22nd January 2011
“Suppose there were groups of secularists at hospitals who went round the terminally ill and urged them to adopt atheism: 'Don't be a mug all your life. Make your last days the best ones.' People might suppose this was in poor taste.”
January 22nd, 2011 at 2:58
Oh, Hitch. You’re the man. 🙂
January 22nd, 2011 at 4:00
Yes – He is!
January 22nd, 2011 at 12:55
One of the most gratifying compliments I’ve received about my writing came from a woman who told me my recent book is helping her endure her brother’s terminal illness. He is “born again” and a member of a mega-church whose members are constantly visiting him where he lies, unconscious, kept alive by machines. If he so much as twitches a finger, she says they’re all about, “Hallelujah! Jesus is in the room with us right now. A miracle!”
I was truly humbled that something I offered has helped bolster her atheism while she has to deal with mumbo-jumbo. And you just know if she was loudly proclaiming their idiocy or pointing out that the man is in a terminal coma and only kept alive by scientific intervention, she’d be called out for being hard-hearted about her brother’s blessed state.
January 22nd, 2011 at 13:27
I rather have one good Christian than a hundred others at my bed side.
January 22nd, 2011 at 14:36
A hundred of any type of people would be rather crowded at a bedside.
January 22nd, 2011 at 15:01
Yeah – who would want 100 of anyone at your bedside?
January 22nd, 2011 at 22:37
The fact christians go to doctors at all escapes me!
* note spell check red lined the word christians. Not for spelling but for capitalization. It just never ends does it.
January 22nd, 2011 at 22:45
Well, “Christ” is a proper noun. I’m as white-knuckle an atheist as they come, but rules of grammar apply to everyone, even mystical, superstitious, invisible-friend-justifying peasants. No need to mine for nuggets of offense where none actually exists!
Anyways, what was I going to say? Oh yes – regarding Christians who seek medical attention:
“Prayer is just a way of telling God that his divine plan for you is flawed and shockingly stingy.” ~ Betty Bowers