The Atheist Voice | God's Not Keeping You Safe in Hurricanes @TheAtheistVoice | Uploaded August 2017 | Updated October 2024, 30 minutes ago.
God's Not Keeping You Safe in Hurricanes
Donate at FBBGive.org
Hemant Mehta (friendlyatheist.com, patreon.com/Hemant , facebook.com/friendlyatheist)
First of all, if you or your family were in the path of destruction for Hurricane Harvey, I sincerely hope you're all okay. I hope you're able to go back home and get back to your regularly scheduled lives as soon as possible. And for those looking for a way to help, I have suggestions for you at the end of this video.
But I wanted to talk about something else.
After the hurricane hit, I saw a number of tweets and Facebook posts that say the same things we tend to hear after every natural disaster.
Thank God we survived. God spared our house. God made sure our roads were safe. In one case, I saw a picture of a Virgin Mary statue that was still standing in the middle of destruction, as if God was sending a message that He loves us.
And I understand the desire for comfort in the middle of a tragedy, so it's not like I'm going to start fights with these people online -- now's not the time for that -- but I always want to ask them:
What about the damage? The same God who supposedly spared you killed other people. Does that not matter?
What about all the debris around the Virgin Mary statue? I know you think God works in mysterious ways, but you don't send a love letter to someone whose life you just ruined.
The God who didn't destroy your house left billions of dollars of destruction in the hurricane's wake. Were all those people affected by it sinners who deserved it?
I mean, this was Texas. You can't walk three steps without running into a devout Christian. Even in Austin.
And if God really wanted to help, couldn't He have just blown the damn hurricane on a different course so it didn't hit land? What sort of God sits back, watches all this, and does nothing? Even if God existed, that is not a God worthy of respect.
If I saw a bully walking up to my daughter on the playground, I'm not just gonna sit there and wait for him to throw a punch before I intervene. And when I do intervene, I'm not just drawing my name in the sand.
Calling these coincidences a miracle is ridiculous. That's like pointing to the sole survivor of a plane crash and saying God was looking out for her... even though the same God just made everyone else die a horrible death.
How many people in Texas have to suffer until people stop thanking God that their community wasn't as flooded as the one a couple miles over?
You know what I saw in the news? I saw people helping other people. I saw news anchors finding help for people trapped in their vehicles. And people taking boats to rescue as many strangers as they could. It was truly beautiful and amazing and it shows you that it's up to us to take of each other. We can't wait around for a higher power to step in.
So if you see someone thanking God in the middle of this disaster, or any disaster in the future, first of all, don't be a jerk and start a religious fight with people who have other priorities right now. You wouldn't do that in the funeral home when a pastor brings up Heaven. There's a time and place.
But I want YOU to think about what that means. The same God religious people thank in a tragedy is the same God they believe caused that tragedy.
God keeping a cross up during a natural disaster is like a deadbeat dad who sends you $5 on your birthday while ignoring you the rest of the year. He's not someone worth looking up to.
Now, if you want to do something to actually help, here are two things you can do that don't involve sending thoughts and prayers.
No matter what, make sure you are voting for politicians at all levels who understand and respect science and climate change. Elect people who want to invest in infrastructure to protect cities that might have to deal with natural disasters, not ones who ignore what the experts are saying. That's just smart in the long-term.
But if you want to do something right now, I would strongly urge you to donate to FBBGive.org. That stands for Foundation Beyond Belief and your donations will go toward recovery efforts that do not involve handing out bibles or proselytizing. I've worked with this organization before. They're good, trustworthy people, and 100% of your donations will go toward recovery efforts.
Thank you for your help. By making that donation, you are doing so much more to help the people of Texas than God ever will.
Join the conversation. Leave your questions and comments below and we'll try to address them in future videos. Don't forget to subscribe for more!
