Look, real medicine prevailed, kinda:
The mother had sought in a injunction in the Family Court to stop the father and his partner from immunising the child without her written permission.
She made the application after discovering that her daughter’s stepmother had secretly taken the child to a medical centre to have her immunised against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, polio, HIB, measles, mumps, rubella and meningococcal C.
Previously, the mother had been arranging homeopathic vaccines.She told the court that she adhered to a ”simple and healthy way of life”, that included eating organic food, using non-toxic cleaning products and sending the child to a Rudolph Steiner school where the toys were made from natural products such as wool, wax and silk.
The homeopathy part was well addressed by my fellow SINner, professor Caleb Lack.
Now, let’s take a look at that Steiner ‘education’ thing:
Anthroposophy
Steiner schools are based on the works and teachings of Austrian esoterisist and mystic Rudolf Steiner. Steiner founded Anthroposophy, or ‘spiritual science’, in which he postulated that it is possible to objectively comprehend the spiritual world by cultivating a form of clairvoyance. Anthroposophy involves belief in karma and reincarnation as well as support for alternative medicines.
In one Life Science lesson, the book says that ‘Creation stories give an holistic image of the origins of the earth, plants, animals and human beings’. In another, it says that ‘The Darwinian mechanism delivers clarifying power within a certain range of phenomena, but it is rooted in reductionist thinking and Victorian ethics and young people need to emerge from school with a clear sense of its limits.’
In Chemistry lessons, homeopathy is described as ‘a good example of an effect that cannot be explained by the dominant [atomic] model’. The teaching of ‘homeopathic and/or other models of the interaction of matter and life’ is specifically advocated. Homeopathy is based on the idea that a substance that would normally cause a disease would, if highly diluted, cure that disease. Homeopathy is scientifically implausible, and evidence overwhelmingly shows that it works no better than placebo.
In Life Sciences, the book says ‘The circulation of blood is not a closed system and the pump model is not sufficient to understand the circulation of the blood and the sensitivity of the heart to the emotions.’ This reflects Steiner’s teaching in other books that ‘The heart is not a pump … basically the heart is a sense organ.’
In Life Sciences, the book advocates teaching ‘the limitations of the “germ” theory, which omits the part played by the immune system and the degree to which this is strengthened by exposure to illness.’ The movement has formally gone from a position of opposition to vaccines to one of parental choice – although surely schools, with responsibility for children’s wellbeing, should advocate vaccination.
Geometry includes the teaching of ‘counter space’, which is a specifically Anthroposophical construction that allows links to Steiner’s spirit world. In other books, Steiner describes ‘the relationship between geometric studies and developing direct perception of spiritual realities’.
Indoctrinating children with pseudoscience and antiscience. What a really crappy mom, that one is!
