In my teens I had a friend who was convinced that you could cure warts by rubbing them with a hazel branch and burying the branch in the garden. On a full moon. He swore by the remedy, pointing to his wart free hands as evidence.
Superstitions used to be, if not entirely plausible, at least romantically entertaining. Even if medieval alchemists never managed to find the philosophers’ stone and turn mercury into gold, at least it was believable enough to start JK Rowling on the path to becoming a billionairess. In a way, it worked.
21st Century superstitions are much sillier and less believable. Some people think you can turn a man into a woman. Even scientists – some of them – promote this, making science much sillier and less believable. For example:
Last month, the Rev. Junia Joplin told her Baptist congregation in a sermon about the importance of telling the truth without fear of the consequences. And then she revealed a secret truth of her own: She is a transgender woman.
It cost her the job.
On Monday, 111 members of the Lorne Park Baptist Church in Mississauga, Ontario, voted 58 to 53 to fire Ms. Joplin, who has been their pastor for six years, she said on Twitter.
“I came out as transgender in June, and I got fired in July,” Ms. Joplin said in an interview on Thursday. “But there are a lot of good people in that congregation who made their allyship known, and in some cases stuck their neck out, and it is frustrating this is the way it came out.”