Also, follow us at ...
twitter.com/atheistvoices
facebook.com/TheAtheistVoices
plus.google.com/u/0/b/106662137332631352312/106662137332631352312/posts/p/pub
theatheistvoice.tumblr.com
theatheistvoice.com
God's Not Keeping You Safe in Hurricanes
Donate at FBBGive.org
Hemant Mehta (friendlyatheist.com, patreon.com/Hemant , facebook.com/friendlyatheist)
First of all, if you or your family were in the path of destruction for Hurricane Harvey, I sincerely hope you're all okay. I hope you're able to go back home and get back to your regularly scheduled lives as soon as possible. And for those looking for a way to help, I have suggestions for you at the end of this video.
But I wanted to talk about something else.
After the hurricane hit, I saw a number of tweets and Facebook posts that say the same things we tend to hear after every natural disaster.
Thank God we survived. God spared our house. God made sure our roads were safe. In one case, I saw a picture of a Virgin Mary statue that was still standing in the middle of destruction, as if God was sending a message that He loves us.
And I understand the desire for comfort in the middle of a tragedy, so it's not like I'm going to start fights with these people online -- now's not the time for that -- but I always want to ask them:
What about the damage? The same God who supposedly spared you killed other people. Does that not matter?
What about all the debris around the Virgin Mary statue? I know you think God works in mysterious ways, but you don't send a love letter to someone whose life you just ruined.
The God who didn't destroy your house left billions of dollars of destruction in the hurricane's wake. Were all those people affected by it sinners who deserved it?
I mean, this was Texas. You can't walk three steps without running into a devout Christian. Even in Austin.
And if God really wanted to help, couldn't He have just blown the damn hurricane on a different course so it didn't hit land? What sort of God sits back, watches all this, and does nothing? Even if God existed, that is not a God worthy of respect.
If I saw a bully walking up to my daughter on the playground, I'm not just gonna sit there and wait for him to throw a punch before I intervene. And when I do intervene, I'm not just drawing my name in the sand.
Calling these coincidences a miracle is ridiculous. That's like pointing to the sole survivor of a plane crash and saying God was looking out for her... even though the same God just made everyone else die a horrible death.
How many people in Texas have to suffer until people stop thanking God that their community wasn't as flooded as the one a couple miles over?
You know what I saw in the news? I saw people helping other people. I saw news anchors finding help for people trapped in their vehicles. And people taking boats to rescue as many strangers as they could. It was truly beautiful and amazing and it shows you that it's up to us to take of each other. We can't wait around for a higher power to step in.
So if you see someone thanking God in the middle of this disaster, or any disaster in the future, first of all, don't be a jerk and start a religious fight with people who have other priorities right now. You wouldn't do that in the funeral home when a pastor brings up Heaven. There's a time and place.
But I want YOU to think about what that means. The same God religious people thank in a tragedy is the same God they believe caused that tragedy.
God keeping a cross up during a natural disaster is like a deadbeat dad who sends you $5 on your birthday while ignoring you the rest of the year. He's not someone worth looking up to.
Now, if you want to do something to actually help, here are two things you can do that don't involve sending thoughts and prayers.
No matter what, make sure you are voting for politicians at all levels who understand and respect science and climate change. Elect people who want to invest in infrastructure to protect cities that might have to deal with natural disasters, not ones who ignore what the experts are saying. That's just smart in the long-term.
But if you want to do something right now, I would strongly urge you to donate to FBBGive.org. That stands for Foundation Beyond Belief and your donations will go toward recovery efforts that do not involve handing out bibles or proselytizing. I've worked with this organization before. They're good, trustworthy people, and 100% of your donations will go toward recovery efforts.
Thank you for your help. By making that donation, you are doing so much more to help the people of Texas than God ever will.
Join the conversation. Leave your questions and comments below and we'll try to address them in future videos. Don't forget to subscribe for more!
Also, follow us at ...
twitter.com/atheistvoices
facebook.com/TheAtheistVoices
plus.google.com/u/0/b/106662137332631352312/106662137332631352312/posts/p/pub
theatheistvoice.tumblr.com
theatheistvoice.com
