Bill Donahue
October 15, 2010
The miraculous rescue of all 33 Chilean miners is difficult to understand from a purely secular perspective. In this day and age of militant atheism, coupled with relentless assaults on Roman Catholicism, it is refreshing to read about the central role that Catholicism played in helping these courageous men survive, and of their enormous gratitude to God.
To those who cling to the superstition that there is no meaning to life beyond sheer material existence, we ask them to reflect on the following testimonials. Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no atheists in trapped mines.
http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=2005
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This twaddle is so ridiculous that it barely deserves recognition, but it mentions a couple incredibly common misconceptions that I'll take a few minutes to address. Funnily enough, the entire piece is one misconception trailed by another. From any other source I would be upset or indignant, but one does not expect Donahue to think before typing. I'm fairly certain that his next reasoned thought will be his first.
a) "The miraculous rescue of all 33 Chilean miners is difficult to understand from a purely secular perspective."
I'm not entirely certain what miraculous event occurred during the rescue. I know that I saw equipment and men, I know that many serious calculations were being done for weeks, and I witnessed a government step in and work hard to get these men out alive. Perhaps I missed something, but I'm not sure that christ was the one drilling the rescue tunnel or passing down food, water, and cots.
And just what was the "secular perspective?" Humans worked hard to save humans. No religious perspective needed.
b) "In this day and age of militant atheism, coupled with relentless assaults on Roman Catholicism, it is refreshing to read about the central role that Catholicism played in helping these courageous men survive, and of their enormous gratitude to God."
I love the term militant atheist. It is one of those few terms that shows, up front and immediately, just how ignorant and often false the next words will be. Relentless assaults? I think those have been done BY the church, not to it. This lying, disingenuous pope and the culture of paedophile protection that he supported and enforced before he became pope is why the church is facing criticism, and rightly so. The murders of millions of Africans by forbidding condoms, or withholding aid unless the government stood with them on the topic, is why the church is facing criticism, and rightly so. The misogyny and prejudices of the church is why it is facing criticism, and rightly so. It's stand on gay rights is a reason that the church is facing criticism, and rightly so.
All of that said, could someone tell me what role the church played in the rescue? Distracting the families with prayer while people worked hard to get the men out is the only act that seems to have been undertaken by "Catholicism" at the rescue. The majority of priests there claimed to be the only one talking to god and, unsurprisingly, the messages were quite different from one another. One even claimed that the miners were rescued because he sung them out with gods help. To all of these I can only respond with the thought that they should all be sealed in the mine. The priest that prays(or sings) himself out or has a divine intervention gets credit for the miners rescue.
Why do so many people think that, in the extremely small chance that a god exists, this sadistic freak would be worth worshipping? Let me do something I rarely do; lets pretend that god exists and this is all him working. HE TRAPPED 33 MEN IN A MINE FOR OVER TWO MONTHS. Not as a punishment mind, just so that he could get credit for being nice and rescuing them. In America we punish people that injure others wantonly, even those rare psychotic nurses and doctors that do it in order to mend them. We punish firefighters that light fires to maintain employment. Why then do you want to praise a god that is doing nothing more?
c) "To those who cling to the superstition that there is no meaning to life beyond sheer material existence, we ask them to reflect on the following testimonials."
Superstition? Does billy even know the definition of the word?
Superstition:
1. An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.
2.
1. A belief, practice, or rite irrationally maintained by ignorance of the laws of nature or by faith in magic or chance.
2. A fearful or abject state of mind resulting from such ignorance or irrationality.
3. Idolatry.
http://www.answers.com/topic/superstition
He feels that a magical fairy godfather had part in this rescue, reasoning people know that it was science and mechanics, wielded by men, and used in accordance with the laws of nature that rescued the miners. Considering that catholics worship idols, pray for god to influence the world around them, and purposely maintain "A fearful or abject state of mind..." in order to gain favour from this god; how the hell can he call people that don't do these things superstitious? By not knowing what the word means.
Reflect on testimonials? What the hell good are testimonials? People give testimonials that they hear voices, are visited by aliens, saw bigfoot, know that lizardmen have infiltrated the government, etc. . Keep the testimonials and provide evidence.
d) "Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, there are no atheists in trapped mines. "
Ah yes, the old, tired fallacy that morons love so much. There are indeed atheists in foxholes. The military has a higher rate of atheism/agnosticism than American society at large. This isn't because they don't understand killing is wrong due to non-belief in fairies, it is due to the fact that most people in the military know that they need to protect themselves and each other while relying on the weaponry and defences that were made for them by their fellow countrymen. It is also because reconciling the horrors and brutalities of war with a loving god is very difficult. http://maaf.info/
Is the mine thing because god likes killing any atheist that enters one? There are thousands and thousands of mining deaths worldwide every year. Perhaps billy thinks that the miracle there is that god could identify and justly murder each one for their unbelief?
Humans work damn hard to rescue humans using science and every available resource and all these twats can do is claim "godunnit." Bullshit. For more on this visit here: http://friendlyatheist.com/2010/10/18/there-are-no-atheists-in-trapped-mines-says-bill-donohue/
(as always, read the comments)
