I am sure you've all heard of the Comedy Jesus Show, Fox "News". The show is a for-profit, consumerist mouthpiece for the Christian Dominionist Church, as well as a 24/7 Republican political ad. With that in mind, it is no surprise that we get to hear this piece of superstitious nonsense from Ol' Rupert and his band of crackpot "reporters": Airplane turbulence proves God exists. If you pray to God, he/she/they/it will save your life and stop the turbulence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWh3GzPwBRY
Now, you may have heard similar stories to the one above. I once had a Baptist friend, Alex who was having altercations with his younger brother, who had decided to run away from home. Alex, of course, was very worried about his younger brother, Eric. So he prayed for him, and the next day Eric came back home.
Now, of course, Alex says this is direct evidence that God exists; in response to his prayer, his loved one came home. Christian callers on the Atheist Experience have told similar stories.
But while his story in very touching, there is only one problem with the above arguments: They are both inconsistent with the Scientific Method. When testing a hypothesis, the conclusions have to follow from the premises, so let's map this out (use the first scenario).
1) Woman is a self-admitted Agnostic, who is not sure whether God exists.
2) She is riding on a plane, which starts to experience air turbulence.
3) She prays to god to have it stopped.
4) The turbulence suddenly stops.
----
Conclusion: Therefore, God exists and he/she/it/they will help you if you pray.
Now, one can see the huge logical hole there: You haven't proved causation. In fact, it is nothing more than a coincidence that both the turbulence stopped, and Eric came home. The turbulence would have ceased and Eric would have come home whether or not these people prayed. If you talked to a meteorologist or climate scientist, I am sure he or she could give you a perfectly logical, scientific explanation as to why the turbulence stopped, devoid of divine intervention. While I do not know precisely why Eric decided to come home (this was a long time ago), I am quite certain that God did not float down from the heavens and told Eric to return to his dear family who loves him. The prayers in the above examples are 100% adventitious.
Also, before we end, let's read this excerpt from a book I'm reading, entitled The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism:
Here's something we should all recognize: in today's world, not knowing at least the basic facts and evidence of evolution leaves you vulnerable to being prayed upon by those people who stand to benefit from promoting mass ignorance and superstition.
This thread is not about evolution, but the same lesson goes for the above situations, as well as similar ones.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWh3GzPwBRY
Now, you may have heard similar stories to the one above. I once had a Baptist friend, Alex who was having altercations with his younger brother, who had decided to run away from home. Alex, of course, was very worried about his younger brother, Eric. So he prayed for him, and the next day Eric came back home.
Now, of course, Alex says this is direct evidence that God exists; in response to his prayer, his loved one came home. Christian callers on the Atheist Experience have told similar stories.
But while his story in very touching, there is only one problem with the above arguments: They are both inconsistent with the Scientific Method. When testing a hypothesis, the conclusions have to follow from the premises, so let's map this out (use the first scenario).
1) Woman is a self-admitted Agnostic, who is not sure whether God exists.
2) She is riding on a plane, which starts to experience air turbulence.
3) She prays to god to have it stopped.
4) The turbulence suddenly stops.
----
Conclusion: Therefore, God exists and he/she/it/they will help you if you pray.
Now, one can see the huge logical hole there: You haven't proved causation. In fact, it is nothing more than a coincidence that both the turbulence stopped, and Eric came home. The turbulence would have ceased and Eric would have come home whether or not these people prayed. If you talked to a meteorologist or climate scientist, I am sure he or she could give you a perfectly logical, scientific explanation as to why the turbulence stopped, devoid of divine intervention. While I do not know precisely why Eric decided to come home (this was a long time ago), I am quite certain that God did not float down from the heavens and told Eric to return to his dear family who loves him. The prayers in the above examples are 100% adventitious.
Also, before we end, let's read this excerpt from a book I'm reading, entitled The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism:
Here's something we should all recognize: in today's world, not knowing at least the basic facts and evidence of evolution leaves you vulnerable to being prayed upon by those people who stand to benefit from promoting mass ignorance and superstition.
This thread is not about evolution, but the same lesson goes for the above situations, as well as similar ones.
