Fortune has smiled upon us… we have another chance to take a swipe at both Islam and Christian crackpots. This time the Christian ones are fairly minority (hopefully) but the Islamic one is fairly influential. Both are the same theme – vaccination.

Apparently Dr Abdul Majid Katme, head of the UK’s Islamic Medical Association (and a member of the Muslim Council of Britain) that good Muslims should not vaccinate their children. In a nutshell Dr Katme’s arguments are that the vaccines are not halal and may contain or have been made using pork-based gelatine. well, that is a good reason to encourage your followers to let their children suffer. The Time article has the following quote:

He claimed that Muslims must allow their children to develop their own immune system naturally rather than rely on vaccines.

He argued that leading “Islamically healthy lives” would be enough to ward off illnesses and diseases.

“You see, God created us perfect and with a very strong defence system. If you breast-feed your child for two years — as the Koran says — and you eat Koranic food like olives and black seed, and you do ablution each time you pray, then you will have a strong defence system,” he said.

Amazing, isn’t it. Predictably MMR comes in for a bad rap but that has become par for the course in today’s (un)enlightened age. As mentioned on Orac’s blog this whole line of thinking is not only insane for him, but threatens to undermine the herd immunity vaccine programs strive for. I think this quote from Orac sums it up brilliantly though:

“Islamically healthy lives”? Oh, yes, because Muslims were so much more healthy and resistant to disease hundreds of years ago, before vaccines were developed for common and often deadly diseases like smallpox and childhood diseases like rubella and the importance of modern sanitation was understood. Epidemics were never a problem, right? Again, what medical school did Dr. Katme graduate from?

It is worrying that Dr Katme is considered an Islamic moderate and, as part of the MCB, is working towards greater integration between Muslims and the rest of the UK. Things like this are open season for the right wing nutjobs to take a swipe at Islam, and will end up causing more suffering for Muslims anyway. Who said logic and religion could go together…

Islam is not alone though. Christianity has it’s own share of the cranky crackpots. I am not really sure what Christian doctrine is anti-Vaccine but on a web site titled “Vaccination—Vatican’s Medical Inquisition Revealed at Last!!” it is nicely spelt out for me… It seems that vaccinations and immunisations are a secret plot by the Catholic church. Seriously. Now this site is properly ranting, for example:

Dr. A.R. Campbell (another Great Scot) was a Texas doctor who discovered that smallpox was only spread by the bite of the bloodsucking insect called the BEDBUG or Cimex Lectularius. Cimex is the Latin for “bug” and Lectularius is Latin for “couch” or “bed.” Dr. Campbell proved that smallpox is not contagious and is not an airborne disease.

I can only assume (by style, structure, grammar and content) that this site is the work of some one who, in the UK, would be detained under one of the sections of the Mental Health Act. It gets worse though. Some (obviously deranged) Christian groups seem to think that vaccines come from the abortion industry (?) and that there is a biblical case against vaccines. From the latter (which is a long winded ranting diatribe of nonsense):

The Bible teaches that only God has the right to understand the realm of the supernatural (Gen. 40:8), and that intrusion into the realm of the occult makes one worthy of death (Ex. 22:18)(Also see Leviticus 19:31; 2 Kings 21:6; 23:24; 1 Chron. 10:13-14; Isaiah 8:19; 19:3).

It is interesting that several of the Greek words translated “witchcraft” and “sorcery” have the root pharm, from which our words “pharmacy” and “pharmaceuticals” are derived. This root (pharm) refers to “drugs, potions, and poisons.” Those who are familiar with the practice of sorcery both among primitive tribespeople and “sophisticated” Westerners have noted that the drugs are often used to induce altered states of consciousness which, in turn, are claimed to bring increased knowledge, sensitivity, or even contact with spirits or “entities.”

Abortion is witchcraft. There’s far too much evidence to attempt to differentiate the two. To participate in vaccinations tied to the abortion industry is to participate in two rituals of witchcraft.

Now, I was working on the principle that these two crackpot websites were from the same person (similar writing styles), but sadly, I think they are actually signs that at least two people have this insane idea.

What is the world coming to?