Why There Isn't a God - Parts 66 - 70

This is the eleventh in an occasional series highlighting valid issues
that undermine invariably unsupported claims that there's a god.

Parts 1-5 of this series is at: http://tinyurl.com/6uhnl
Part 6 at: http://tinyurl.com/3ms66
Parts 7-11 at: http://tinyurl.com/5yhjn
Part 12 at: http://tinyurl.com/5ndow
Parts 13-15 at: http://tinyurl.com/65x6g
Parts 16-25 at: http://tinyurl.com/3jmrq
Parts 26-42 at: http://tinyurl.com/4569y
Parts 43-50 at: http://tinyurl.com/6hkax
Parts 51-55 at: http://tinyurl.com/48abq
Parts 56-65 at: http://tinyurl.com/4a95v

So where is the evidence that there *is* a god?

You'd think, if there actually were some sort of god, even one remotely
like the one in the OT, that there would be evidence. There isn't any!
Not unless you count what is transparently trumped up by desperate
believers. "Oh, the universe is too wonderful to have happened by
accident!" they whine. "Everything fits too well!" they whimper.
Until the next earthquake, or tsunami, or tornado, or hurricane, or
meteor smashes the planet. Then they grow strangely silent.

Used to be (if we're supposed to swallow the grim fairytales of the OT)
that some god actually walked the Earth. Not one god, actually, but a
pantheon. The Romans had theirs, the Greeks theirs, the Egyptians
theirs, the South Americans theirs, the Asians theirs. The Middle East
had a host of them, including a god of the mountains, who regularly
visited humans. He chatted amiably with Adam, and nastily with Eve.
He flew around in a fiery chariot. He disguised himself as a pillar of
smoke. For goodness sakes, he even *wrestled* with Jacob. That god
was an all-around good ol' boy and somewhat of a redneck wasn't he?

Then suddenly, right around the time when people stopped believing so
strongly in fairytales, he disappeared and hasn't been seen since. God
becomes Howard Hughes. Whatever happened to old god's-his-name?

You know there are ways, even without showing up in person, that he
could have made his presence unequivocally clear, so why is it that he
never does? Why is it, in fact, that he does just the opposite? Is it
because there really isn't a god at all?


66.
The Iranians have so little faith in Allah that there's been some
urging recently to actually move the capital, Tehran!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4346945.stm
There's an earthquake every day somewhere in Iran, one of the most
fundamentally religious nations on the planet. Iran has so impressed
George Bush that he wants to turn the USA into a Christian version of
it. That's why he didn't invade them like he did Iraq. Iraq was too
loose, too liberal. Women had too much freedom. It's much better now
that the fundamentalists are taking over, thanks to George.

But I digress. Given Iran's intense devotion to Allah, you'd think
he'd cut them a break, wouldn't you? If there's an Allah, and he's as
full of Shi-ite as they claim him to be, why is it that in a nation
that's arguably the most committed nation on the planet to following
this god, there are so many earthquakes? Almost exactly a year before
the St. Stephen's tsunami, an earthquake hit Iran, and Bam - 30,000
people died. Just last month another 500 joined them.

You know what would make people believe there was a god, that he was
the one true god, and that following his laws strictly was the only way
to live? If Iran, whose capital is sitting on "...at least 100 known
fault lines..." and which is rated "...as the number one country in the
world for earthquakes - whether measured in intensity, frequency or the
number of casualties." never, ever, ever had a quake.

Wouldn't that be something? And it would be a breeze for an omnipotent
god to arrange. Scientists wouldn't be able to explain it. It would
be tantamount to proof of a god's existence.

But no such thing happens. Iran gets it more than any other nation.

So either their god hates them, or there is no god.


