“Freedom Sores” and Faith-Based Failure: How Alberta Became the Measles Capital of the World

Religious extremism, political cowardice, and anti-vax hillbillies have made Alberta ground zero for a third-world disease.

The Canadian province of Alberta has officially surpassed the United States in the number of confirmed measles cases.

Let that sink in. Alberta — with just 4.6 million people — now leads North America in a disease we eliminated in the 1990s. The province has racked up 1,407 active measles cases, compared to 1,309 for the entire U.S

And the reason? Simple. Alberta is infected — not just with measles, but with a political virus and a religious death cult that’s been festering in the UCP’s base for years. Welcome to Freedom Country, where anti-vax evangelicals and cowardly conservative politicians have turned “personal choice” into a province-wide outbreak

This isn’t a public health failure. It’s a public health execution — and the weapon is willful stupidity.

By the Numbers: A Province on Fire

• 1,407 confirmed cases.

• 114 hospitalizations.

• 88% of cases are unvaccinated.

• 72% of the infected are children under 18.

• 404 of them are under five years old.

The worst-hit zones? Rural Alberta. Specifically:

• South Zone (think: hard-right, hyper-religious enclaves): 822 cases

• North Zone (another hotspot for religious “freedom”): 421 cases

• Calgary and Edmonton, with actual hospitals and science, have a fraction of those numbers.

Doctors are calling it a crisis. Danielle Smith and the UCP are calling it... manageable. Hillbillies and religious extremists are fighting Grok, me, science, and real-time measles reporting data over it while their kids are covered in “freedom sores”.

Religious extremists aren’t smart people. That’s why Russia/MAGA target them with anti-vaccine information. And Alberta is Canada’s version of the Bible Belt. It’s loaded with Jesus Freaks who genuinely believe that if they say “The Sinner’s Prayer,” they will live forever when they die.

They are told that science is evil, Jesus can cure all, and the “Mark of the Beast” is in the vaccine, which SATAN created. So facts don’t matter, and neither do the lives of their loved ones, when it comes to communicable diseases and vaccines.

Truly horrifying, brain-dead shit. I know this because I grew up in it.

The Cult That Chose Measles

Let’s be very clear: This is not about faith. It’s about fanaticism.
And fanaticism kills.

The communities at the epicenter of Alberta’s outbreak are primarily rural Anabaptist groups — specifically Mennonites and Hutterites — where vaccine refusal is passed down like scripture. Many of these colonies believe vaccines “interfere with God’s will” or are “unnatural,” even though neither Mennonite nor Hutterite doctrine bans vaccines outright.

This isn’t religion. It’s a superstitious weaponized by misinformation.

Some families, according to provincial health workers, are treating measles with dandelion tea and prayers. In 2025. In Canada.

They call them "freedom sores" now — red, blotchy proof that the anti-science cult is winning. And children are the human shields.

The UCP: Politicians on Their Knees

Alberta’s ruling party, the United Conservative Party, has bent over backward to appease this vaccine-denying religious base.

Let’s take a walk through their cowardice:

• No school vaccine mandates. Unlike other provinces, Alberta does not require children to be vaccinated to attend school. It’s a "parental rights" thing, apparently — which is political code for don’t piss off the base.

• No public health emergency declaration. Despite more cases than the entire U.S., the UCP government refused to call it an emergency. Why? Because that would mean admitting that “freedom” failed.

• No strategy. No province-wide immunization blitz. No penalties for spreading misinformation. No real leadership.

Instead, Danielle Smith and her team are doing what they always do: protecting the dumbest voices in the room. The same anti-vax “parental rights” crowd that cheered Smith’s war on COVID vaccines is now cheering as measles reaps the reward of their idiocy

The Children Are Not Alright

404 kids under five are sick with measles in Alberta. That’s 404 babies and toddlers suffering from a disease that can cause:

• Brain damage

• Pneumonia

• Blindness

• Death

And if they survive? Their immune systems may be wiped out by “immune amnesia,” making them more susceptible to future illnesses.

That’s the cost of “freedom” in Alberta. That’s what happens when a government refuses to confront a religious cult of medical nihilism.

So to every UCP MLA who pandered to “Take Back Alberta” Facebook groups and promised no mandates, this is your legacy: scarred kids, burning lungs, infected classrooms, and a province drowning in a plague it asked for.

Let’s Be Blunt: Religion Is Killing Alberta

The religious right has turned Alberta into a Third World public health crisis.

These aren’t benign communities living peacefully off-grid. These are theocrats with political clout, spreading ignorance under the guise of tradition — and dragging down the rest of the province with them.

They don’t vaccinate.
They don’t isolate.
They don’t believe science is real.
But they do vote, and they do fundraise for the UCP.

And Danielle Smith? She’d rather protect the “freedom” to infect your neighbors than risk losing support from anti-vax pastors and their terrified, under-educated followers.

Final Word: Book It

Let’s stop pretending this is about freedom.
This is about religious extremism, scientific illiteracy, and political cowardice.

This is about a death cult that thinks it has the right to endanger children in the name of God.
This is about a government that would rather let kids suffer than lose votes.

This is about Alberta becoming the global symbol of Western democracy’s failure to deal with its own lunatics.

The only “freedom” these people are fighting for is the freedom to be ignorant and infectious.
And if you live in Alberta, their ignorance is your public health threat.

Enjoy your “freedom sores,” hillbillies. The rest of Canada is watching — and we’re not applauding your piety. We’re trying to keep our kids alive.

You chose measles. We choose science. And our kids.