THE DANGERS OF BAPTISM
On the Moscow radio, March 1963, Christian baptism was castigated as a “health menace” and “a senseless and dangerous rite.” In the weekly pro-atheist broadcast, the communist commentator said that “thousands” of babies died of pneumonia following christening ceremonies and that “weak hearts” and “weak lungs” in adults had been traced to baptism in their early years. In an all-out attack upon religious practices, the broadcast had its theme “religion’ s threat to health”. Life expectancy in the time of the Czars, it said, was only 32 years because religion was widespread and baptism was administered to almost all Russians. It added that during the communist regime, life expectancy has risen to 69 years, largely because of government health services and the fact that fewer baptisms take place. Anonymous TS
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