THIS IS THE EXAMPLE STORY FOR MY MONTHLY STORY CONTEST FOR
https://www.progressivevp.com/index.php
It is an excerpt from my book, which I'm sure everybody knows about by now, so I won't mention it again...does saying you aren't going to mention something, count as mentioning something??? Hm, Oh well.
Rules and Prizes listed in Contest thread.
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People That Live in Brick Houses Can Throw Stones
"Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense."
~ Chapman Cohen
A real life example of the kind of logic error that leads to mistakenly attributing meaning to casual relationships happened to me when I was about eight. It was a clear religiously-spawned error in cause and effect. As a child I remember my religious leaders bragging that our church in the Philippines was the only building left standing for miles around after a severe hurricane had devastated the isle. In their view, it was clearly a miracle; God had saved it from destruction! They went on to state that those who had gone to church that morning had been saved by taking refuge in the church, and that the people who had shirked their religious duties and stayed home had not been so fortunate.
I raised my hand and asked, "What do we build churches of in the Philippines?" The reply I got back was, "I believe, the same thing we build them of here." I asked, "Isn't that brick?" The elder replied, "Well, yes." I then pointed out that most houses in the Philippines were wood or straw and that our church was probably the only solid brick building in the area. Its miraculous survival probably had less to do with divine intervention and more to do with good building materials. No one could argue with me, and the elder had to grudgingly agree. I think he said a little personal prayer right about then that I could just have trouble sitting still or paying attention like the other eight-year-olds. Needless to say, I was not called upon much when I raised my hand after that, regardless of the insightfulness of my comments.
You could always argue that God had inspired them to build the church with brick in the first place, and so his intervention was still the source of their salvation. I'm not trying to say there isn't a God, but if there is one, I just don't think he/she or it influences things nearly as much as people would like to think. Consider one last thing, having more to do with human nature than the existence of god: If there had been several commercial buildings built of the same materials, and by pure chance one had survived, everyone would have heralded it as very lucky. If there had been several churches of different faiths on that isle all built of the same material, and by pure random chance one had survived, what do you think that church would have said to it constituents?
"How lucky."
I don't think so! Food for thought.
