Saturday, November 29, 2014

Crediting “God” for Human Advancement: A Double Edged Sword.



Mrs. Hump and I have been long time supporters of St Jude’s children’s hospital. Started by Danny Thomas, and now lead by his daughter Marlo Thomas,  they do wonderful things for kids and are responsible for monumental improvements in success rates fighting all types of childhood cancers.  

You may have heard about Marlo Thomas adamantly correcting a Today show interviewer who used the word “miracle” in reference to St. Jude’s fantastic work. She reminded everyone that what they do is the work of science and dedicated researchers committed to curing, not the supernatural. We should all applaud her for that.  The whole story here:   

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2014/11/marlo-thomas-tells-today-show-its-not-a-miracle-its-science/

Of course, there will always be the deluded who credit man’s abilities and advancements to the supernatural.  The following comment in response to the Marlo Thomas article was posted on facebook:

”Not everyone has the ability to be a doctor. It is God who has blessed them with that special gift. With had work and dedication they use that gift to help others”.
 
Frank Procaccini,  11/27/14


But what poor deluded Frank’s religious non-reasoning does not consider is the backhand to that mentality, the inevitable down side. Because if god thing gives people the ability to become medical doctors who find cures, and treatments for previously untreatable diseases; then it is only logical that said god thing assigns everyone their occupation and ability. Thus, it gives car mechanics the ability to fix cars, and cat burglars the ability to steal, washroom attendants the ability to attend washrooms, etc. 

Funny how Gawd tends to favor certain races, nationalities and ethnic groups with higher paying, more prestigious jobs than others; and atheists with the greatest percentage of the most prestigious science related positions versus It’s believers. It would seem based on those results that their god thing is a racist, bigoted, non-believer.


But we can’t just  stop there. For logic tells us that if their god thing is so concerned with what each infant is going to be when it grows up then it must also “bless” (or curse) those who eventually become demagogs, tyrants, mass murderers, genocidal maniacs, and sexual perverts. After all did not god thing say:  " I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." Isaiah 45:7

The inherent stupidity of supernaturalism is remarkable. It knows no limit, it has no bounds.

4 comments:

Mitch said...

I have often observed, if the patient lives, god gets the credit. If the patient dies, the doctor gets the blame.

Dromedary Hump said...

Funny how that works. ;)

longhorn believer said...

Thanks for the info about St. Jude's. Good to know.

I just did a shitty thing. This evangelical family that I know had a member who is recovering from cancer. She had surgery, and I'm assuming other treatment as well. Her family was celebrating on Facebook. Praise God and yada yada yada. They even talked about how the surgeon prayed with them before going into surgery. Normally, I would keep my trap shut, but I've also experienced this family publicly supporting Hobby Lobby's right to opt out of birth control provisions of the ACA for religious reasons, and bragging about missionary trips to the Ukraine.

I took them to task for the Hobby Lobby thing and got the condescending "we love you anyway" bullshit. Gag! So I had had enough. I may have picked a bad time, but I commented about how unnecessary it was to thank a god for a cancer recovery for which modern medicine should be thanked, as well as wishing them continued good health. I finally got their attention that way. With any luck, they will be pissed off enough to discuss some things I said over the holiday.

Dromedary Hump said...

They must have really gotten your goat, Longhorn. :)

Even I, as ill tempered and intolerant toward religious idiocy that I am prone to be, might have held back what with the specter of cancer being so recently beaten.

But, only you can determine timing...and if it shocked them into a little thought, the fact they will despise you forever will be well worth it :)

Kudos to you for telling it like it is.