This video is only for the rabid atheists among you who don't mind Tim Minchin or serious swearing. If you think you might be offended, you probably will be, so
don't watch it.
Despite being firmly in the atheist camp I thought this article wasn't bad in terms of its impact on people with ME.
The 24-year-old from Palmerston North has myalgic encephalomyelitis, known as chronic fatigue syndrome, which is thought to be an autoimmune disease.
She said the syndrome was widely misunderstood and some people mistook it for a psychological illness.
"It's a multisystem autoimmune disease – well, thought to be – which is incredibly debilitating," she said.
I've seen much worse descriptions of the illness.
It has unfortunate Implications: that other religious people who are afflicted just haven't done the right religious practice in the right way, or haven't yet learned the lesson God wanted to teach them via their condition, or that God in some way favors the recovered person.
I've spent half an hour trying to explain to myself why this article doesn't bother me that much, even though I agree with what you have written Jaime. Maybe, if you are an atheist with ME, you will just dismiss this claim that God did the healing but still get some hope that spontaneous significant improvements are possible. And if you are a religious person who believes God can choose to heal you, this story might give hope and in any case you have your faith to help you feel that there is a purpose to the suffering.
There are plenty of stories about people attributing their recovery from all sorts of illnesses to God or gods. I don't think one more will affect anyone very much. I'm glad this young woman is no longer in a miserable situation.
Good spotting
@aimossy re the surname being the same as one of the authors of the recent Massey CFS study. That's interesting.
