I am so very pissed right now! I have a daughter with Down syndrome that lives with her mom. Imagine my shock when I saw this:
GULBARGA: On Wednesday when the world witnessed the longest solar eclipse this century, some parents walked to the Saath Gumbaz in Mominpur, near
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Kids buried in the mud during the July 22 solar eclipse in the hope of curing disabilities. (TOI Photo)
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Gulbarga, clutching their disabled children and burying them neck-deep in mud. They believe that as the mud is holy it will cure the children of their mental and physical disabilities.
North Karnataka has unique traditions like dropping babies from temple tops and putting them before the wheels of speeding chariots.
Before sunrise, the men began digging small pits. Then, the children, some just a year old, were lowered into the pit neck-deep. Nearly 60 children were so buried. They were kept there for six hours and taken out after 10 am. The children were seen crying as they couldn’t move their limbs.
Mohammad Moinuddhin from Manvi in Raichur district had brought his six-year- old physically challenged granddaughter. He said she was unable to move her legs and hands since she was born, but had miraculously recovered after she was buried in the mud during an eclipse last year. He hoped her condition would further improve if she got treated this way again. Till last year, he had taken her to various doctors but none of them seemed to understand the girl’s problem, he claimed. When he was desperately looking for a cure, he was told about the eclipse-day-mud-treatment in Gulbarga.
Mohammad Patel, a resident of Saath Gumbaz, said his son was physically challenged as he was born during solar eclipse. However, after he buried the child in the mud, the child got better. Some parents believe that their children were born disabled because of the negative effects of an earlier solar eclipse. So now, the only way they can wash off this sin is to expose the children to a solar eclipse.
I realize I risk the wrath of a billion people, but COME ON! This was a solar eclipse, where the Moon transits in front of the sun, and because of the comparative sizes of the 2 stellar bodies, (the moon being much closer to Earth), the Moon blocks the light from the sun. This is a natural, astronomical phenomena. There is nothing mystical, magical or supernatural about it! I am sorry that you have disabled children, as do I, BUT, a celestial event like an eclipse had nothing to do with causing such a disability (It has everything to do with genetics). Nor can burying your child up to the neck in fucking mud CURE your child! What the hell is wrong with you people!? Are you completely insane!? If this would have happened in my country (Canada) your child would have been taken away from you, and rightly so!
This is outrageous, yet, here in North America, thousands of people will do similarly insane things, such as pouring “holy” oil onto the heads of the sick, or carting them off to a Benny Hinn meeting to receive a “Touch From The Lord”. What happens to these people? They leave exactly the same way they arrived: With the same sickness or disability. I was part of the so called charismatic/pentecostal movement for 20 years, and not once did I see a genuine miracle, even though I was surrounded by people that believed this stuff!
Oh, and my daughter? She overcame many difficulties in her first years, but this was attributed to the advances in science and medicine, and not divine intervention!
Filed under: Asian Eclipse, Astronomy, Atheism, Christianity, Church, Disabilities, Down syndrome, Faith, Family, Fundamentalism, Kids, Medicine, Mental Illness, News, Science, Space, Technology, Weird | Tagged: Anti-science, Asian Eclipse, Benny Hinn, Charismatic, Disabilities, Down syndrome, Faith, Faith Healing, India, Medicine, Pentecostalism, Pseudo-science, Science, Solar Eclipse, Superstition
Michael, you’re entitled to your opinion and though you may choose not to remember doesn’t negate the authenticity of yes, some very genuine ways that God has indeed touched Jessica and healed her many many times. Do you not remember how the Lord healed her ears? The Dr’s couldn’t find anything else wrong – just needed tubes – after all the other tests were indicating otherwise. What about how she has continued to amaze professionals over and over again who said she wouldn’t ever walk, talk, write her name, or read phonetically. She’s doing it all. She’s doing well. This is most definitely because we are working in cooperation with the Lord and because He graciously continues to touch her life. More than anything she has an understanding mind and a compassionate heart – full of unconditional love and forgiveness, just like her Heavenly Father. You may choose to believe what you want but it doesn’t negate the Truth of His touch on her life.
The human spirit and the will to survive is a very powerful motivating force. While you are entitled to your belief that a supernatural being/entity/God healed Jessica, there is simply no evidence that such a being exists. You may also remember the little girl next to us in the NICU, born with only a brain-stem. What kind of loving God would allow that? That was actually one of the turning points for me.
BTW – I definitely agree with you wholeheartedly that no child, disabled or not should EVER be buried up to their neck based on some horrid superstition like this.
Horrid superstition, I agree. BUT, what is the difference, really, is taking a child, or sick loved one to a Benny Hinn Crusade. I have never seen one instance of genuine healing at any charismatic Christian meeting, and yet these scammers rake in millions from the sick and needy.