The blessing is not that God will actually do anything
At the end of his oil spill speech last week, Obama got into some god talk – quite a lot of it, as a matter of fact. He told us about that pretty custom, “The Blessing of the Fleet.” He explained that what’s so pretty about it is not that it works, because it doesn’t, but that we have goddy company while we drown or choke on oil.
For as a priest and former fisherman once said of the tradition, “The blessing is not that God has promised to remove all obstacles and dangers. The blessing is that He is with us always,” a blessing that’s granted “even in the midst of the storm.”
The blessing is that he is with us, standing by and refusing to help, watching us as we struggle and gasp and flounder and kick, like the poor birds in the oil.
Remind me why that is a blessing, exactly? Having an all-powerful witness who could help but doesn’t, watching?
Sometimes the insult is just too god damn insulting.
I find the presence of a supernatural voyeur oh so reassuring.
PZ recently commented that those interested in such niceties as prayer “go down to the beach with an eyedropper and a thimble, and pluck up a little globule of oil — and you will have accomplished more [than your non-existent/ineffectual God/prayer].”
Obama is a good speaker, but good speaking is no substitute for plain speaking.
Good speaking is no substitute for plain speaking, except in politics.
And religion.
And the bastard must be pissing himself laughing at all those silly monkeys with their ineffectual prayers.
Given that he’s supposed to be everywhere all the time anyway, could one call this special “being there and doing nothing while people die painful deaths” “enhanced omnipresence?”
In many jurisdictions, that’s called “depraved indifference” and is a felony. Or, if it involves a parent and child, that would be at least gross negligence. In neither of those cases is “Well, Your Honor, I move in mysterious ways” considered a defence.
And the reason we’re making jokes about it is that there’s no way to take it seriously without saying things about god that a believer wouldn’t dare to.
‘In many jurisdictions, that’s called “depraved indifference” and is a felony.’
If a real ‘shepherd’ failed to protect his flock he’d be banned from keeping animals.
Attempt #68793 to reach out to the right.
The President’s words are typical, I am afraid, of how religious people are always retreating to something that can be neither confirmed nor falsified. We begin with the idea that prayer is a sensible thing to do, since our belief is that there is a god who watches over all. But then we realise that prayer ‘doesn’t work’. The religious apologist may say something to the effect that we prayed for X, but that the answer was ‘No.’ God, after all is a person, and sometimes persons say no in response to requests. This, however, is not particularly satisfying for the religious believer, for saying ‘No’ seems, on the face of it, not only unprovable, but discouraging, and surely, even if god wants to refuse our request, god doesn’t want us to be discouraged. So, we add to the “god just said no” answer, the idea that, despite everything that happens — acknowledging that what happens can be very bad indeed — still god is present in our pain. God is compassionately present to uphold and strengthen us in our time of weakness and trouble.
Of course, it is only rhetoric, but it really does seem to have great comforting powers for some people. Everything remains the same, except one is left with the belief that god is there, sharing our weakness and our despair. But here’s the thing. It can’t have this kind of transformative power (placebo effect) if the person does not really believe in the real existence of this consoling and strengthening presence. If this is turned into a myth — as it often is in Christian discourse — the ability of it to give comfort will be lost.
I suspect that is why so many people are so very earnest about it nowadays. Most sophisticated religious people are not prepared to be all out realists about religious entities, so there is a lot of grave uncertainty around about the status of religious language. However, once it is acknowledged that religion is simply a way that human beings have of speaking about life and the world, the language is emptied of meaning. Almost all religious people are aware, certainly in the West, that they are dancing on the edge of a razor blade. That is why this kind of public demonstration of faith is so important, because the more people there are who use religious language of this kind, the more reassured they will be. It is also why fairly plain spoken atheism is threatening, because it says what almost all thoughtful people, whether ‘believers’ or not, are really thinking. So even a very modest demurrer will be taken as strident.
More importantly, it seems like this “Pray for the Gulf” meme is spreading much more effectively than the competing, and arguably incompatible “Prosecute BP and force them to pay for the full cost of their colossal fuckup” meme.
The more people who believe that the Gulf spill is an “act of God”, the less will there is to do anything about it, and that includes investigating the humans responsible.. It’s sick and disgusting, but what do you expect from godhavers?
One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord, that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”
The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, I was out getting a few beers with my old buddy Lucifer. What, you think I don’t have better things to do than carry your sorry ass? Please. Anyway, there’s this funny story, about that… see, Lucifer and I got really loaded, and we decided to make a bet. There’s this guy Job, you see and… well, I guess you had to be there, but if you were, it was fuckin’ hilarious. Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah: Clean that oil shit up yourself, I’m busy. Peace out!”
James wins
Every night I pray as fervently as I can, that religion will disappear.
If, for just one moment, you felt the presence of God in your lives, you would understand.
If that’s what it boils down to, I would expect those who have felt such a presence to lay off those who haven’t, as they couldn’t be expected to understand. It doesn’t seem to work that way in the real world.
I bet I wouldn’t, because I bet I would think it was a hallucination. I bet I’d be right, too.