HIV patients told by Pentecostal pastors 'to rely on God' ....

N.B

All opinions expressed are personal and are not designed to cause offense.

Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23729684 to read the story that has inspired this slightly enraged post.

I understand that there is only a minority of Pentecostal Pastors encouraging this, in my opinion, reckless behavior however, I find it very disturbing. Possibly even more alarming is that I fail to see that anyone is going to do something about it or, even that anybody is able to take action.

What I fail to understand is how these ideas are able to develop and take hold in the first place. HIV is a devastating illness which can only be effectively controlled with medication which is researched and then prescribed after a process of careful deliberation and studying by a variety of highly qualified professionals. The people responsible for spreading these are dealing in a very delicate balance between life and death based on minority interpretations of events or writings.

Having and sharing faith is one thing, but when a person's faith is exploited so as to make them act, dress, think etc. in a certain way it is not right and I am afraid that this current story clearly shows this ‘dark side’ of religion and other ideologies that I think needs to be urgently addressed. Among other reasons, this is one of the reasons why I am an atheist.

Don't get me wrong, I can see the benefits of religion for some people and I also understand why some people would turn to religion, I just feel that when one person begins to tell you that God, or other religious figures can do better than professionals that is pushing the power of their position too far. Granted, doctors and other professionals don't always get it right, however, they do have a better record of success than religions and when dealing with life or death all the facts need to be looked at, and interpretations need to be challenged and verified.

In my opinion the Pentecostal Pastors who are spreading this 'rely on God' message need to be, at least, watched very closely if not completely removed from their position of, scarily, huge amounts of power. It is an extremely dangerous message and it needs to be promptly brought under control.

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