That curious religious asymmetry
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Pirate mode
The awful, tragic mining accident and the erroneous media response brings something into high relief. Greg Saunders noticed:
I can't let the Boston Herald's awful (and in retrospect, horribly inappropriate) headline go without comment. Now that we know the twelve miners were killed, does this mean America's prayers weren't answered? Just like gambling addicts remember their big wins but not their losses, the fate of the twelve miners has transformed from a faith-inspiring act of God to another horrible tragedy in which it's impolite to mention religion at all. Cute little sayings like "the Lord works in mysterious ways" are cop-outs for the logical conclusions that many of us draw from experiences like this. If something fantastic and improbable can be used as proof that there's a benevolent god, doesn't the reverse point toward the conclusion that a higher power is indifferent at best? If you believe in a god that could have saved these men's lives (which I don't, btw), why didn't he? People are quick to throw around the word "miracle" when something wonderful happens, so what the hell do we call this?
I'd like to see that newspaper issue a retraction: "God curses good people; ignores prayers". It will never happen. One of the engines that drives religious belief is the theological ratchet that absolves gods of blame and grants them only responsibility for the good things, or if god is given credit for an affliction, at least the blame is placed on the victim. It's a clever racket, preying on people's desire to believe in a higher benevolence, and promoted even by secularists, who are reluctant to point to tragedies as signs of a lack of cosmic kindness. It's a kind of godly file-drawer effect.
Some of us refuse to grant them that ability to hide their hypocrisy away, though, as noted on Butterflies and Wheels:
"Society bends over backward to be accommodating to religious sensibilities but not to other kinds of sensibilities," says Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and outspoken atheist. "If I say something offensive to religious people, I'll be universally censured, including by many atheists. But if I say something insulting about Democrats or Republicans or the Green Party, one is allowed to get away with that. Hiding behind the smoke screen of untouchability is something religions have been allowed to get away with for too long."
I think they're going to get away with it again, too.
These were the first thoughts in my mind too. Certainly makes believing in a benevolent god, active in the world, hard for me. The so-called African "otiose god," or god who made stuff then wandered off, leaving the field to assorted ancestors, spirits etc. etc. to handle things -- thereby creating the overall mix of good and bad we call the real world -- makes more sense than this. Or no god at all, of course -- and that's my preference.