I am always irritated when something good happens –like a bountiful crop occurs due to perfect weather conditions, or there is a miraculous rescue of a submarine crew, or when a child wedged at the bottom of a tiny shaft is plucked from certain death, to see the media praise the ingenuity of humanistic endeavor, yet hear the same media call a disaster an “act of God” any time something bad happens, like a tornado, earthquake, or hurricane.
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Rescue of a submarine crew doesn't happen by itself - humans are the ones who get it done. But humans aren't the ones who make tornadoes, earthquakes, or hurricanes happen.
I do not see what is so problematic or funny about this statement by "Terry" - perhaps it was ill-advised to suggest that he is "irritated" when good things happen. On the whole, however, he may have a point - God is blamed for earthquakes and yet not thanked for perfect weather conditions.
I'm reminded of a visit by the Pope to San Antonio. Two huge towers were built to flank his stage, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, money that could have made quite a difference in the lives of the poor in Southern San Antonio. The very DAY before the pope arrived, a freak wind came up and destroyed nothing but those towers. This was reported by newspapers as an act of NATURE. Looked like a pretty clear message to me from a higher power, if I were the sort to believe in that rubbish.
Because rescuing people (or sometimes an animal) requires other people. If your god was a loving god, he wouldn't have destroyed so many churches, neighborhoods, and lives in New Orleans.
Most of the time God gets credit for rescues and crops anyway.
I can remember the horrible plane crash where everyone managed to survive due to the abilities of the pilots and rescue crew. But even the crew all claimed it was a Godly Miracle.
In the (summarized) words of J. Stewart, "The miracle was the plane blowing up in the first place!"
A fairly bleak existence you must have, dearie, being irritated when good things happen...
Humans are doing all those good things; that's why humans are praised.
In secular Sweden, we call natural disasters "Force Majeure", or simply the Swedish word for "natural disaster" (naturkatastrof).
Don't blame the media, your own brand of twisted religion is completely responsible for that. Whereas the moderate religion pushed back on the fire and brimstone fear mongering decades ago, fundamentalists tripled down on the "wrath of God' threats, even blaming such events on societal changes, ignoring God or other lame assertions that made God have a tantrum.
The new Star Wars movie didn't praise God n Jesus at all, no wonder he flooded out 4000 homes.
Yes, they COULD attribute the rescue of the sub to God. Sure. But if your GOd did not want the crew to die, why in the fuck did he allow them to sink in the first place?
As to the hurricane, who would YOU blame? Jewish Space Lasers? The Secretary of the Interior? Paula, in Finance?
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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