67.
Ah, but that's Iran, you say. That's Allah, you claim. That's nothing
to do with the Almighty Yahweh, you argue. So what about the USA?
This country, especially with St. George's help (and you thought he was
the patron saint of England? Nah! he's the patent saint of Bush
country. St George Bush), is heading down the straight and narrow
towards a little hamlet called Fundamentality. The streets are so
narrow there that it's really hard to turn around and get out once you
go there, just like a Roach Motel.

According to a Gallup poll, the USA is so fundamentalist that 81% want
creation to be taught in public schools and almost 50% believe Earth
was created some time in the last 10,000 years, because the Bible tells
them so.

So the USA isn't far from being Iran already. And do we see the hand
of some god moving here? Does the USA escape disaster any better than
Iran does? Nah!

In this month alone (March 2005) we've seen two news stories in which
religion was involved:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/13/wisconsin.shootings/index.html
Terry Ratzman kills 7 people in a Wisconsin church and then kills
himself. Two of the dead were teenagers. The church didn't save them
and neither did any god.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/03/btk.killings.ap/index.html
Dennis Rader was arrested as the BTK killer, but he remains
"...president of Christ Lutheran Church Council...".

God didn't see fit to intervene in either of these guys lives, and
innocent people died. This is the god who wrestled with Jacob? Why
couldn't he wrestle these guys down and call the police? Could it be
that there isn't a god?


68.
But those are the acts of evil people (who're probably really atheists,
right?). God isn't responsible for the free choices made by humans.
That's what free will is all about right?

But what about the free will of lightning?

Lightning hits church and causes $20,000. You'd thnk a god could have
delivered a better "sign" than that.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3044178.stm

Hillsville First Baptist Church struck by lightning, burns down.
http://www.sfcav.org/2002_lightningchurch07.htm

In 1926, Trinity Church, in Pottstown PA, USA struck by lightning,
burns down.
http://www.trinityuccpottstown.org/about_history.asp

And it's not just in the USA:
On Dec 14th 2003, lightning struck a church in Swaziland, Africa,
killing a priest and 8 others, including five children.
http://www.harpers.org/Disaster.html

On Oct 21st 1638, ball lightning killed 4 and injured 60 in a church in
the UK. Doubtlessly back then, they thought it was an act of some god.
(http://www.answers.com/topic/ball-lightning)

Well, you say, lightning is attracted to church spires and steeples.
Well duhh! The point is not whether it is attracted but whether it
hits. Wouldn't it be a great sign from a god if churches, despite
their huge lighting conductors, were *never* hit? No one *ever* died
in a church from any cause? Scientists wouldn't be able to explain
that. It would be a great sign from any god and arguably strong
evidence that this god exists. But it doesn't happen that way. Could
that be because there aren't any gods, just blind beliefs of desperate
people?


69.
So lightning is attracted to churches, but it's not the only thing that
demolishes them. What about tornadoes?

Here's a list:
http://tinyurl.com/4d2au

Here's a tornado actually hitting a church (audio only 1m:43s):
http://www.tornadochaser.net/

So are tornadoes expressing free will? And if so, why doesn't some god
stop them? Is the reason that there is no god?


70.
A similar search on earthquakes reveals a similar list, including the
1755 earthquake in Lisbon, which occurred on All Saints day. It was
the St. Stephen's tsunami of its era, killing over a third of the
city's population and leveling churches. They must have thought it was
the Apocalypse, since it was accompanied by a tsunami and fires.

A search on floods reveals more of the same.

In short, churches and churchgoers are not any more protected than
anyone else. No hand of god preserves the buildings or safeguards
people inside them. Prayer does not save lives, and neither does
faith.

If there were a god, and he truly wanted people to believe and be
saved, he would never have sent a son to an obscure Middle East
non-nation 2,000 years ago. He would have been acting in a very
visible and unambiguous way every day in every sphere of human
endeavor.

We don't see this or anything like it. All we see is excuses and vague
mumblings about some god moving in mysterious ways. So where's the
evidence that there's a god? There is none. There isn't one.

Budikka