The fertility chair

In saturday's edition of Charente Libre, our local paper was a story about a magic fertility chair in Naples.
For anglophones, this magnificent journal also has an English version. I can't link to the story itself as it is a subscription site. I found this one though, and here is the story at Reuters.
Now this post may ramble a bit because I'm posting immediately after haveing 3 demi pressions at the cafe with the old boys - pre lunch aperatifs.
First, lets get the Charente Libre out of the way. The newspaper's name translates as "Free Charente", but if you should decide to quip to the newsagent that the paper shouldn't cost 85 centimes since it is free, you will be rewarded with a blank look. Because in French there are a few words for "free", and "libre" has the sense of "freedom" or "liberty" as in free from oppression or slavery, and my guess is that the paper took its name shortly after liberation from the Nazis in 1945. "Free" as in "costs no money" is the word "gratuit" and "free" as in "available" is "disponible.

Getting back to the story at hand. I read the article in the Charente Libre while on a night shift, Saturday. "That's blogworthy" I thought and tore it out and put it in my jacket pocket.
Today, Monday, in the cafe, one of the old boys sarts telling the story of this miraculous fertility chair, whereapon I reach into my pocket and bring out said article. Much to everyone's amazement at how switched on to current affairs the English are. We aren't, of course. The remark is an example of confirmation bias. And confirmation bias is the explaination behind the miracle fertility chair.
Either it's the alcohol, or my own confirmation bias but I'm delighted the way these threads are coming together.

Right. The story at hand. The magic fertility chair. At the end of the 18th Century, Anna Maria Rosa Nicoletta Gallo spent her life in a small flat "in chastity and mystical suffering until her death in 1791 at the age of 76." She was given the saint name of "Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus" which suggests she may have carried stigmata, but, given that at the shrine you can also see her hair shirts and whips, it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the stigmata were self-inflicted.
What's involved is that women who are struggling to fall pregnant sit themselves in an armchair in the shrine. Then Sister Maria Giuliana, or Sister Elisa who belong to the order of nuns that guard the shrine will touch the supplicant's breast and belly with a box containing a vertebra and lock of hair of the saint. The efficacy of the treatment is proved by the birth announcements stuck to the walls and the testimonies in weblogs.
This is where the confirmation bias comes in.

Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs. For example, if you believe that during a full moon there is an increase in admissions to the emergency room where you work, you will take notice of admissions during a full moon, but be inattentive to the moon when admissions occur during other nights of the month. A tendency to do this over time unjustifiably strengthens your belief in the relationship between the full moon and accidents and other lunar effects.
This tendency to give more attention and weight to data that support our beliefs than we do to contrary data is especially pernicious when our beliefs are little more than prejudices. If our beliefs are firmly established on solid evidence and valid confirmatory experiments, the tendency to give more attention and weight to data that fit with our beliefs should not lead us astray as a rule. Of course, if we become blinded to evidence truly refuting a favored hypothesis, we have crossed the line from reasonableness to closed-mindedness.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that people generally give an excessive amount of value to confirmatory information, that is, to positive or supportive data

All the hundreds and thousands of people who have sat in the chair and had no benefit do not get reported. All the hundreds and thousands of people who would have fallen pregnant regardless of whether they sat in the chair or not, cannot be assertained, as there is no double blind testing. Likewise, it is impossible to judge the effects on mood, moral, and mental attitude of the women who have sat in the chair and then attacked their conjugal efforts with renewed vigour.
(That last sentence is DEFINITELY the efffect of French beer)

In closing, I'd like to add how much I love catholicism for being the loony fringe of christianity. European and South American catholics are so into the voodoo zombie side of stuff, with saints and bones and weeping statues. It is such good value for money. That's your "old time religeon" right there.

Here we have a picture of a woman getting the saintly boner (sorry, "bones") applied to her: and below is a url for a video. Courtesy Reuters

video: Fertility Chair

For the Healing of Little Pigs

Many of the little villages and towns have fountains and natural springs. There is usually a Saint associated with the spring, and a little shrine. The various springs, thanks to the intercession of their associated Saints are supposed to have healing properties.
Here in Cherves Chatelars, the spring of St Vivien is supposed to heal Epilepsy.
I've made a list of the towns/villages in the Charente and their healing springs at the end of this post. Some of the illnesses I haven't been able to translate. For example, at Loubert you can be healed of "Flying Fire". And I don't know what "Dartres" or "Panaris" is.

