Newsgroups: alt.atheism
Subject: Re: fatima
From: kmagnacca@eagle.wesleyan.edu
Date: 15 Nov 92 21:01:57 EST
Organization: Wesleyan University

In article <1992Nov13.213139.2103@samba.oit.unc.edu>, Mic.Oettinger@launchpad.unc.edu (Mic Oettinger) writes:
> In article <9211131754.AA24959@inet-gw-1.pa.dec.com> I3150101@DBSTU1.RZ.TU-BS.DE (Benedikt Rosenau) writes:
>>Mick Oettinger said something like Fatima was proof and that it was before
>>photography.
> 
> My name is Michelle. Also, I never said the Fatima incident took place before
> photography. Geez, you guys, get it straight! 

   No, but you stated while talking about Fatima that the reason 
many "miracles" are not recorded is because they occured before 
the invention of photography.  The implication was that Fatima
was also in this category.

>>Well, I've been brought up in a Catholic family and I have been told the
>>following by my teacher in Catholic religion (mandatory for Catholics in
>>Germany) that there WERE pictures taken and that they show nothing miraculous.
> 
> And how in the world COULD photography capture it?

   Why couldn't it?  If people could see it with their eyes then it
could be recorded on photography.  Of course, it couldn't if it were
all in their heads.

>>And there are those who were there and did not join in the mass hysteria.
>>Their reports sound slightly different. Food poisoining might be another
>>explanation.
>>
> Yah sure, buddy, whatever you say...do you have proof that 100 thousand
> people were poisoned before seeing this? Also, reports are never accurate,
> you should know that.

   If reports are never accurate, why do you believe the reports of 
those who say a miracle did occur?  And food poisoning isn't as far-
fetched as you might think.  There was an incident in France where
a group of peasants went on a rampage, killing all the Protestants
they could find.  This behavior stopped suddenly without outside 
interference a few months later.  It was later found to coincide
neatly with an outbreak of ergot (from which LSD is extracted) on
the grain the peasants were growing.

>>And since this all is 'proof' (though 10**9 people did not see it and were not
>>given a chance to), I would like to see PROOF that the miracle was done by
>>god or maybe mary, and not by one or more of the following:
>>Brahma, Apollo, Helios, Loki, Odin, Bugs Bunny, the Three Musqueteers, Cthulhu,
>>Pink Invisible Unicorns, Lakotas From Outer Space, Elvis, Deus Ignotus, or
>>any other god from every pantheon. Especially, the proof that the last ones
>>cannot have done it would interest me.
>>
>>I cannot tell about Fatima, but Bugs Bunny sure does wonders.
>>  Benedikt
> 
> Let me see, as I recall, it was foretold by Fatima that a miracle would
> take place to prove to the nonbelievers that she was speaking from the
> Lord.

   What Lord?  His Pinkness, Lord of the Unicorns?

> The miracle came exactly when it was supposed to after Fatima had
> spoken to the three children. That's proof enough for me, since I doubt
> these three children could've poisoned 100 thousand people in preparation
> for the event, much less fake a miracle....

   What makes you think the children weren't poisoned as well?

Karl
------
"Find a great ideal, a great purpose, marry it, and raise a family."
					 --Negativland, "U2"