Ecrasez l'infame

Ecrasez l'infame -Crush the Infamous thing. The infamy being superstition and credulity. Voltaire was brought to this proclamation after the earthquake in Lisbon (1755) when the clergy responded with blaming the tragedy on the "sin" of the people. Hundreds of years later our species still wallows in this type of superstition of blaming the victims of cruel fate and natural processes.

PAT ROBERTSON, TELEVANGELIST: "You know, Christy, something happened a long time ago in Haiti and the people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, "We will serve you if you`ll get us free from the French." True story. And so, the devil said, OK, it`s a deal. And they kicked the French -- the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other."

REV. JOE ELLISON, JR: "I know his comments angered a lot of the so- called, in my opinion, liberals. What he said about the comments about Haitians. And from a spiritual standpoint, we believe Dr. Robertson was on target about Haiti, Haiti in the past with voodoo. And we believe in the Bible that the practice of voodoo is a sin and what caused the nation to suffer. Those who read the Bible and study history know that Dr. Robertson said was a biblical truth."

When it comes to this sort of superstition I can only nod in agreement with Voltaire. "Whatever you do, crush the infamy." - Voltaire