According to Wikipedia, Fanaticism is defined as "belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal or an obsessive enthusiasm.The fanatic displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions. Religious Fanaticism is defined by blind faith, the persecution of dissidents and the absence of reality."
We exist to tell stories. Stories are more important than facts. Reality has nothing on a story that makes sense. Many drink ineffective herbal concoctions, yet they'll swear on it over western medicine. How do you explain why a traditional midwife who has a worse outcome than a maternity clinic still has many 'believers'. Numbers has nothing on a good narrative.
The need for us to have narratives to support whatever we already believe is almost evolutionary. We are walking bags of confirmation biases. If the story makes sense, fuck pesky facts.
There was a little bit of wrangling last year on the inter-webs over someone getting her genotype swapped by prayer. I do not have a dog in this fight, except that I'm not very comfortable with the ease at which we are damaging scientific communication. Did the deed actually happen? I dunno. However, most people (including your slick talking, suit wearing pastors) have no idea what science really is and how it's done. The ease with which we are eager to suspend the laws of nature in order for our stories to make sense is scary.
Science is more a method of inquiry than a body of facts. I'm more interested in the ontology of knowledge than the knowledge itself. Why? Facts change.
On a side note. No miraculously healed HIV patient has been confirmed in a lab yet, almost forty years after the AIDS epidemic. That's a very low hanging fruit for enterprising pastors. For some reason, no one wants to touch that particular stone. The HIV virus is very resilient, so a patient suddenly feeling and looking better isn't a cure. A cure is no more virus hiding in cell reservoirs and the patient no longer needs ARVs. Why? because there is a very objective metric. In the case of many diseases and ailments, there's a goldilocks zone. There's enough ambiguity and miracle-wielding pastors love ambiguity. Is the cancer really cured? Well, if you look healed today and die five years later, can we still count today as a miracle?
"Organisms frequently encounter different environmental conditions. The physiological and behavioral responses to these conditions depend on the genetic make up of individuals. Genotype generally remains constant from one environment to another, although occasional spontaneous mutations may occur which cause it to change."
The above quote is from a scientific abstract (doi: 10.2217/pme.10.75), the scientific paper is about gene-environment interaction. There are a lot we do not understand about this particular interaction. One of the many reasons I believe synthetic biology will be the biggest technology ever. Science is an eternal dance with the universe. Are we going to know all the facts about the universe? I don't think so. However, it shouldn't stop our journey to uncover as much knowledge as possible about nature.
Back to genotypes. Can it change? Yes. Easiest way is due to a lab error (Lagos Diagnostic Labs, the way I'm side-eyeing y'all) . Another way is through a stem-cell transplant. Did that particular genotype change? Maybe, maybe not. However, my grouse is people of all faiths should be careful as not to conflate their anecdotal evidence with statistical reality. I know it feels like cheating. It feels like not trusting enough, not having enough faith. However, actual history has shown us that scientific facts actually matters more than whatever the most famous/powerful men of God of that era think.
Thousand of years of epidemics, germ theory has saved us, not personal faith. West African slaves introduced the idea of inoculation to American slave owners. Soponna priests understood some germ theory, and they foolishly profited from that 'hidden' knowledge. So the anti-vax movement in Nigeria is quite foolish. This is what happens when you don't know who you are and where and what you came from but you know all the Greek and Hebrew names of God. You know the biblical history of Israel and the koranic history of the Arabian Peninsula but you have no idea of what your ancestors did three hundred years ago.
In case you're in doubt, malaria and HIV are still decimating Africa. All the men of God you respect now (go and read what they thought about HIV in the early 80's) have done less to combat those scourge than godless William Gates. Cancer is a disease that's older than humanity. Cancer is still a big problem. Now, your public health policy for diseases can not be "have faith". If it is, then you are a fool. I am sorry. It is what it is. God is not a magician. The same way you require food to survive, you don't spend a year not eating and say, "have faith, the food will magically appear in my tummy". No, you go out and work or beg to get food or get what to trade for food. This is because you live in a material universe, and regardless of what your slick-haired pastor thinks, the material universe obeys physical laws.
Now for the good believer who wants to adhere to the tenets of her/his faith, of which absolute faith in the power of healing is must. How does that individual navigate a world of DNA, PCR tests, genotype, 5G, etc. Is the modern world inimical to deep religious faith?
I don't have the answers, but unlike fanatics, I'm open about my lack of answers. The young genotype chameleon lady for instance, what happens if after more tests, her favourable result is discovered to be a statistical error in the lab? Will she lose faith and be disappointed, or double down still expecting a miracle? Or just accept that it's normal to be AS, many West Africans are, and they are fearfully and wonderfully created like the arrogant AA folks (the author is a member of this group). You can lead a great life, even marry who you want (there are medical procedures that make this possible). However, if she’s wrong and she’s still AS, and ‘mistakenly’ marries an AS spouse, and creates possibly sickle-celled kids, would she really forgive herself for both her stupidity and callousness? Well, I am sure the goal-post will change from changing gentotype to divine healing for the kids.
My advice to fanatics isn’t to have less faith. No, it is to have more faith. More in a qualitative sense rather than quantitatively if such a distinction were possible. Your faith shouldn’t be based on miracles or supernatural events. Humanity’s advancement in science and technology will allow us wrought miracles that will challenge our deepest held beliefs. The only way against such onslaught is a faith that is deeper than the material being. There are qualitative aspects of our existence that’s untouched by the physical. Building your faith based on material blessings and miracles is building on a shaky foundation. Be like job. In spite of the vagaries of life, do not be shaken. Be a stoic. Shit happens, even to good people.
Now, I do not believe a real fanatic will take my admonishment. They are far gone. The great American philosopher, George Santayana, said, “fanaticism is redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim". The fanatic has a worldview that’s too tightly coupled. As a systems engineer, I know the stability of tightly-coupled systems is precarious, whether it is software, hardware, financial or even ecological systems. A fact that reveals the worldview is not infallible isn’t something to learn more about and possibly use as seed to help modify or adapt the worldview. Rather, to them, such a fact is dangerous and must either be ignored, suppressed, ridiculed, or all at the same time.
In a manner of speaking, we are all fanatics, we all have deeply held beliefs we refuse to let go off in spite of superior evidence. Does that make us all hypocrites? Maybe. However, if our hypocrisy isn’t a public risk to others, then we are not as dangerous as the true fanatic. Laws, tradition, interpersonal relationships can all be sacrificed on the altar of ‘truth’ by the true fanatic. Nothing matters, except the truth. Well, their personal version of the truth and how they understand it.
What do you do if you have to work, live with a true fanatic? Omo, I don’t know o. That is an open question.