No More Mr. Nice Guy!

This is your brain on religion

Rumania, the legendary home of Dracula and Vlad the Impaler, is also the home of some seriously sick and twisted people driven insane by religion. Via Pharyngula comes this story that just about turns my stomach.

A Romanian Orthodox priest who ordered the crucifixion of a young nun because she was "possessed by the devil" and now faces murder charges was unrepentant on Saturday as he celebrated a funeral mass for his alleged victim.

[...]

"I don't understand why journalists are making such a fuss about this. Exorcism is a common practise in the heart of the Romanian Orthodox church and my methods are not at all unknown to other priests," he said.

A 34-year-old parishioner who had come to defend Daniel and gave her name as Dora, said Sister Irina "had to be punished, she had an argument with the Father during a Sunday mass and insulted him in front of the congregation".

For all its pious mouthings about loving thy neighbor, this is what religion is all about in practice. It's a framework for demonizing other people (literally, in this case) and dehumanizing them, so that anyone you don't like, anyone who isn't a member of your little tribe, you can kill them in unimaginably cruel ways without the slightest twinge of conscience. And you can even celebrate their funeral and tell yourself what a good, holy person you are.

Religion, the crystal meth of the masses.