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!
4 comments:
I agree that sometimes it's best to leave it alone and post about it elsewhere...where you'll be understood :)
I'm sorry to hear about your relative.
@ Alice,
Thx, it means a lot.
And yeah, even if it's only one or two people who "get" where I'm coming from, it helps. Although, I suspect that there are some silent lurkers who can relate, too. My page view numbers in my blog "overview" section are a lot higher than 2, or 3 views :) Hopefully somewhere along the line I've been a help to someone who might've been experiencing honest doubt themselves.
I guess I can take "credit" ... or blame, for some of the additional page views. I pop in ever couple days to see what's new or who has commented. I don't think the blogger page view counters discriminate between new and recurring page viewers - to them it's all the same.
Regarding the subject ... well - that adds more page views because I keep coming back and rereading this post trying to figure out how ... or even if ... to respond/contribute, often only to get distracted by something and postponing my comment/thought. With 5 dogs, 2 cats, a macaw, a rat and a tortoise ... well ... you get the idea. :P
One of the reasons for my hesitancy for responding has been the fact that I too have a person close to me recently diagnosed with the dreaded cancer and I just didn't know how or what to say regarding that diagnosis. Additionally, this person has asked for anonymity and privacy regarding their illness - suffice it to say, I am confident you are not friends with or likely even acquainted with, this person, so be assured that it is not a mutual friend or someone that you directly know on any personal level. Although, our town, being what it is, it may be "possible" you might have met this person in passing at some random event or other.
In any regard, I certainly agree with you regarding the shallowness of such platitudes/requests for prayers and pleas to deaf/disinterested (read: non-existent) deities. Especially when the follow-up posts on social media - when their "god" supposedly ignores or rejects their pleas for cures/remedies and other delays/suspensions of reality - is to post such memes as "God needed another Angel..." etc. ... the presumptuousness to proclaim to know the mind and wishes of "god" is mind boggling.
But I digress ... and along with you, also recognize that these folks DO mean well and are trying to make sense of the world in much the same way as Neo had to when he was still unaware of the existence of the Matrix. They don't realize they are plugged into a religious version of the Matrix that taps them f their power and energy and uses it to build the Religious Matrix (tm) bigger and stronger and more ironclad, further imprisoning them in the corporate/religious narrative.
Until they're "awakened" and their eyes opened - they NEED and DEPEND on such things that the Religious Matrix (tm) provides. So, I too, tend to remain mum in the face of such memes posted by people who simply don't know anything beyond that which they've been told repeatedly, likely since birth ... unless and until they begin to ask questions and begin to doubt ...
"I guess I can take 'credit' ... or blame, for some of the additional page views. I pop in ever couple days[..]"
Okay, fair enough. But today, for instance, I've had 51 pages views and it's only 2:30PM. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you ain't checkin' back that much. At least, I hope not. lol
"I just didn't know how or what to say regarding that diagnosis."
Understandable. We all feel helpless and the right words are hard to come by.
"I certainly agree with you regarding the shallowness of such platitudes/requests for prayers and pleas to deaf/disinterested (read: non-existent) deities."
Well, I think that the notion rings shallow as an explanation(e.g..for a cancer-free PET scan). I can't necessarily say that the person doing the praying is being shallow. After all, the common denominator is wishing for the disease to be gone, in this case, the cancer cells. No one is going to fault anyone for wishing for the cancer cells to be gone.
Where people like you and I part ways with those who believe that Divine intervention has taken place is that we realize that having to make excuses for a (presumably) omniscient, (presumably) omnipotent, (presumably) omnibenevolent "God" is a serious problem. If "God" is at all places at once; if "God" is all-powerful; if "God" is all-loving, then all prayers for the cancer-stricken should be heard, and in which case, those prayers could feasibly be answered with a "yes". But alas, we know that this isn't the case. Believers of course know this, too, which is why they count the "hits" and ignore(or make excuses for) the misses. It boils down to confirmation bias, which, as you already know, is an intellectual cop-out.
"Especially when the follow-up posts on social media - when their 'god' supposedly ignores or rejects their pleas for cures/remedies and other delays/suspensions of reality - is to post such memes as 'God needed another Angel'..."
And these are precisely the sorts of excuses of which I speak. The praying simply project a "God" who is "bullet proof". IOW, one's "God" can do no wrong; he's impervious to blame. No matter the outcome, "God" gets the credit. My favorite excuse is this one: "They're in a better place, now".
Well, no, they're not. There's no better place for us than to be healthy and surrounded by the people who actually demonstrate on a daily basis that they love us. There's no better place for a hospital full of cancer-stricken children than to be at home with their parents, siblings, family pets, and friends.
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