Today in Don’t Drink the Water OR the Kool-Aid, this little odd-news item from India:
Thousands of believers flocked to a suburban street in the west of Mumbai in March, when drops of water began to fall from the feet of Jesus on the cross, drinking the prized liquid in the hope that it had holy powers.
Sanal Edamaruku, president of the Indian Rationalist Association, suggested otherwise. He said he inspected the site and found the source of the water to be leaking toilet drainage, making it dangerous to imbibe.
“It’s a case of miracle-mongering,” Edamaruku told AFP from his home in New Delhi. “Any kind of miracle-mongering is ultimately to get money and power.”
Accusing him of spreading “anti-Catholic venom” during televised debates on the crucifix, outraged religious groups in Mumbai have filed police complaints that could see Edamaruku jailed for up to three years under India’s blasphemy law.
“Don’t try to bring dark ages in India,” Edamaruku had warned in a TV discussion.
One complaint was lodged with police by Joseph Dias, general secretary of the Catholic-Christian Secular Forum, who objected to the rationalist’s “very obvious and stridently anti-Christian bias”.
In a statement emailed to AFP, Dias denied the dripping crucifix had been hailed as a miracle — a status that requires an official Church pronouncement — but he also dismissed Edamaruku’s theory.
“A plausible explanation which makes sense is still elusive,” he wrote.
Only as long as you let superstition keep you from checking to find out where that leak is coming from.
Also, YUCK!
