Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumThis Week in God (Maddow Blog)
First up from the God Machine this week is a reaction from a leading Republican lawmaker to the “thoughts and prayers are not enough” argument in response to mass shootings.
President Obama has been a leading proponent of the idea that well wishes in the response to gun violence are welcome, but are ultimately inadequate. After one mass shooting last fall, the president argued, “[T]houghts and prayers are not enough…. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America, next week or a couple of months from now.”
Two months later, after even deadlier mass shooting, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) took the sentiment a little further. “Your ‘thoughts’ should be about steps to take to stop this carnage,” the senator said. “Your ‘prayers’ should be for forgiveness if you do nothing – again.”
This week, Congress’ leading Republican offered his response to the argument. The New York Daily News reported:
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday blasted critics who say prayer isn’t an adequate response to mass shootings and defended his rifle-loving party’s do-nothing approach to gun violence.
“The attitude in some quarters these days is, ‘Don’t just pray; do something about it,”’ Ryan said at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. “The thing is, when you are praying, you are doing something about it. You are revealing the presence of God.”
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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/week-god-2616?cid=sm_fb_maddow
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AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)I love this one!
"You are revealing the presence of God.”
I suppose leaving milk and cookies reveals the presence of Santa.
and an Easter egg hunt reveals the presence of the Easter Bunny.
Alrighty then!
Remember..... nothing fails like prayer!
Brainstormy
(2,428 posts)stealing that! 
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)A man is watching the floodwaters rise up to his house when a man comes up in a boat and says "Get in." The man says "I have faith and am praying that God will save me," so the boat leaves. Later the water has risen to the second floor of the house when another man in a boat comes by and says "Get in." Again, the man refuses saying "I have faith and am praying that God will save me," so the boat leaves. Now the floodwaters have reached the roof of the house and a helicopter flies by and says "Climb up." The man again refuses, saying "I have faith and am praying that God will save me." The helicopter flies away, the floodwaters rise and drown the man.
Up in Heaven, the man gets to stand before God and asks "I don't understand. I had faith. I prayed. Why didn't you save me?" God replies, "What do you mean? I sent you two boats and a helicopter."
rurallib
(63,198 posts)you're putting on an outward show like you care while not making yourself in any way uncomfortable. You are pretending to care while avoiding the problem all together. The outward show of concern is especially important for politicians while doing nothing will keep those "campaign contributions" flowing.
Major Nikon
(36,900 posts)So it's really just about pandering to their superstitious gunnut base, because they know sensible people aren't going to call bullshit on them.
RussBLib
(9,666 posts)Perhaps God LIKES all the carnage. After all, I think we've all read the Bible.
But the fact that the House Speaker stoops to this level of pandering is just more evidence the GOP is totally out of touch.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Like someone on the site noted in a comment...
He was sure all the victims at Sandy Hook were praying like mad as the bullets were flying.... and it didn't help them.
mr blur
(7,753 posts)Although it should have occurred to them by now that their god doesn't appear to give a fuck about children being slaughtered with assault weapons.
Or they might have a word with Ben Carson, who says that he "never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking away the right to arm ourselves."
And he should know, he's got a picture of himself with his buddy Jesus.
mr blur
(7,753 posts)Or is it just a case of pandering to the ignorant? Does noe of them accept evolution? Really?
Do they really not see the folly of encouraging kids to grow up in ignorance of science and how dumb it is for the country?
onager
(9,356 posts)Ronald Bailey's article Origin of the Specious: Why do neoconservatives doubt Darwin? Appeared in the old-line conservative magazine "Reason," way back in 1997. So it's nearly 20 years old, but still useful.
The article points out that many of the loudest anti-Darwinists, like Irving Kristol, are/were probably atheists themselves:
The end of the Cold War may also be a factor. Marx fell with the Soviet Union; Freud has been discredited by modern psychology and neuroscience. The last standing member of the 19th century's unholy materialist trinity is Darwin. Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson, author of Darwin on Trial, makes the connection clear: "Darwinism is the most important of the materialist ideologies--Marxism, Freudianism, and behaviorism are others--which have done so much damage to science and society in the 20th century." Kristol agrees. "All I want to do," he told his AEI audience, "is break the bonds of Darwinian materialism which at the moment restrict our imagination. For the moment that's enough."
http://reason.com/archives/1997/07/01/origin-of-the-specious
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Huh.... it expands my imagination....
edhopper
(34,802 posts)and listen to Yes, I am doing something helpful.
The Revealing Science of God, Tales From Topographic Oceans.