A Miscellany 296
Prove you can heal - or get off the air
by: JT
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In South Africa, a church has been told to prove that its clergy can perform miracles or stop broadcasting.
Church told to withdraw 'healing' adverts
This was after a complaint was filed with the South African advertising standards council. A woman with drug resistant tuberculosis had stopped taking her medication because she believed the church could cure her. She died of the disease, of course - but only after passing on drug resistant tuberculosis to her children.
This is a serious issue. Drug resistant TB strains evolved because patients tended to stop taking their medication when they felt better rather than continuing until the disease was eradicated in their body. And to quit taking medication for the evolved drug resistant varieties contributes to it becoming even more drug resistant.
Faith healing does not just put the patient at risk - it puts us all at risk. We can't take a Darwin Awards view of thinking genes for stupidity are being eliminated from the human gene pool. We are individually and collectively at more danger from the more evolved TB bacteria than we are from the risk of that one foolish woman breeding again.
We would do well to follow South Africa's lead and find ways to get faith healing off television world wide.