9
votes

The New Religion?

posted June 3, 2008 - 2:25am
The New Religion?

For most people, the idea of health care probably conjures up images of doctors and nurses working in surgeries and hospitals. However, the influence of medicine is no longer confined to merely treating the sick. Medical institutions are becoming increasingly powerful in influencing how people should or should not behave.< p>

In terms of social control and regulating behaviour, it seems to me that medicine is beginning to take over some of the functions previously associated with established religion and that the question of Good vs Evil is being replaced with the medical distinction of Healthy vs Unhealthy. They now preach to us like priests and prophets once did.

For example: demands to regulate sexual behaviour are now based less on the spiritual grounds of sinfulness and promiscuity and more on the medical grounds of threats to physical health like sexually transmitted diseases.

To continue this comparison: where religion promises damnation in the after-life for bad behaviour, medicine instead promises poor health and physical disability as punishment for wrong-doing. On the other hand, good behaviour like exercising and eating well is rewarded with good health.

It seems that medical institutions are becoming increasingly powerful by developing programmes that can be seen as a form of social control and this has serious ethical questions. Should they be allowed to continue? Should they be allowed this much control?

Author: taranitely
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Comments

You Are an Awesome Educator

mythman - Fri, 2008-13-6 1:56 pm
If I had asked about that in Yahoo! Answers, half of the responders would've said something like 'DEE-DEE-deeeeeee! a-Looka at duh ansewwwww!' and then included the link. When I see that, the hawker in the back of my head goes, 'Umm, a-Yeah ... We not here to look anywhere else!' The way you answered my uninformed-ness, Martin123, was with not just the info-source, but also the information I was missing ... that medicine fights viruses with differently-named (or anti-) viruses. ! - This HotGirl (well, many like her) can be yours if you Join Here! and show your love!

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You're funny Taranitely.

eggsovresy - Thu, 2008-12-6 12:55 pm
You're funny Taranitely. Mythman and Martin 123 have anwered brilliantly. I have to go to work and don't want to because they and you have started my wheels turning. Good job. You didn't take the bait taranitely. Your article here is on the xomba page now. Nice. Mythman good points. Martin nice science.

"I haven't done any research

Martin123 - Thu, 2008-12-6 11:42 am
"I haven't done any research on antibiotics, but I can guess they're just mutated, cloned materials like the human immune-system makes naturally." Antibiotics are not mutated and the human immune system doesn't make antibiotics naturally unless you want to take the words anti and biotic literally. The antibiotics used in medicine are simply fungus or material produced by microorganisms that kills bacteria for a living, penicilin was the first fungus with such properties followed by many subsequent discoveries of microbes with similar properties http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotics

Right, Tara. We're Talking "Earth Religion," `sovresy

mythman - Thu, 2008-12-6 7:49 am
Whatever 'god' you believe in doesn't care 'how comfortable you are.' Your comfort or -discomfort are not its goals. Set either as your goal, and you have a great chance of failing to reach any true goals (like a certain church-leader who focuses on parishoners' 'comfort'). Medicine is more like Humanism, a 'religion' that focuses on "being here" (much like when God told Moses to go to the mountain and "be on the mountain") more than "getting 'there' (Heaven, Hell, 'Mother Nature's Silver Seed'). Disagree? Join Here, Be Heard!

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The Vaccine Is Merely a Virus Understood, Understanding Is Cure

mythman - Thu, 2008-12-6 7:31 am
I've heard that most vaccines are weakened forms of viruses, forms which train one's body to fight off future infections. The sickness leads to the cure ... which is why nearly everyone gets chicken pox, but only once in their lives. I haven't done any research on antibiotics, but I can guess they're just mutated, cloned materials like the human immune-system makes naturally. It's good that doctors understand the sicknesses enough to tame them. They also understand the people enough to enslave them to the sicknesses, like good missionaries enslave the lambs to the Master's Voice. Disagree? Join Here, Be Heard!

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Off Centre

taranitely - Thu, 2008-12-6 2:34 am
This is not the issue at all 'soversy. Nice try, but I'm not going to get sucked into another one of these debates just yet.

Follow my posts: taranitely

The Same Christianity

eggsovresy - Wed, 2008-11-6 11:41 am
Religion is not an absolute. It is satan's ace trump and is human viewpoint. Medicine and science are not an absolute either. It is alot of theory and I hope you get better. There are alot of diseases that scare the crap out of penicillin Christianity is an absolute. Either you believe in Jesus or you don't. A self righteous health care worker will say you are going to heck if you do not abstain from sex before marriage and get diseases. This is crusader arrogance and human viewpoint. And is the mix of religion with healthcare. The young adults who are going into the barn to romp in the hay. Are saying that was great and I am not in Heck. I think I will do that again. A mature Christian will explain. You are putting scar tissue on your soul and this could cause you to pass up your right man or woman. Now lets go get dinner and then we will finish our chores. And leave the choice to the individuals. All the other is not an issue. Teach a child not to say no and to say please and see what word they will say first and the most. It will be no. That is human nature. What are you teaching the young girls Taranitely? http://www.xomba.com/the_homeless_man_and_the_republic http://www.xomba.com/change_we_can_truly_believe_in

No Mythman

taranitely - Wed, 2008-11-6 10:49 am
Quote:people start thinking it's the drugs that make them better Here's the thing... Most medicine simply makes you get better faster. If people were willing to sit it out, they would get better but it would take longer. Then there's medicine that cures things that wouldn't be fixed on their own. Antibiotics springs to mind. Then there is also medicine that can prevent you from getting sick in the first place (like vaccines). I don't think your claim is fair at all. Second point is that most people go to the doctor when they are already sick and doctors are actually very good at treating this kind of acute sickness.

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Agreed

taranitely - Wed, 2008-11-6 10:41 am
Yeah... we do agree =) Just a few minor differences and misunderstandings to iron out. Join the Debate | My 'bytes and 'blurbs | Free Online Games

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"If there isn't some sort of

Martin123 - Wed, 2008-11-6 8:59 am
"If there isn't some sort of punishment for not conforming" When it comes to health the punishment of not conforming to common knowledge about health is self-inflicted, people know better, they know the consequenses of leading an unhealthy life. However, punishment is only punishment if you choose to look at it like such. To a person that chooses not to conform freedom is the reward. Social control may very well exist without society giving punishment for not conforming but merely rewards it. As is the case with medicine as the punishment received for ignoring your own health is self-inflicted "Not recognizing the fact that they have little control isn't going to help them either. Pretending that they have control is like sticking your head in the sand." Nobody is pretending, I recognize it , but when you put it in to action, in order to better their situation they need to be able to help themselves and not receive aid controlled by a third party not involving them in the process. "It is needed to a certain degree, but we must not have not too much of it" Agree, and it is unavoidable as long as you are not living alone in the forest somewhere isolated from other people. However, my point is people are also responsible for not letting themselves be lead by others. One can't expect anyone else to take responsibility for ones life and actions no matter what the circumstances are like. So,as you point out awareness is important. I think we actually do agree for the most part , but we were starting out on different paths and now finally we arrrived at the crossroads:-)

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