This is a little picture of the Font at Mouzon (just down the road from here: Fontaine St Martin: Rhumatism.


This PDF article (In French) describes how these little devotional fountains came about.

It seems that since the time of the Druids and before, there was a lot of nature worship. The Gauls worshiped trees and rocks, and natural springs were especially sanctified. With the Roman conquest, these springs were dedicated to the new Roman gods: Isis, Jupiter, Mithra, Minerva, Cybile. When Christanity triumphed in the Empire, these Roman gods were displaced, in turn, by church Saints. Rather than destroy the Roman practices, as directed by Council of Arles in the 6th Century, the church allowed devotions to take place at the springs, and nominated local Saints to sanitise the process. So the cult of the Springs became replaced by devotions to the church Saints at the Spring.

In the Charente there are more than 70 of these healing springs, and for those old fashioned or superticious enough, by asking the local "healer" the appropriate spring can be found. Some of the springs have become little known and secret.

The last pilgrimage to the spring at Aubin St-Mary took place on the 11th August 1947, when the citizens of Agris asked St Aubin to interced against the drought.
Since that day, though, intercesions of this type have not been so successful. Some say that the pilgrims should return to travelling by foot, rather than by car, and others say that there are too many skeptical visitors.

Look through this list and marvel at the mixture of church and pre-Christian superstition. At Montigné you can take the waters and the sain'ts blessing against the evil eye. At St-Germain-de-Confolens, St Antoine can protect you against bewitchment.

Town	Font	Illness
Abzac	St. Sulpice	Alopecia Areata
Adjutory	? ?	Érésipèle
Angoulême	La font des Pûtes	Childbirth
Angoulême	St Augustin	Cramps
Aubain -St- Mary	St. Aubain	Drought
Aussac	La font des Demoiselles	Goitre
Aignes	St Aquillie	Deafness
Brettes	La font Belette	Sore eyes
Baignes	Ste Claire	Les panaris
Brillac	La font Mélisse	Urinary Incontinence
Balzac	St Martin	Carreau
Baignes	St. Claire	Nervous Disorders
Bors	St Pierre et St Médard	Les césouelles
Boisbreteau	?	?
Benest	St Antoine	Fevers
Bonneuil	La fontaine des Sorciers	Against spells
Birac	La font des Pûtes	Heals wounds
Cillac	Font Malillac	Fevers
Cherves-Châtetars	St Vivien	Epilepsy
Cellefrouin	St Martial	Anemia
Champniers	Ste Elalie	Abscess
Courgeac	Font Guérison	Frostbite
Dirac	Font Belleveau	Lactation
Ecuras	St Etienne	Haemorrhage
Esse	St Etienne	Dartres
Epenède	Font Baumer	Mute Child
Eymoutier	St Pierre	Meningitis
Genouillac	St Augustin	Convulsion
Grassac	St Jean	Against worms
Laplaud	La Vierge	Cramps
Lichères	St Denis	Rickets
Loubert	Ste Suzanne	Le feu volant
Massignac	?	?
Montboyer	Font	Les panaris
Monchaude	St Cybard	Styes
Montemboeuf	Ste Claire	Rheumatism
Montigné	La font des Demoiselles	The evil eye
Montrolet	St Supent	Gout
Moutonneau	Font Penelles	Point de côté
Mouzon	St Martin	Haemorroides
Nonac	La font des fièvres	Fevers
Passirac	St Pierre	Boils
Pillac	St Aignan	Ringworm
Pleuville	St Jean	Deafness
Pougné	Ste Eutrope et St Martin	La ravenelle chez les enfants
Poulignac	St Martin
Puymerle	Ste Quitterie	Blindness
Puypéroux	St Gilles	Fever
Rouffiac	Font bénite	Illness of the eyes
Roussines	La font des Dames	Migraine
Rouzède	St Jean
St- Bonnet	fontaine	Anemia
St- Claud	Ste Eutrope	Goitre
St- Coutan	font	Abscesses
St- Germain -de- Confolens	St Antoine	Bewitchment
St- Germain -de- Montbron	St Antoine	Warts
St- Quentin -de- Chalais		Rheumatism
St- Laurent		Infertility
St- Yrieix	Font des Fées	Le mal caduc
Sauvagnac		Rhumatismes
Sireuil	St Orient	Against Fear
Touzac	Font des Dames	Epilepsy
Verniul	Sainte-Blaise	animals, esp. pigs
Vignolles	Ste Catherine	Against celibacy
Vitrac St Vincent	St Maixent	Epilepsy
Voulgézac	Font des Pûtes	Rheumatism
Vouthon	St Martin	Convulsions
Yviers	La font des Miracles	Convulsions

