Caveman Logic: The Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World by Hank Davis Page B
Authors: Hank Davis
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New Orleans-based commentator Harry Anderson took a different approach to the events. Anderson did not dispute their relevance to theological matters at all. In fact, he welcomed it. However, he pointed out that we had drawn the wrong conclusion about God from the city’s devastation. Appearing on the March 4, 2006, edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher , Anderson pointed out that the French Quarter, the presumed hub of evil in New Orleans, was still standing after the flood. Anderson concluded, “If God was trying to destroy evil, He has very bad aim.”
In another example of logic turned on its ear, some have used stories about prayer to question rather than affirm the power and omniscience of God. Carl Sagan 2 offers the example of a bishop in the American West who prays for God to intervene and end a devastating dry spell. “Why is the prayer needed?” Sagan asks. “Didn’t God know about the drought?” It is indeed perplexing why an omniscient God would routinely require such special alerts or briefings about pain, suffering, and natural disasters. Sagan then questions why the bishop asks his followers to join him in prayer. “Is God more likely to intervene when many pray for mercy or justice than when only a few do?” Sagan goes on to cite an item from a 1994 issue of the Prayer and Action Weekly News of Des Moines, Iowa. The issue includes a call to local Christians to join in prayer, asking God to burn down the Planned Parenthood building in Des Moines. The prayer specifies that the destruction of the building should be of such magnitude that “no one can mistake it for any human torching.”
What is God to do in this situation? Does he blindly grant requests, especially those coming in large numbers from his devoted followers? Or does God use a moral compass to determine whether such requests are worthy of granting? If so, does he send a sign to his disappointed followers, explaining why he chose not to grant their wish? Will anything be learned by the makers of such unanswered prayers? Might God’s silence cause some reflection about the content of their requests, or is the notion that God moves in “mysterious ways” a buffer against having to examine one’s social agenda?
I have always wondered what God does in the case of major league baseball. He is often inundated with requests from players on opposing teams. How does he decide which prayers to answer? A French Canadian pitcher on the Philadelphia Phillies steps off the pitcher’s mound prior to the start of the inning and appears to be absorbed in prayer. He then crosses himself and goes into his warm-up before pitching to a Dominican player on the New York Mets, who has been busy praying at home plate. In fact, the two players have crossed themselves at approximately the same moment. When the game resumes, the batter strikes out. The pitcher thanks Jesus silently for granting his prayer. But what of the batter? Why was his prayer not answered? Was there a flaw in his life that swayed God to choose the pitcher’s wishes over the batter’s? They were both Catholic, so that can’t be it. Is God more attuned to the wishes of Quebec than the Dominican Republic? Or does God simply not care about professional baseball games and does nothing to meddle in their outcomes? Which, in turn, leads me to wonder why so many players continue to ask for his intervention. Do they not see after so long that such prayers and displays are not tipping the balance in their favor?
There is, I suppose, another possibility to account for the game situation I have described. Perhaps God is a Phillies fan. If he is, we may be forced once again to conclude that God has pretty poor aim.
IF ONLY THEY WERE EDUCATED
In his book The Demon-Haunted World , Carl Sagan warns about the dangers of scientific illiteracy. I agree with almost everything in Sagan’s book and celebrate his compelling style. But there is one point on which he and I disagree. Sagan, like
In another example of logic turned on its ear, some have used stories about prayer to question rather than affirm the power and omniscience of God. Carl Sagan 2 offers the example of a bishop in the American West who prays for God to intervene and end a devastating dry spell. “Why is the prayer needed?” Sagan asks. “Didn’t God know about the drought?” It is indeed perplexing why an omniscient God would routinely require such special alerts or briefings about pain, suffering, and natural disasters. Sagan then questions why the bishop asks his followers to join him in prayer. “Is God more likely to intervene when many pray for mercy or justice than when only a few do?” Sagan goes on to cite an item from a 1994 issue of the Prayer and Action Weekly News of Des Moines, Iowa. The issue includes a call to local Christians to join in prayer, asking God to burn down the Planned Parenthood building in Des Moines. The prayer specifies that the destruction of the building should be of such magnitude that “no one can mistake it for any human torching.”
What is God to do in this situation? Does he blindly grant requests, especially those coming in large numbers from his devoted followers? Or does God use a moral compass to determine whether such requests are worthy of granting? If so, does he send a sign to his disappointed followers, explaining why he chose not to grant their wish? Will anything be learned by the makers of such unanswered prayers? Might God’s silence cause some reflection about the content of their requests, or is the notion that God moves in “mysterious ways” a buffer against having to examine one’s social agenda?
I have always wondered what God does in the case of major league baseball. He is often inundated with requests from players on opposing teams. How does he decide which prayers to answer? A French Canadian pitcher on the Philadelphia Phillies steps off the pitcher’s mound prior to the start of the inning and appears to be absorbed in prayer. He then crosses himself and goes into his warm-up before pitching to a Dominican player on the New York Mets, who has been busy praying at home plate. In fact, the two players have crossed themselves at approximately the same moment. When the game resumes, the batter strikes out. The pitcher thanks Jesus silently for granting his prayer. But what of the batter? Why was his prayer not answered? Was there a flaw in his life that swayed God to choose the pitcher’s wishes over the batter’s? They were both Catholic, so that can’t be it. Is God more attuned to the wishes of Quebec than the Dominican Republic? Or does God simply not care about professional baseball games and does nothing to meddle in their outcomes? Which, in turn, leads me to wonder why so many players continue to ask for his intervention. Do they not see after so long that such prayers and displays are not tipping the balance in their favor?
There is, I suppose, another possibility to account for the game situation I have described. Perhaps God is a Phillies fan. If he is, we may be forced once again to conclude that God has pretty poor aim.
IF ONLY THEY WERE EDUCATED
In his book The Demon-Haunted World , Carl Sagan warns about the dangers of scientific illiteracy. I agree with almost everything in Sagan’s book and celebrate his compelling style. But there is one point on which he and I disagree. Sagan, like
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