Albino

Yesterday I worked at a school in rural Limpopo. It is a school for the blind. They were not all blind but visually impaired to some degree. Most of the ones that I worked with were albinos. These kids (some only six years old) were given by the almighty, loving, compassionate god bad eyesight, a skin color to make them different and they are very poor. The teacher said most are rejected from their families because of the skin color.
What a start in life!

Why have they got bad eyesight? What’s the skin to do with the eye?

Kudo’s to the Catholic church on this one though. It is a Catholic orphanage. Don’t know if it is entirely funded by them but still, they do some good sometimes.

One doesn’t have to agree with religious people’s belief in a god, the bible and other bull they often spew, in order to acknowledge when they are doing good things.
For what its worth: apparently it is common for Albinos to have bad eyesight:

“Most albinos have serious vision difficulties. Their eyes do not have the correct amount of melanin and during the fetal and infant stages of their life, this causes abnormal development of the macular hypoplasia (the fovea in the retina), as well as abnormal nerve connections between the brain and their eyes.”
from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1710
I am also not surprised about the rejection - superstition in traditional african societies regarding albinos is scary. check out Albinos victims of human sacrifices

My view is that religion is “sold” or “marketed” as the good thing to do, so it attracts people who wish to do good. There are some STUNNING people who have dedicated their lives to the church and who do awesome work in the midst of a selfish world. I take my hat off to them - good people. Really good people. If they were secular in their world view they would most probably do similar good works.

Yes, that’s the salient point, isn’t it? Religionists are forever quick to point to these selfless works in support of their god and their religion. The unstated assumption/implication is that secular humanism is unable to produce the same thing without all of the mystical mumbo-jumbo baggage. Steven Weinberg had something relevant to say on the matter.

'Luthon64

Yes. That is a brilliant quote and I use it often. Many people go through stages in their lives when they want to “fix” their lifestyle, or “clean up” their lives. This often leads people to religion because religion is presented as the solution to a “moral fix-up” and “conversion” stories are born. But what these good folk seldom realise is that the final “clean up” - the ultimate “fix” for their lives - will be the removal of that religion.