«
»

8th February 2011

“When vaccination for smallpox was developed in the 18th century, the Catholic theologians of the Sorbonne pondered it at length, then pronounced it sinful. God sends smallpox to punish the wicked, they reasoned, and man would be presumptuous to interfere. Smallpox vaccination was flatly prohibited in the territories of central Italy controlled by the Pope until he was deposed from temporal power in 1870.”

Luis Granados

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 at 1:00 and is filed under QOTD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “8th February 2011”

  1. GreatEighthSin Says:
    February 8th, 2011 at 1:28

    My, how history loves to repeat itself with these fools. What are we up to now? AIDS, right?

  2. Doubting Thomas Says:
    February 8th, 2011 at 10:28

    Don’t forget the ongoing objection to blood transfusion and other lifesaving procedures by other religious Serial Shamans

  3. pbonfanti Says:
    February 8th, 2011 at 23:21

    Mother Terese caled AIDS: The retribution for “improper sexual misconduct.”
    So, why the same god don´t make same thing to pedophiles in church?

  4. Atheist MC Says:
    February 8th, 2011 at 23:38

    @pfonfanti
    Don’t be silly 🙂

  5. Defiantnonbeliever Says:
    February 9th, 2011 at 5:19

    A friend pointed out to me that the quote may be factually in error, and based on a rumor started by people who disliked the conservative pope. While the general point may be good, great fact checking would help to prevent giving ammunition to christian and other apologetics.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_XII