How silly believe in that old graybeard man in the sky! Except we shouldn't
forget to ask: who really believes that? Children, maybe.
Folk theology is of course simplistic. Most people aren't scholars and
philosophers. They need things dumbed down a bit.
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Just a bit of folk wisdom or folk
medicine. Don't take that too literally. Apple eaters get appendicitis or other
ailments just as everyone else does.
What is being distilled there is the fact that good nutrition bolsters
overall good health.
In this same vein I just finished reading one of the most ridiculous
atheist articles on prayer ever. If you would like to read it click the link
"The Impotency Of Prayer."
I live in a bastion of Christian fundamentalism and I don't know that I've
ever known anyone who approached prayer in such a manner. It is folk theology
expanded beyond what most folks ever dreamed about.
Have you ever noticed how most Bible-thumper-bashing atheists read their
Bible more woodenly than the fundamentalists they attack?
I don't say that article is totally without merit. There is some food for
thought there for any God believer. But come on! Why not just say what you mean:
Anyone who believes in the value of prayer is an idiot?
Atheists are wicked and religious people are idiots. And so the dialogue
doesn't continue, doesn't even begin. Now that's stupid.
Very stupid. The art of conversing is dead.
ReplyDeleteSad but largely true, I fear.
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