A relative on a certain social networking site posted a holiday meme the other day.
Here it is.....
Okay, I opted for biting my tongue rather than the alternative, which was to respond and then be seen as a big meanie atheist, which, sad to say, is likely how I'd be perceived had I commented and proposed a dissenting or skeptical view. That outcome would've been especially likely in light of what one of this relative's friends posted in response to the meme, which was the following:
"My aunt had her PET scan on [the] 23rd and she is cancer free. Prayers were answered."
First things first: I don't for one second think that my relative didn't mean well when posting the meme. I want to make that much really clear. So, yes, I know she meant well. I mean, we can surely all agree that cancer sucks, that it ruins lives, and that the human race would be better off without it. Really, now, how great would it be if all those suffering from cancer were cured once and for all of this despicable disease? There's no better wish, is there? But alas, having a kind heart and wishing for reality to be changed for the better doesn't mean that it will be changed.
So, yeah, the meme is nice and all, but it still has its share of problems.
Firstly - and this is probably the most obvious - doesn't God already know that his children suffer and die from cancer by the millions, and if so, doesn't it seem odd that God would need to be asked (on a social networking site, no less) to intervene on his children's behalf? I mean, what good parent do you know who wouldn't act to save their children's life unless they were first summoned or prodded to do so on social media? Seems a bit preposterous, doesn't it? Personally, I think so.
Secondly, and this is pretty obvious, too, but not all people with cancer who are prayed for have cancer free PET scans. True story. Yes, a lot of people with cancer die, even those for whom prayers were said. Surely every believer knows this, but yet, how do they reconcile this?
My relative's friend's aunt had a cancer free PET scan. That's truly great. But miraculous? How does this person conclude that it was "prayer" that produced the cancer free scan, and not the doctors and various treatments? And if her argument would be that it was God who saw to it that the doctor's treatments worked, then fine, but then why doesn't God just see to it that ALL doctor's treatments work? Is it because God is "mysterious"? Or is it more likely because some cancers have more successful cure rates than others, depending on which type of cancer, and depending on how early the cancer is diagnosed? Is it just a big coincidence that a world in which God heals some people with cancer, while letting others expire, looks precisely like a world in which some treatments for cancer work, and others do not? Is it more likely that someone with stage 1 non-small cell lung cancer was cured of their cancer and someone with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer that spread to the brain died of their cancer, because one cancer was caught earlier than the other, or is it more likely because God said "yes" to the prayers asked of one person and "no" to the prayers asked of the other?
I must confess that this hits home because I've lost friends to cancer, but mostly because I am currently taking trips to a hospice several times a week to visit a relative whose days are numbered. Despite this, I still managed to bite my tongue on social media, and instead, post my sentiments here on my personal blog.
We need real solutions and cures for disease, not superstition and wish-thinking. And this poses a conundrum, because a kind gesture is meant to be kind, whether it's based on superstition, or not. Hence, why it's such a touchy subject. When a freethinker/skeptic points out that there could be other things at play when prayer "works", believers invariably see it as an accost on their beliefs, without ever once stopping to think, "Hey, they could be right about that."
Hoping everyone's New Year is a good one!
