This is yet another example of what can happen when people ignore scientific facts for superstitions. The Orthodox Christian holiday of Epiphany was January 19, and the Russian Orthodox have an interesting superstition that goes along with it:
The Holy Spirit, coming down upon the water, changes its natural properties. It becomes incorrupt, that is, it does not spoil, remains transparent and fresh for many years, receives the grace to heal illnesses, to drive away demons and every evil power, to preserve people and their dwellings from every danger, to sanctify various objects whether for church or home use.
Yep, God is apparently so good at water purification, he changes its natural properties…whatever that means. The Russian Orthodox take this very seriously:
People line up in churches to fill their bottles with the holy water which is believed to have a curative effect. Many defy sub-zero temperatures and take a dip in an ice hole to cleanse themselves of sins and take advantage of the heath-giving properties of Epiphany water as it is thought that any water on this day, be it tapped water or a pond, becomes baptismal. The number of “walruses” increases by the year. In Moscow, some 60,000 people are expected to enjoy Epiphany bathing. The holy water doesn’t spoil and therefore needn’t be kept in a fridge.
And what’s the result?
More than 100 Russian Orthodox believers have been hospitalized after drinking holy water during Epiphany celebrations in the eastern city of Irkutsk, an official said Monday.
A total of 117 people, including 48 children, were in the hospital complaining of acute intestinal pain after drinking water from wells in and around a local church last week, said Vladimir Salovarov, a spokesman for the Irkutsk Investigative Committee.
Salovarov said 204 people required some medical treatment after consuming the water, the source of which was a stagnant lake. He said, however, that it was too early to say what caused the illness.
You know what? I have a feeling they’ll discover that it’s caused by some sort of bacteria or parasite in the stagnant lake, not by the priest praying incorrectly.
While these sorts of studies are fun for giggling at people who hold ludicrous beliefs, they’re also useful. People often argue that religion and science occupy different realms of knowledge, and that science cannot test religious claims. That is totally false when religion claims to affect the natural world. Here’s a simple test:
1. Get water from a pond on January 18th (this is your control)
2. Let priest pray on it for Epiphany.
3. Collect water from the same pond on January 19th.
4. Make observations:
- Have all (or any) of the microbes in the water been destroyed?
- Has the concentration of harmful chemicals decreased?
- When left out, does the control water spoil and the holy water not?
- When administered to ill patients in a double blind study, does the holy water significantly increase their health? (Okay, maybe giving pond water to sick people isn’t ethical…)
5. Repeat at multiple water sources.
If my hypothesis that Science Wins is supported, that falsifies their religious claims. They are outright wrong. It’s not a matter of opinion, it’s not a separate magisterium, and it’s not something we should respect. It’s a false claim with consequences. How many adults and children need to get sick with scientific explanations before people give up their superstitions? How is it ethical for churches to be telling all of these people that it’s safe to drink from this water when it’s not?
35 comments
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Bud
January 25, 2010 at 11:49 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Obviously, the people who drank the water were vampires.
Bud
January 25, 2010 at 7:49 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Obviously, the people who drank the water were vampires.
LR
January 25, 2010 at 12:06 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I think this sort of story is useful as well for combating the argument "why do you get annoyed that other people have religion" : simple because it (can) create situations like this.
I hope these guys get better.
LR
January 25, 2010 at 8:06 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I think this sort of story is useful as well for combating the argument “why do you get annoyed that other people have religion” : simple because it (can) create situations like this.I hope these guys get better.
Mike Brownstein
January 25, 2010 at 12:16 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
So I wasnt supposed to drink the Rev. Peter Popov magic water?
Mike Brownstein
January 25, 2010 at 8:16 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
So I wasnt supposed to drink the Rev. Peter Popov magic water?
Jer
January 25, 2010 at 12:33 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Ah, but see the "separate magesterium" argument only works if one of the magesteria only makes claims that are unfalsifiable. The Russian Orthodox Church apparently didn't get the memo that they were supposed to restrict their claims to things that can't be empirically disproven, like souls or the existence of Heaven. When you make an empirical claim you're treading into the magesteria of the scientist and you will be smacked around by empirical reality no matter who you are.
Jer
January 25, 2010 at 8:33 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Ah, but see the “separate magesterium” argument only works if one of the magesteria only makes claims that are unfalsifiable. The Russian Orthodox Church apparently didn’t get the memo that they were supposed to restrict their claims to things that can’t be empirically disproven, like souls or the existence of Heaven. When you make an empirical claim you’re treading into the magesteria of the scientist and you will be smacked around by empirical reality no matter who you are.
urbster1
January 25, 2010 at 12:34 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Reminds me of that joke about the three men and the holy water. You've probably heard it already but I'll post it here (at least the version I know) in case others haven't:
Three men walk up to a priest to confess their sins. The priest asks the first man what he did. "I stole money from a bank." The priest says, "Go, drink the holy water, and your sins are forgiven." He asks the second man, "What is your sin?" The second man says "I stole a woman's purse." The priest again tells him to drink the holy water and his sins will be forgiven. The priest asks the third man, "What is your sin?" The man replies, "I peed in the holy water."
