God debate, who really won? The audience.

     I watched/listened to a debate last night. It was Blair Scott, Communications Director for American Atheists up against Kyle Butt of Apologetics Press. The debate proposition was "God Does Not Exist" with Blair Scott arguing for the proposition and Kyle Butt arguing against it.
       I've heard Blair Scott speak a few times but I'd never heard of Mr Butt.
  The debate starts and Mr Butt steps up to the podium. One of the first things he mentions is that he has been trolling a certain "social site" and he came upon a comment on Blair's page. Someone had made a joke about Mr Butt on Blair's wall it seemed. Mr Butt was visibly not happy about being the butt of the joke and his comment about it was presented as if it had come from Blair or somehow been encouraged by him. Blair didn't make the comment, it was put on his facebook wall by a contact. We all know how that goes, none of us ever knows what the hell people on our friends list are going to say. If you post a perfectly innocent status next thing you know someone is telling stories about their bowel moments or some other random thing. Besides if you have the last Butt what do you think is going to happen? Do you expect people who don't know you, are never going to meet you, and probably think you are never going to read any posted comment, to pass up the painfully easy opportunity to joke about your name? Yea okay...
    After watching the displeasure flash across Mr Butt's face I thought for a moment He is using a facebook comment to put down the person he is debating about god? It seemed a bit childish to me and as he continued to speak it became clear I was right.
    Mr. Butt told his audience that Blair was sure to lose because you can not prove a negative. I almost expected him to reach out and point at Blair, cackle loudly and scream "We got you my pretty!" in a voice very much like the wicked witch. He didn't but he did ramble on for several minutes presenting arguments which have all been found to be incorrect or had still been considered 'debatable' This would have been business as usual but there was a hint of personal attack in Mr Butt's animus towards Blair. It continued through the entire debate, flaring up a couple of times.
   Mr Butt told a joke his opening came to an end. Blair Scott then started his opening. I was curious how he would address the fact that he could not win a debate where he had to prove the absolute non-existence of god.
    Then something very interesting happened. Blair admitted to losing the debate as it had been presented. He would not be trying to prove god didn't exist, he would be presenting some of the conclusions Atheists had come to and some of the counter arguments to Mr Butt's absolute claims. These would all be presented so that they could be considered by the audience. The audience would have to come to it's own conclusions. There was not going to be an Atheist standing on stage insisting everything he said was factual beyond a doubt.
   This approach was perfect for a couple reasons.
 1) If Blair had started by telling the crowd he was going to change their minds about god you would have been able to hear the minds snapping shut. He had only asked them to listen.
 2) No matter what was said from that point on, no matter how many times Mr Butt took petty shots and behaved like an egotistical prick who had all the answers. Blair was standing in front of a crowd giving them things to think about which would probably never been presented to them otherwise. Things that would help them make informed choices about their beliefs.
    I'm not going to go into the issues tossed back and forth between Blair and Mr Butt except one. Mr Butt said at one point the there were absolutes when it came to what was right and wrong. Besides showing that Mr Butt is unable to even consider another person point of view,it also showed how ignorant he is to the diversity of the world.
    Some people are going to say that Blair did not do well during this debate. While I can understand how they could come to that conclusion I found his presentation to be accurate and done with class, not by taking cheap shots at Mr Butt. Blair could have also admitted defeat and proceeded to describe exactly what kind of god the other side had shown to exist by using the bible. It would have been easy to paint the picture of a needy hypocritical being who seemed very bored and not very intelligent. That would have resulted in most of the crowd dismissing Blair as hateful or angry, the poor Atheist who just needed to find the love of jesus.
     Mr Butt gave me the impression of someone who talks to to everyone but his reflection in a condescending tone. I don't think he even one time admitted that he could be wrong. There is a saying that goes something like this "The wisest man is the one who realizes how little he knows" If Mr Butt possesses any humility at all he must be hiding it where the sun doesn't shine.

The power of prayer

It's time for me to vent again I guess.
Japan has just been hit by a large earthquake and it is the day after that event.
Prayers are flying all around.
Prayers do not work, not to help the victims of the earthquake, not to provide some sort of divine intervention anyway. Sure, prayer may make the person praying feel like they have done some good without even having to move anything more than their hands. Prayer may give piece of mind to a dying person. It may make some feel closer to an invisible being who they feel is controlling their lives. In the real world, when people need active help, prayer is good for shit.
When someone tells me "I'll pray for you" often my reply is "thanks for nothing".
I don't know why people buy into the whole 'prayer' thing I mean how often does it work? Never. But how often does it even seem to work? Very rarely, unless you are praying that the sun comes up the next day or for some other silly thing which has been occurring for billions of years before you were even born. People pray for their bus to show up on time and then when it does they give credit to god. Like god cares about a bus schedule yet when someone prays their newborn child does not die because of a defect god shakes his head and says "Sorry, can't help you there. If you take a bus to the funeral I'll make sure it picks you up on time though"
As Hitchen's said- "Religion was our first attempt to explain the world." That theory has had ample time to be shown as invalid. It has been tested countless times by countless people and the vast majority of results have shown there is not a god listening to prayers and reaching in to effect the path of our lives. Any results that do seem to prove the prayer hypothesis to be true can also be explained by the odds of chance.
Look at the destruction in Japan. Look at the loss and suffering. Think about the number of people who were praying after the quake for the people of Japan. What happened? A tsunami hit the Japanese coast killing even more people. As a result even more began to pray. "God please have mercy on the people in Japan. Watch over you children and protect them from harm.Amen" Did that help? Nope. The nuclear reactors began to melt down, the fail-safe systems unable to handle the one-two punch dealt to them. More prayers, the number of people praying to god asking for him to help the Japanese grows even larger. "Lord, jesus, almighty creator, please oh please won't you help stop the suffering in Japan? They have been through tremendous suffering. No one deserves such strife. Show your love and help them recover. Bless you lord. Amen." Now you are thinking that must surely have gotten god's attention. Such a huge number of his flock begging, pleading. People who have worshiped just as god commands them to, bowing their heads praying with all their might. Well if god did answer their prayers it was with this- 'Volcano in southern Japan erupts' yep that's right. A fucking volcano erupts in southern Japan. Let me help with the next prayer " Yea. god? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? ARE YOU DRUNK AGAIN? LOOK, IF I PROMISE TO NOT DRUNK POST ON FACEBOOK WILL YOU PROMISE NOT TO ANSWER PRAYERS DRUNK? I WOULDN'T WISH SUCH SUFFERING ON MY WORST ENEMY LET ALONE ON MY FUCKING CHILDREN. DO US A FAVOR AND JUST PUT US UP FOR ADOPTION CAUSE THIS FAMILY UNIT IS JACKED UP. I AM SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING EMANCIPATION. AMEN AND SCREW YOU"
Of coarse it isn't god doing anything. These are natural events. They occur every day and have since the universe began.
Look at the world, the entire world. Don't just look at your world where you consider how large your house is a concern of your god. look at the suffering of innocent children, children who never even had a chance to anger god. Look at the number of people who suffer and die on this planet every day. How many have prayed for them? Does the suffering stop? Does it even lessen a bit? No, it does not.
I ask instead of prayer, take action. Do whatever you can to actively help people, no matter how small the deed every bit of help, helps.
If all you can think to do is pray then while you are talking to god be sure to thank him for nothing.