Well, this is what happens when you believe in imaginary things. This is why I prefer reason to religion.

At least 50 people have lost their sight after staring at the sun hoping to see an image of the Virgin Mary, according to reports.

Alarmed health authorities in India’s Kottayam district have set up a sign dispelling rumours of a miraculous image in the sky and warning of the dangers of looking into direct sunlight.

Forty-eight cases of sight-loss, allegedly caused by photochemical burns on the retina, have been recorded at St Joseph’s ENT and Eye hospital in the region since Friday.

Despite warnings, and the potentially harmful effects of their actions, believers are allegedly still flocking to a hotelier’s house in Erumeli near where the divine image is said to have appeared.

“All our patients have similar history and symptoms… They have developed photochemical, not thermal, burns after continuously gazing at the sun,” Dr Annamma James Isaac, the hospital’s ophthalmologist said.

Even churches in the area have disowned the miracle after health officers and doctors approached the clergy.

The house where the miracle is said to have occurred has apparently been the subject of rumours for months.

The hotelier, who has since moved, had claimed that statues of the Virgin Mary in his house have been crying honey and bleeding oils and perfumes. Source

I found a very interesting article on Time’s website. The article talks about a tablet that has been found which talks about the rising of a messiah after three days in the grave.

A 3-ft.-high tablet romantically dubbed “Gabriel’s Revelation” could challenge the uniqueness of the idea of the Christian Resurrection. The tablet appears to date authentically to the years just before the birth of Jesus and yet — at least according to one Israeli scholar — it announces the raising of a messiah after three days in the grave. If true, this could mean that Jesus’ followers had access to a well-established paradigm when they decreed that Christ himself rose on the third day — and it might even hint that they they could have applied it in their grief after their master was crucified. Keep reading at Time.com

Of course, if you know your history, or have seen the movie Zeitgeist, you’d know that the Christians took a lot of mythology from past religions and deities, including being born upon a virgin, the date of Jesus’ birth, the miracles he could perform, etc. If you’ve not watched the video, go watch it now.

Here is a great article article from Scientific American. It’s a shame when people throw away logic for fairy tales, myths, and fables. I have to wonder where this country is going. Seems each year a foaming at the mouth religious nut is attacking science and scientific facts. People really are clueless when religion gets thrown into the mix. How else do you explain how stupid people are for believing that dinosaurs and man walked side by side? I’m sick of it. There is a reason the time period where religion flourished and logic and reason subsided was called The Dark Ages. Then came the Enlightenment, an age of reason. Is America heading towards another Dark Age? If you’re religious, fine, that is your right, but don’t come preaching to me and don’t put it in the science class.

This is getting sad. More and more people are being brainwashed into the Cult of Scientology. I can handle Tom Cruise going completely nuts. I’ve never been a Tom Cruise fan. Sure, Vanilla Sky was a great movie, and it’s true I can’t watch it anymore without thinking what a nut job he is, but I’d never say he’s a great actor. For those that know me, they know that I think all religion is a sham. Well, Scientology is the biggest sham of them all. When you read about their beliefs and scandal behind the cult, you’ll understand why.

Rumor has it another major actor is pushing Scientology now. None other than Will Smith has been linked to the religion lately. I’ve always thought Will Smith was fairly smart (besides in his decision to do Wild Wild West). He’s a great actor, in roles such as in The Legend of Bagger Vance and The Pursuit of Happyness and the action films that made him a bona fide star, like Bad Boys and Men in Black. Sadly, if this movie is true, I’ll never be able to see him or his movies the same way again. Anyone who believes in their beliefs must be completely insane. Of course, I also think that all organized religions dupe people. Scientology is just the craziest of them all.

EDIT: Oh, and if you want the beliefs in a nutshell, South Park actually did a great rundown of what they believe. They aren’t dramatizing the beliefs at all. It is what they actually believe.

10 – You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 – You feel insulted and “dehumanized” when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 – You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 – Your face turns purple when you hear of the “atrocities” attributed to Allah, but you don’t even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in “Exodus” and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in “Joshua” including women, children, and trees!

6 – You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 – You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 – You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs — though excluding those in all rival sects – will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most “tolerant” and “loving.”

3 – While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in “tongues” may be all the evidence you need to “prove” Christianity.

2 – You define 0.01% as a “high success rate” when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 – You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history – but still call yourself a Christian.