What the Dickens?!?

"I never, in my life, saw anything at once so ridiculous and so unpleasant as this sight"

So spoke Charles Dickens in 1845 when, in Rome, he saw catholic pilgrims climbing "The Holy Stairs" on their knees.
Why do they perform this ritual?
Apparantly the stairs are so holy, that it would be sinful to sully them with shoes, plus. from the kneeling vantage, pilgrims can peer through holes in the wood that covers the original marble stairs to see the spots of Jesus' blood.
Completing this task gets them a "full indulgence of their sins".

What a bargain! 28 wooden steps, on your knees and your sins are wiped clean!
Several popes have undergone the ritual of ascending the 28 marble steps on their knees. What? I'd do the damn thing daily if I believed it wiped out my sins!
These stairs were brought from Jerusalem to Rome in the 326AD by St Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, and placed in the former papal palace opposite the basilica of St John Lateran. They originally led to the praetorium, or judgment hall, of Pontius Pilate's palace in Jerusalem.
The stairs are in the news because the frescoes that surround the stairs have recently been restored. Francesco Buranelli, the director of the Vatican Museum, said: "These are some of the most important, but least well known, frescoes in Rome, and they open a new page for 16th century art". The American Getty foundaton has contributed to most of the restoration. What, the vatican is on the skids? Holy Church is broke and can't clean its own artworks?
Apparantly the restorers found chewing gum stuck to the wood of the stairs. It seems some penitents were'net overawed by the holiness of the steps. Never mind, the sin of gum litter would also have been wiped clean by step 28.

One set of mythical beliefs and a dead language upset another group of myth believers

Latin Mass may offend Jews

This is the headline in today's Daily Telegraph.
The whole story of course, is more complex but the headline is indicitive of how ridiculous believers can get.

It seems the cause for alarm is not just that the Catholic Church may revert to saying mass in Latin, but that it may revert to the old mass, which has a section in it praying for Jews' conversion.

Any liturgy that presents Jews as being doomed in their faith doesn't present a very healthy attitude towards Judaism and the Jewish people.

Rabbi David Rosen, the president of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations

We have here numerous complexities. One is the inability to seperate religion from culture and race. The specified passage in the old mass should not be offensive to jewish people on a theological or faith level. After all, if Judaism is the true religion and the Catholics are praying to a non-existant God, what's the problem? Also, if the g*d of Abraham and Isaac, being all-powerful etc etc is aware of their prayers, he won't take heed of them because the Jews are his chosen people. BUT, because jewishness is not merely defined by religion, but also ethnicity, you can see why they'd be upset.

On the Catholic side, it becomes apparant that tradition and culture are a stronger force than the theology. The punters want the Latin mass back because it is "more beautiful and inspiring than modern liturgies". It's obviously not because Latin is the official language of god. (or is it?) And how can you be inspired by a language you don't understand? No, hang on, apparantly people weep when they hear Italian opera, but that's another can of worms.

Which ever way it twists, however you analyse it and pick out the rights and wrongs, it is justification of Richard Dawkins' idea that religion is a scourge on humanity.

A Catholic Bishop gets all my respect

My wife & I were both born in Zimababwe. My parents still live there.

