Thanks? For what?
Twelve of the Chilean miners went to a “service of thanksgiving” at the mouth of the San Jose copper and gold mine today. Thanksgiving for what?
Imagine this scenario. Imagine last Thursday the Minister of Mines and all the engineers held a press conference and revealed that they had blown up the mine and trapped the 33 on purpose.
Would the 33 and all the people who were afraid for them for 70 days feel grateful to the minister and the engineers for rescuing them after first trapping them?
They wouldn’t, you know. They would be livid. They would be angry beyond imagining – they would want to do violence.
But that’s what “God” did, obviously.
So why are people thanking “God”?
Because it’s a comfort and the notion that God had inflicted it on them would, well — be like stuffing a pillow with thumbtacks.
“Thank you God for helping me out of a situation you put me into.” That’s pretty much the whole history of the religion, isn’t it?
Channeling Tina Turner “What’s god got to do with it?“
Slightly churlish, and I fear this risks looking like “rich successful people mock poor unsuccessful people for having a different response to psychological stress”. Presumably the answer is “thanksgiving for providing mental support & a structure within which to face imminent death for self & family”. I don’t think even the looniest fundie is saying God himself pulled up the rope.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Skeptic South Africa and Vegan Atheist, Ophelia Benson. Ophelia Benson said: Thanks? For what? http://dlvr.it/78QjG […]
Maybe they were happy to be alive?
As always, atheistcartoons got it:
A service of thanks is in order:
Thanks to the mining engineers who drilled the shafts
Thanks to the officials, government and others who organized the process
Thanks to the organizations who funded the costs.
Thanks to the food and other support people who supported the rescue process
thanks to the doctors who monitored them in the mine and trated them after they came out
Thanks to the suppliers of the specialized equipment necessary to drill through thousands of feet of solid rock, quickly enough to get food and air to them
Thanks to the brave rescuers who descended into the the hell pit
As for God: Thanks for NOTHING
Alright, Ophelia, can you really not resist being The Atheist Who Berated the Chilean Miners? :-)
God the Father conflicts with God the Creator, and most believers haven’t noticed it. If you think of God like an all-powerful Father, then he helps you when bad things happen to you — because he doesn’t want you to suffer bad things. But God the Creator has to want the bad things because He made them happen to you on purpose for a purpose.
They might try to reconcile this by claiming that they think God made the bad thing happen for a good reason — like increasing your faith when He later rescues you — but they don’t really think that. No Father should do such a thing — and it is God the Father they are thanking.
The brain is processing information and explanation along multiple pathways. My guess.
Of course they were happy to be alive! And I’m happy they’re alive. I was ignoring the whole thing until Tuesday evening because it gave me the horrors and I was sure it would go horribly wrong. And I can understand why god thoughts were helpful during the wait. But the BBC, for instance, put that article in huge type at the top of its page – consider the post to be about the BBC, not the miners.
Honestly, I am not that stupid – I don’t need to be told they were happy to be alive.
Only twelve? Can we take a leaf out of David “there are no atheists in mines” Quinn’s book and claim the other 21 for our side?
I too had not been paying attention until they started to be brought up and I was spellbound for the last 7-8 peep — watched it on CNN streaming video. (There was no voice over so I could still kinda work.) I was also fearful that theta would be some problem.
One thing I thought odd was that I heard NO MENTION of the rescuers and their return. That took great courage, and no doubt a close personal relationship to the almighty.
It’s considered good manners to thank God for any good thing that happens.
Many will take it further, and say that God inflicted some terrible evil upon them, like cancer, for some good reason like becoming reconciled with their families. For many, this is the sort of “meaning” or “purpose” that religion provides, some way to find something good and thus make sense of the wreck of their lives.
This God the Father made me think of one of the Top Tips from Viz magazine a few years ago:
“Teach your children the value of money by bursting their football. Then they will have to WORK to earn enough money to buy a replacement.”
(Viz is a UK magazine of juvenile humour for adults, which satirizes the children’s comic format. http://www.viz.co.uk)
Imagine last Thursday the Minister of Mines and all the engineers held a press conference and revealed that they had blown up the mine and trapped the 33 on purpose.
Or if the mining company had done it to teach the miners some important lesson, like “this is what happens when you join a union”. Isn’t that why God does things like that, to teach people important lessons? (When he’s not being inscrutable)
David, yes, I was spellbound too. There was mention (though perhaps not enough) of the rescuers when I watched. Indeed; the courage required is mind-boggling.
The last person out was the first rescuer who went in. He executed a jaunty little bow for the camera, then climbed into the capsule. Whattaguy.