I was kind of shocked at the idea that King Charles might believe in homeopathy, but the thing is, there is some ambiguity around the word. The original meaning may have had to do with diluting active ingredients away into nothing, but the term is also commonly today used in a much broader sense as a synonym for “alternative medicine”, not all of which is obvious nonsense.
In my personal experience whenever I’ve heard someone say “homeopathy” they’ve always meant something like “herbal therapy” — in fact when I’ve asked I’ve yet to find anyone who was even aware of the original meaning. So is Charles actually a fan of dilution, or does he simply believe in questionable but not obviously crazy herbal remedies like arnica?
King Chuck became Royal Patron of the Faculty of Homeopathy in 2019 and retained the role after becoming king, following a Buckingham Palace review of patronages. The Faculty itself highlights this as continuing the royal family’s long support for homeopathy. He is also a long time supporter of other naturopathic practices(I think this may be what jb was referring to).
Ironic? No, it’s probably the only workable recipe.
At least it holds a grain of truth, to my mind.
Until we throw out a diluted El Niño.
Also, if you don’t mind, Jesus: Which one of the ~200 active, competing Baptist churches in USA, for example, deserves defending over all the rest of religion?
To quote Tim Minchin, “‘By definition’, I begin ‘Alternative Medicine’, I continue ‘Has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work
Do you know what they call ‘alternative medicine’ that’s been proven to work?
Medicine.” Tim Minchin “Storm” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIWj3tI-DXg&pp=ygURdGltIG1pbmNoaW4gc3Rvcm0%3D
A diluted El Niño? As in the scientifically proven Spring dampening force of El Niño? Not likely, but there is a vanishingly small hope for colloidal silver —
In health effects of silver, I’m not a true believer. I gave some to the family dog,
now he’s a blue retriever.
It might be interesting to have a look at the wikipedia entry for Michael Dixon – the homoepathic doc appointed by His Majesty as physician. Widely reported as such, but he’s a fellow of this and chairman of that, no mention of homeopathy in particular, and without that it all looks pretty reasonable.
I don’t suppose they care what I think, but it seems to me you could have alternative medicine without embracing every alternative, and homeopathy would be a good choice to make an example of.
The placebo effect, is effective where the sympton was going to disappear anyway through rest, relaxation, massage or whatever. For.serious pathology or injury is is very dangerous….
66 million years ago, dinosaurs pooped into the water. But then the asteroid fell, the dinosaurs died, and since then the water has been mixed and diluted many times. Every molecule of dino poop has left the water; does that mean that water has super dino-poop medicinal properties?
Homeopathy is really more of a religion than a science, with prophets, acolytes, heretics, foundational scriptures, rituals (like succussion) etc. But in the end, it all comes down to the chance to buy pure sugar at $13,000 per kilo, in little bottles, guaranteed to contain precisely none of the ingredient they are labelled with .
Jesus & Mo (the characters) are absurd, blinkered, and oddly very sweet. J&M (the cartoon) is brilliant: sharp, delicious, irresistible. Salman Rushdie
Jesus and Mo cartoons are wonderfully funny and true. Richard Dawkins
Jesus and Mo make the world a better place, bless their little hearts. Ophelia Benson
In a world defined by outrage and offence and liberal spinelessness, Jesus and Mo is a treasure, whose value we should never fail to recognize. Read them. Laugh. And think. Kenan Malik
The brilliant, celebrated, freaking hilarious atheist comic strip ... Greta Christina
...rays of sanity in a befuddled world. Keri Hulme
The liveliest depictions of Muhammad currently available... Malise Ruthven
J & Mo is the funniest and most consistently thought-provoking cartoon strip on the Net. In a saner world, it would run in a major newspaper. Nelson Jones, Heresy Corner
Consistently amusing, frequently thought-provoking and often heart-warming. New Humanist
Jesus & Mo is one of the most wonderful things on the internet.. JT Eberhard
Wittily captures much of the absurdity of religious apologetics. Mano Singham
I love jesusandmo.net cartoons - witty and sharp! Katha Pollitt
Often hilarious, frequently wry, these cartoons do what all the best cartoons do: they tell the truth through humour. Terry Sanderson, NSS President
...a wonderfully acid British cartoonist... Nick Cohen
I love the scrappy mockery of Jesus and Mo. Freedom of speech
includes the freedom to mock any person, any thing, any activity, and
any belief -- and J&M stands up for this unflinchingly Richard Stallman
...empowering, important and deeply progressive, not to mention hilarious... Council of Ex-Muslims
January 5, 2010
I’ll quote myself: “The virtue of a people is proportional to how well they ignore the worst parts of their religion.”
