm not saying that this TAX is a good thing. I think taxing buildings for driveway traffic is kind of ridiculous. What pisses me off, is that Fox News seems to be upset that churches don't get some miraculous free pass. The Tax exempt status of churches has gone on unchallenged for FAR to long. to quote the constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

The tax exempt status of churches certainly falls under the "respecting an establishment of religion," part of that sentence. If your going to use the constitution as the backbone of your argument the LEAST you can do is not insult the document with your ignorance. The government is suppose to neither support nor deny any particular religion. The tax exempt status is exactly what is unconstitutional. These people are so thick headed about their religion being the most important thing in the world that not only have they stained our country with it's name, but they have somehow convinced themselves that regardless of how many times it is read to them and presented to them, that the constitution is in their favor. The "Clearly Unconstitutional" Tax is absolutely anything but. Erik Stanley, next time you spout off a word like "Clearly," Make sure it doesn't come back to make you look like a blissfully ignorant prick. ~ZU