It is a country that has descended, with ever-increasing speed into chaos and madness. The thug in charge is Robert Mugabe, who has been in power now for 28 years. He recently celbrated his 83rd birthday in a year where his fellow countymen can hope for an average life expectancy of 35.
Mugabe does not tolerate opposition. His political rivals have had car accidents, drowned in swimming pools, disappeared, been jailed, tortured, beaten.
A long-time critic of his is the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pious Ncube. Most other churches and church leaders have either turned a blind eye to Mugabe's antics or sucked up to him.
The Pastor of my church, Noel Pashapa is now a vocal supporter of Mugabe, and turns out at his rallies.

Ncube, on the other hand has said:

I'm very angry with African leaders for letting their people down. They have cared too much for themselves and too little for their people. Their record, since the end of colonial rule, is enough to make you weep.

He will carry on protesting, he said, even if doing so risked making himself a martyr. "The Church has a prophetic role to speak the truth when no one else dares to. I accept that it may mean that I lose my life."
His faith has been put to the test, but it is the frailty of humans and their failure to use their brains which is to blame, he said.
"We can't blame God if we don't use them and stand up to our leaders," he said.

I was prompted to blog this, because the article appeared in yesterday's telegraph, but also because the Sacred Slut blogged about church activism on her blog A Whore in the Temple of Reason

I know exactly how she feels. I think it would be scandalous if churches could get away with defying the state and the authorities, but you only have to read the accounts of Pious Ncube in Zimabwe to see that there are countries and situations where if the church wasn't making a stand, no-one would be.
Of course I use the phrase "the church" in the widest possible sense. I have already mentioned that in Zimabwe the church is divided, with some denominations supporting Mugabe.

Update: The transcript of an interview SW Radio Africa's Violet Gonda talks with Archbishop Pius Ncube, Pastor Ray Motsi and Bishop Trevor Manhanga for the HOT SEAT programme.
The Bishops are asked if this coming together of catholic bishops is in any way official or sanctioned by the Pope. Could the church ex-communicate Mugabe, and what would be the reaction to that? Notice Ncube's veiled criticsm of his counterpart the Archbishop of Harare, Mugabe's diocese.

France - A Secular Nation?

It's my dream blog entry. I live in France and started this blog to chart the cultural diffrences between the French and me, and the unique experiences of working in a roof tile factory. Lately, the themes of atheism and skepticism has been taking more of my time, and in today's local paper, what do I find, but a pre-Easter survey on the religious persuasions of the French.
And the surprise is that France is becoming increasing secular. I've scanned the graphs in from the article. 4000 people were interviewed, across all ages and sectors.

This first graph is titled "Could you say which is your religion, if you consider yourself to have one?" The interesting figure here is that 29%, nearly a third of French people claim to have no religion. Note also that only 3% are declared muslim, a figure that would have been higher if this survey was exclusively from one of the big cities.

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This graph is titled "People who declare themselves Catholic" But notice that the figures don't add up to 100% What the graph is saying is that 44% of people aged between 15-35 years of age declare themselves catholic while 75% of people over 60 do so. It shows that as time goes by, France will become increasingly secular. (Set aside issues of Muslim immigration)

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This 3rd graph is a breakdown of the behaviour of the Catholics. "How often do you attend Mass or religious services?" The large majority, 53% only ever step inside church for baptisms, weddings and funerals. This is the declared catholics remember. This demonstrates that for most of the 59% declared Catholics oin France, their religion is has only cultural implications, and not deep religious implications. Only 23% say they would pitch up for the big feasts like Easter, Assumption and Christmas

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Graph number 4 asks: "In each of the following areas, would you say, in your life are very important, fairly important, not very imprtant, or not at all imprtant?" And the 2 bars they show in the graph are the figures for people who ranked the areas as "fairly important" and "very important". The thing to notice here is that most French regarded family, friends and social life, leisure and culture and work as important. Religion and spirituality was only rated as "fairly important" by 37% of people and only 13% thought religion was "very important" in their lives.

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This last graph is the killer. Only 38% of french people believ in God. 38% could be called agnostic, and a whopping 22% of french people declare themselves atheist!

There is also an accompanying article that gives a bit more detail and interviews 2 local priests for their opinions. I'll post the translation of that tomorrow