urbster1
January 25, 2010 at 8:34 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Reminds me of that joke about the three men and the holy water. You’ve probably heard it already but I’ll post it here (at least the version I know) in case others haven’t:Three men walk up to a priest to confess their sins. The priest asks the first man what he did. “I stole money from a bank.” The priest says, “Go, drink the holy water, and your sins are forgiven.” He asks the second man, “What is your sin?” The second man says “I stole a woman’s purse.” The priest again tells him to drink the holy water and his sins will be forgiven. The priest asks the third man, “What is your sin?” The man replies, “I peed in the holy water.”
Paul Gowder
January 25, 2010 at 12:39 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It just means the people who got sick were sinners. SINNERS!
Paul Gowder
January 25, 2010 at 8:39 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It just means the people who got sick were sinners. SINNERS!
Alex Strinka
January 25, 2010 at 2:04 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Uh… Did you mean to copy the ad in the article?
Alex Strinka
January 25, 2010 at 10:04 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Uh… Did you mean to copy the ad in the article?
edivimo
January 25, 2010 at 3:38 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
You're wrong Jen, religion and science had "separate magisterium", religion belongs to the magisterium of phantasy, and science belongs to the magisterium of reality. If religion enters in the reality magisterium, science can argue against it.
edivimo
January 25, 2010 at 11:38 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
You’re wrong Jen, religion and science had “separate magisterium”, religion belongs to the magisterium of phantasy, and science belongs to the magisterium of reality. If religion enters in the reality magisterium, science can argue against it.
Toward a Moral Life
January 25, 2010 at 4:23 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
That's what they get for drinking bloo…
Oh. Wait. Isn't this the Catholic Wingnut forum?
Oh. Sorry.
Toward a Moral Life
January 26, 2010 at 12:23 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
That’s what they get for drinking bloo…Oh. Wait. Isn’t this the Catholic Wingnut forum?Oh. Sorry.
Vanessa
January 25, 2010 at 5:31 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
How exactly does water spoil?
Vanessa
January 26, 2010 at 1:31 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
How exactly does water spoil?
CJ
January 25, 2010 at 7:02 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
@Paul Gowder–Or they could have been completely pious and screwed over on a bet with the devil.
CJ
January 26, 2010 at 3:02 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
@Paul Gowder–Or they could have been completely pious and screwed over on a bet with the devil.
biodork
January 25, 2010 at 7:25 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
lol@CJ
Why doesn't the water remember that it was purified by the man in the funny dress? Water memory fail.
biodork
January 26, 2010 at 3:25 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
lol@CJWhy doesn’t the water remember that it was purified by the man in the funny dress? Water memory fail.
Jen
January 25, 2010 at 7:45 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Rofl, I didn't even notice I included the ad because I have adblocker on. I thought you were hallucinating until someone else told me too.
Jen
January 26, 2010 at 3:45 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Rofl, I didn’t even notice I included the ad because I have adblocker on. I thought you were hallucinating until someone else told me too.
UNRR
January 26, 2010 at 3:39 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 1/26/2010, at The Unreligious Right
UNRR
January 26, 2010 at 11:39 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 1/26/2010, at The Unreligious Right
Richard Howland-Bolton
January 26, 2010 at 12:45 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Holy crap!!!!
Richard Howland-Bolton
January 26, 2010 at 8:45 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Holy crap!!!!
Anonymous
January 31, 2010 at 5:25 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Sorry, but where in the Bible does it say anything about holy water? It doesn't! Therefor the claim that water can be blessed by sinners (Catholics and Prodestents) and made clean by them is devilish and they are sinning for preaching false doctorines. No wonder we have so many lost people running arround beleaving these hercies. But JEN please do remember the righteous will judge the world in the end. The Saints will prevail…Rev.6:9-17 IN THE END WE WIN!
Anonymous
February 1, 2010 at 1:25 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Sorry, but where in the Bible does it say anything about holy water? It doesn’t! Therefor the claim that water can be blessed by sinners (Catholics and Prodestents) and made clean by them is devilish and they are sinning for preaching false doctorines. No wonder we have so many lost people running arround beleaving these hercies. But JEN please do remember the righteous will judge the world in the end. The Saints will prevail…Rev.6:9-17 IN THE END WE WIN!
mcbender
January 31, 2010 at 6:10 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
re: Anonymous,
Wow. Sometimes satire writes itself. Of course, Poe's Law being what it is, one never can tell…
mcbender
February 1, 2010 at 2:10 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
re: Anonymous,Wow. Sometimes satire writes itself. Of course, Poe’s Law being what it is, one never can tell…
athikities supabiola
July 12, 2010 at 11:00 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
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