Children of an even lesser god?

I've said it before, and after reading this story, it bears repeating- the worst thing to ever happen to religion was the organization of it. When you have gaggles of people...we'll call them the faithful, running around to gain some measure of faith from an "image" of the Virgin Mary or of Christ on a fucking toaster bagel, even those hints of a higher purpose seem to go by the wayside.

Now comes word of a new vision drawing flocks of people on a mission to lay eyes on a "miracle." I know what you are probably thinking at this point. Pray tell, what manner of delicious breakfast food or tasty snack cake did a religious icon deliver divine intervention upon?

There's the problem. This story takes place in India, so it's not a food. The only food they pray to is perfectly content to watch them die of starvation, but appreciates the heck out of the prayers. Nope, the faithful in India don't have time to find food they can't eat for fear of damnation (or bad karma...I forget how that works), they needs a big-time vision, something that can't be easily dismissed like a piece of toast or some mold on the door of a fridge.

So what relatively mundane object did everybody get thee in front of and stare it with breathless hope? Would you believe the fucking sun? Somehow, I can believe this, as well as I can believe that nearly fifty people have blinded themselves what could either be called a stunning example of God's cruel design, or fits of dumbass rapture. The Kottayam district has reported patients streaming in with burnt retinas from eyeballing the sun. Churches have lept into action, warning their congregation of the downside to sungazing. I have to wonder, though, how many people are actually listening. I mean, what does the church know about miracles?

The image is reported to appear in the sky over the house formerly owned by a hotel owner. Of course, this guy had also said, at one time, that he had statues of the Virgin Mary that cried honey and bled oils and perfumes, so everything seems just a tad coincidental there, and last time I checked, a coincidence is a far cry from a miracle. All I can advise the people in that part of the third world, I mean India, is that next time you see the light, just nod and move on...no sense blinding yourself just because you're a god-fearin person and all.