Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Science, Fluoride, Hitler, and God

Saw a social media post the other day that railed against the evils of fluoride in the drinking water.

While I'm not against scientific evidence pointing to whatever it happens to point to, I am against miss-labeling history.  This particular post/meme was of the conspiracy-theory ilk and stated that Adolph Hitler had used fluoride to sterilize and pacify people in the concentration camps.

In fact, Hitler used murder to sterilize people in the concentration camps.  He wanted all Jewish people dead. He used starvation and horrifically cruel treatment to "pacify" people. He didn't need fluoride.

Meanwhile, Antisemitism is on the rise around the world. Misinformation about Hitler only makes a greater number of people move toward the untenable myth that concentration camps didn't exist.

People also do this conspiracy-level thinking when it comes to faith.  Some things are true about the Church. There were abusive priests whose crimes were hidden for decades.  Get that truth out in the open.  Work honestly with law enforcement.

Other things are not true.  Catholicism is NOT against science.  Some other Christian denominations are. To lean over into their camp is to discredit Christianity. Don't do it.

Let true, well-practiced science lead where it may.  So too with the Church.


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"Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews). Within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition. "— Rodney Stark

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