When they say “go and sin no more” it really ought to be “go and think some more”.
I was kind of shocked at the idea that King Charles might believe in homeopathy, but the thing is, there is some ambiguity around the word. The original meaning may have had to do with diluting active ingredients away into nothing, but the term is also commonly today used in a much broader sense as a synonym for “alternative medicine”, not all of which is obvious nonsense.
In my personal experience whenever I’ve heard someone say “homeopathy” they’ve always meant something like “herbal therapy” — in fact when I’ve asked I’ve yet to find anyone who was even aware of the original meaning. So is Charles actually a fan of dilution, or does he simply believe in questionable but not obviously crazy herbal remedies like arnica?
King Chuck became Royal Patron of the Faculty of Homeopathy in 2019 and retained the role after becoming king, following a Buckingham Palace review of patronages. The Faculty itself highlights this as continuing the royal family’s long support for homeopathy. He is also a long time supporter of other naturopathic practices(I think this may be what jb was referring to).
Ironic? No, it’s probably the only workable recipe.
At least it holds a grain of truth, to my mind.
Until we throw out a diluted El Niño.
Also, if you don’t mind, Jesus: Which one of the ~200 active, competing Baptist churches in USA, for example, deserves defending over all the rest of religion?
Herbal remedies? Aren’t they mostly drivem by the placebo effect? Double blind experiments fucks them all?
To quote Tim Minchin, “‘By definition’, I begin ‘Alternative Medicine’, I continue ‘Has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work
Do you know what they call ‘alternative medicine’ that’s been proven to work?
Medicine.” Tim Minchin “Storm” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIWj3tI-DXg&pp=ygURdGltIG1pbmNoaW4gc3Rvcm0%3D
Whatever floats your placeboat.
A diluted El Niño? As in the scientifically proven Spring dampening force of El Niño? Not likely, but there is a vanishingly small hope for colloidal silver —
In health effects of silver, I’m not a true believer. I gave some to the family dog,
now he’s a blue retriever.
I meant throwing The Baby, after a good wash, out.
Sorry if that unclear somewhat was.
It might be interesting to have a look at the wikipedia entry for Michael Dixon – the homoepathic doc appointed by His Majesty as physician. Widely reported as such, but he’s a fellow of this and chairman of that, no mention of homeopathy in particular, and without that it all looks pretty reasonable.
I don’t suppose they care what I think, but it seems to me you could have alternative medicine without embracing every alternative, and homeopathy would be a good choice to make an example of.
Barbara KNox; That is very clever. 🙂
The placebo effect, is effective where the sympton was going to disappear anyway through rest, relaxation, massage or whatever. For.serious pathology or injury is is very dangerous….
There is a name for Alternative medicine practitioners….Charlartans….
66 million years ago, dinosaurs pooped into the water. But then the asteroid fell, the dinosaurs died, and since then the water has been mixed and diluted many times. Every molecule of dino poop has left the water; does that mean that water has super dino-poop medicinal properties?
Leftover dinosaurs are now transformed into birds (and crocodiles) so the proper term would be super chicken-shit properties.
Homeopathy is really more of a religion than a science, with prophets, acolytes, heretics, foundational scriptures, rituals (like succussion) etc. But in the end, it all comes down to the chance to buy pure sugar at $13,000 per kilo, in little bottles, guaranteed to contain precisely none of the ingredient they are labelled with .
“Even though I don’t think I’ll convert the world to rationality, I may influence an occasional person here and there. And every small addition to the sum total of rationality is precious.” — Isaac Asimov
Here is a drop of rationality in the ocean of nonsense. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/09/us/politics/democrat-huffman-humanist-religion-christianity.html?unlocked_article_code=1.4FA.2chd.Vdxz0GKhOI5d&smid=url-share
Convert the world to rationality? More chance of me being the next pope…
If a patron of the Cock & Bull were to become pope, one consequence would be a surfeit of papal bull.