The atheist tornado survivor..

[Hermit]

I never understood the logically inconsistent I don't believe in god because why does he let people suffer and die comment/argument.

The argument can be rephrased like this: Why do theists keep lauding God X for the allegedly miraculous saving of an individual after Y catastrophe, and not give him equal responsibility for killing several / dozens / hundreds /thousands and hundreds of thousands for allowing that catastrophe to happen in the first place? Or: If said God created everything, is he all he's cracked up to be, given the obvious design faults of what he has wrought?

[JimC]

Yep, she's responding frankly, but not imposing.

Also, mistermack .. I never understood the logically inconsistent I don't believe in god because why does he let people suffer and die comment/argument.

I always say "I wouldn't worship a god that allows such things to happen."

Which is risky, because it leaves the logical possibility that you would worship a god that somehow stopped all those things...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yep, she's responding frankly, but not imposing.

Also, mistermack .. I never understood the logically inconsistent I don't believe in god because why does he let people suffer and die comment/argument.

I always say "I wouldn't worship a god that allows such things to happen."

Which is risky, because it leaves the logical possibility that you would worship a god that somehow stopped all those things...

If there was a demonstrable god that did only good and made the universe a "better place", then I would possibly admire it, but still not worship it.

[Robert_S]

I never understood the logically inconsistent I don't believe in god because why does he let people suffer and die comment/argument.

The argument can be rephrased like this: Why do theists keep lauding God X for the allegedly miraculous saving of an individual after Y catastrophe, and not give him equal responsibility for killing several / dozens / hundreds /thousands and hundreds of thousands for allowing that catastrophe to happen in the first place? Or: If said God created everything, is he all he's cracked up to be, given the obvious design faults of what he has wrought?

Because one person surviving against tremendous odds is a miracle while a million deaths is a statistic.

Never mind that we have a tremendous number of people around and that it isn't remarkable at al that an improbable event might happen from time to time.

If you're looking for god, there are enough dots in enough places that you'll be able to selectively connect them in some convenient way.

[orpheus]

Sometimes an honest and gentle approach is effective enough .. if not more so.

Agreed. If she had been in any way rude or aggressive there would have been a lot of nasty backlash. I think she handled it wonderfully.

A nasty backlash has started anyway, as one can see by the comments on this article. Some of these comments are horrifying and chilling.

(Interesting article - people are raising money for her, too.)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/2 ... r=Politics

[Twoflower]

Comment sections are always nasty, it could have been much much worse though. The part of the states that she lives in isn't know for being open minded.

[Robert_S]

Comment sections are always nasty, it could have been much much worse though. The part of the states that she lives in isn't know for being open minded.

Poor widdle Christians. How dare she shove her worldview down their throats like that.

[Jason]

I never understood the logically inconsistent I don't believe in god because why does he let people suffer and die comment/argument.

The argument can be rephrased like this: Why do theists keep lauding God X for the allegedly miraculous saving of an individual after Y catastrophe, and not give him equal responsibility for killing several / dozens / hundreds /thousands and hundreds of thousands for allowing that catastrophe to happen in the first place? Or: If said God created everything, is he all he's cracked up to be, given the obvious design faults of what he has wrought?

Because one person surviving against tremendous odds is a miracle while a million deaths is a statistic.

Where have I read that before?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I never understood the logically inconsistent I don't believe in god because why does he let people suffer and die comment/argument.

The argument can be rephrased like this: Why do theists keep lauding God X for the allegedly miraculous saving of an individual after Y catastrophe, and not give him equal responsibility for killing several / dozens / hundreds /thousands and hundreds of thousands for allowing that catastrophe to happen in the first place? Or: If said God created everything, is he all he's cracked up to be, given the obvious design faults of what he has wrought?

Because one person surviving against tremendous odds is a miracle while a million deaths is a statistic.

Where have I read that before?

Keep Stalin and I'll go google it.

[mistermack]

Yep, she's responding frankly, but not imposing.

Also, mistermack .. I never understood the logically inconsistent I don't believe in god because why does he let people suffer and die comment/argument.

Not only do you not understand it, you even see it where it doesn't exist.

I recommend more careful reading, it might help with understanding.

I thought she replied well, but I was sorry that her body language was so apologetic.
That's not criticizing her, I just would have liked a bit of a put-down, because the prick deserved it.

She answered nicely, I would prefer a bit of aggro.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Body language" requires a fair amount of mind-reading to be accurate. I've not seen many people with that skill.

[mistermack]

"Body language" requires a fair amount of mind-reading to be accurate. I've not seen many people with that skill.

You wouldn't know it if you saw it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Body language" requires a fair amount of mind-reading to be accurate. I've not seen many people with that skill.

You wouldn't know it if you saw it.

[mistermack]

when she says, "actually we're atheists" she lays her head on one side, almost horizontally, in the typical pose of a little child asking for an ice-cream. A sort of begging, wheedling submissive pose.

Nothing wrong with it, she just didn't want to come across as aggressive.
It worked.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

when she says, "actually we're atheists" she lays her head on one side, almost horizontally, in the typical pose of a little child asking for an ice-cream. A sort of begging, wheedling submissive pose.

Nothing wrong with it, she just didn't want to come across as aggressive.
It worked.

To me it looked like she was expecting an attack, not at all unlikely in that area.