Four kids & mom of Catholic family die in a house fire.

[Jehanne]

It's correlation versus causation, yes, but as we all know, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".  The first inferences that the association between moderate to heavy smoking and lung cancer was anecdotal.  Early surgeons who were performing autopsies on patients who were heavy smokers noticed deposits of thick, black tar on their lungs, and began speaking and publishing those results.  Later on retrospective studies began to be published, looking at past behavior, and finally, prospective studies, which were longitudinal that followed a randomly selected sample of persons from the present into the future.  In spite of all the thousands of studies, R.A. Fisher, perhaps the greatest statistician of all time, publicly rejected the claims that the association between smoking and lung cancer was causal.  Finally, the Academy started doing double-blinded, placebo-controlled randomized studies using animal models, such as mice and other rodents, and from that, the causal link was demonstrated, empirically.  In the mid-1960s, the United States Surgeon General settled the matter, forever -- smoking tobacco, to any degree, increases one's risk of lung cancer!

Now, CL and others, will saw that one's religious faith, no matter how wacky, is orthogonal to living or dying.  It may be impossible to prove such an association empirically, but correlational studies abound that show that less-educated (hence, more religious) persons are more likely to die than more educated (hence, less religious) persons.  As for the family, in question, I admit that I do not know, but from what I have read, they appear to be traditional, conservative Catholics who are on the right-wing of the political spectrum, the type who supported Ron Paul (and, now, his son), the type that eschews and shuns government regulation and involvement in the lives of the citizenry.

But, yes, be sure that I will be following up on this one and have bookmarked this post for future reference!  If I am wrong in my hunches, then I will apologize to the board, publicly!  But, I suspect that the home did not have any fire alarms and/or fire extinguishers, and if so, such was due to the ignorance (and arrogance) of the parents, and yes, I lay that firmly at the feet of organized religion.  No apologies whatsoever for that!

Well, maybe five kids is too many, then?  I remember reading a bumper sticker where I live, "Can't feed them?  Don't breed them!"

Yeah, I do think that faith does lead to tragedies, like people flying airplanes into buildings.  I really have had enough of postmodern bullshit, haven't you?

If it was a Trump supporter, I would probably say that!  I have seen enough white trash idiots were I live driving their big trucks at high speed down 100% snow & ice covered roads, and yes, a lot of them are Trump supporters!

I am not persecuting anybody.  As for my educational credentials, I have a Master's degree.

You have a lot of hate in your heart.

Indeed, I do!  I remember well September 11, 2001; I remember exactly where I was, and that Day will be forever etched in my mind.  And, yes, as an atheist, there can be NO peace between Us (well, at least, me) and organized religion.  In fact, if I had my way, people who believed in God could not hold political office, be on juries, be doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc., etc.  That's how I feel, and in a 1,000 years, I bet, belief in God will be no different than belief in fairies and/or unicorns.

And, so, I hate religion, and what it does to human beings.  And, yes, while I admit that I may have overreacted on this one, I still bet that the Dad there in the video did not have a single smoke alarm in that home, and I wondering what his explanation will be for that one! And, so, stay tuned!