Rain Dance? Crazy. Rain Prayer? Of course.

What bugs me about this guy is not that he believes that praying for rain will actually do anything. He’s no more intelligent than Alabama Governor Bob Riley who asked people to say the prayers in the first place.

What bugs me is he uses this story to indicate that “atheists cry out for help as well”:

It is times like this that I remember the story of the atheist who was driving down the rain-slick highway. He was driving too fast as he went into the curve and lost control of his vehicle, turning flip after flip. As he went down the embankment feeling death knocking at the door, he cried out “God, please help me.” He remembered then there was no God, as he had spoken out against God all of his adult life.

He was pinned in the car and the gas in the tank was running out of the broken fuel line. Then he said, “If there is a God, please forgive me and save me.” It was at this point that he blacked out. When he came to, he was in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.

After his recovery, he decided he wanted to thank everyone who had anything to do with helping him. He found the trooper who said there was a man standing on the side of the road who flagged him down. The trooper said he was just doing his job, calling in the report from a stranger. So who was the stranger? He was there one moment and gone the next. I believe this was an angel sent to save one more soul.

Two things are possible.

One is that the letter writer, Gene Dismukes, knows this is a fake story. In which case it makes for a weak letter since he can’t even come up with one real example of an atheist who called to God for help.

The other is that Dismukes believes this story is true. It’s not. Try finding a citation for it. Either he was lied to or he’s deluding himself.

Do these types of religious people ever do research before writing something for the newspaper? Or do they just think they know all the truths so there’s no need to look up any information?

[tags]atheist, atheism, Alabama, Bob Riley, God, Gene Dismukes[/tags]

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Kellan

Living on a farm, my parents pray for rain all the time. When it rains, it’s a blessing from God. When it doesn’t rain, it is not God’s will for it to rain.

I don’t understand this. They’d get the same results praying to a banana. Or doing a rain dance.

About the story, these things happen all the time. Christians love to tell these awe-inspiring stories, but never cite a source. Who knows where this one came from.
Richard Wade

Oh dear, another contrived, pat story entitled The Desperate Disbeliever at Death’s Door. People never seem to get tired of the same dumb story. I can instantly make these up: A Christian misses the same slippery curve the very next day. His car flips several times and lands upside down. He prays to God in full and complete faith that God will help him. The gas tank explodes and he’s burned to a crisp. There’s no mysterious guy on the road flagging down help so over several days his barbecued body is scattered all over the place by coyotes. The End.

Only MORONS give any credence to unconfirmed stories. They’re the modern version of fairy tales. Get me some Peptol Bismol.

If people want to pray for rain, they should first think about all the innocent atheists and Christians out on our dangerous slippery highways who are going to miss the curves and end up upside down with gasoline leaking all over them. Pretty damn selfish, praying for rain like that. Maybe they’ll think twice and put up with the drought. Otherwise we’ll end up with a lot of converted atheists and crispy Christians becoming coyote chow. Yuck to both.

Living on a farm, my parents pray for rain all the time. When it rains, it’s a blessing from God. When it doesn’t rain, it is not God’s will for it to rain.
I don’t understand this. They’d get the same results praying to a banana. Or doing a rain dance.

Careful, bananas are beginning to have a big significance in some religious circles. Maybe if they prayed to the banana after burying it in the ground, and watered it whether it rained or not they’d at least get more bananas. The rain dance wouldn’t hurt, unless they did it right on top of where they buried the banana. One should always temper one’s rituals with a little pragmatism.
Jonas G

I find it pretty insulting to atheists to assume in times of stress that we invent any type of supernatural anything. Be it a God who will let us into a heaven, or a God who will produce a miracle to save our life. — Yet theists always assume we will.

I also find it hypocritical and selfish to pray in the first place, even if I did believe in a God. Why should God favor me by creating me in a land without a war inside it’s boarders, while not giving a damn to the Iraqi civilians for example. — Or on a personal more identifyable note, If a hundred people die in a plane crash, with two survivors it’s selfish of the survivors to think it a miracle God saved them. — In fact shouldn’t it be a safety design factor to avoid death by crashing.

I saw an add recently, in a church of course, for Berevement help run by an interfaith minister. One line which stood out was “If I don’t have faith now, how can I get it.” Question: if I don’t have faith, why would I want it. — If I don’t have a need to envision my great great … great grand mother in a heaven, why do I suddenly need to envision my beloved deceased partner in one ?
Vincent

I’m not surprised at all.
The Christian’s entire world view is based upon taking as true some unverified and unverifiable dubious story.

Oh, and Richard, if a banana did grow that way, it might convince a lot of people to believe in god since bananas don’t usually grow from seeds.
Richard Wade

Oh yeah, that’s right about the cultivated banana. Well the wild ones do sprout from seeds once in a while, otherwise we wouldn’t have the Best Proof Of God There Is In The Whole Wide World.