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]
