Reply #16: Like I said, I have nothing in the slightest against prayer in addition to medicine

[DFW]

If you believe in that kind of thing, praying your surgeon has no slips of the hand
is certainly not going to be detrimental to his skill. I am only against making any
kind of faith the fundamental basis for any kind of medical care needed to cure some
patient of what ails them, i.e. as a substitute for getting them to a doctor. I have
heard enough horror stories (and hope they are as rare as the reports of them are) where
parents let their children die because they are sure the Lord (or whoever) will take
care of their child. If "the Lord" wanted them to go without medical care, he wouldn't
have let there be doctors. There is nothing at all wrong with praying the doctor is
successful. There is plenty wrong with saying prayer is a valid substitute for a doctor.

My dentist in Texas has signs all over the place promoting his Cristian faith. I believe
nothing of the sort, but he is one hell of a good dentist, and if he thinks it helps him
be a good doctor, it's fine with me. My dentist in Germany is of no faith at all, and he
is equally as good (and cheaper). He is also a member of Doctors Without Borders, and donates
a month of his time each year to treating penniless patients in a third world country.
You don't have to pray to act like a Christian.

So, no, I have no disdain for those who have faith. Just don't get me started on people who
think their faith is worth more than someone else's life. Faith means you BELIEVE something,
and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone has the right to believe what they want. It's
the ones who KNOW that their faith is superior to all others that make me nervous, for if
they KNOW they're right, then they KNOW I'm wrong. That's where problems start. Other than
that, pax vobiscum.