Every so often, someone visits the site and leaves a comment so frustrating and idiotic, I can’t help but re-post it for all to see. The latest pearl of wisdom comes from a commenter named Connor, who thought I was being unfair in my analysis of the highly dangerous ‘imagine your Lyme disease away’ scam called Advanced Cell Training. Here’s what he had to say:
Good Atheist, I would like to start by acknowledging the fact that I cannot prove God’s existence to you, just as much as you cannot disprove his existence to me. So let us refrain from attacking the spiritual position in this process, seeing as neither of us are qualified to have a position.
I love this ‘you can’t disprove the existence of my deity argument’ that religious rubes throw around as though it means something. I can’t disprove the invisible pink unicorn, or Russell’s celestial teapot, but who cares? The burden of proof is always on those making an extraordinary claim. It isn’t my job to go around trying to disprove the countless invented gods whose attributes conveniently lie outside the realm of natural, testable laws.
Readers, please keep bias in mind. This article was written by an atheist. This means that the moment the author discovered prayer was involved in ACT, his personal belief system rejected everything about it. He mentally cannot cope with the possibility of success in ACT because at its core, it goes against his definition of reality. This discredits his article at its core, because it is not solely an attack on ACT. It is also an attack on religion itself. Part of his thinking process is that since it involves prayer, it must be fraud. Because to him, prayer isn’t real. So when you say your [sic] talking to God, he will laugh in your face.
I might ask you to prove you aren’t just talking to yourself before I laugh, although most of the time, the total ignorance on display usually makes me want to cry. How human beings can still cling to Bronze Age myths in light of the greatest scientific revolution in the history of our species is depressing, not hilarious.
It’s not just my ‘reality’ that praying flies in the face of. Every single study in regards to praying has shown it has absolutely no effect. But this sort of proof is likely to fall on deaf ears accustomed to hearing that comforting thoughts have some form of effect on the natural world. It doesn’t. My lack of belief only makes me less gullible.
How can one be so sure about something he’s never tried? I believe you read other people’s blogs, and made your own decision on whether or not this works. That is fair. However, to read other people’s “beliefs” and to regurgitate them as your own while stating it in such a factual manner only reveals your inability to truly understand the process. This discredits you more than you know, making you simply another “blogger with a position on something he’s never tried.”
It’s fairly easy to judge the merit of so-called ‘medical treatments’ by examining their claims, and then testing them using standard methodologies. If ACT practitioners claim praying and performing superstitiously driven activities improved their health, then we can easily do a double blind test to find if the effects are more significant than a simple placebo. These kinds of tests happen all the time with legitimate medical research, and it’s still the best way to determine if something important is actually going on. ‘Trying it’ is about as scientific as ‘shove your finger in this socket and see what happens!’
So friends, I implore you to use this critical thinking that the “good atheist” talks about. Will you try this risk free, to save a life? Or will you sit here reading this blog post on someone else’s personal opinion. Maybe I am just a leader, but i [sic] prefer making my own judgements [sic] off experience rather than what the general populous has to say.
A leader? In terrible thinking perhaps, but there’s nothing in this entire comment that sounds compelling in the slightest. It’s the same trope religious people offer all the time: just try it, and it’ll change your life! All you need to do is surrender any of your actual critical thinking skills and simply embrace the idea that praying, magical thinking, and the giant bearded anthropomorphized deity in the sky aren’t just stupid constructs of your mind, but actually real! Hey, I wonder if this guy is going to end his useless rant with some kind of annoying Bible quote for good measure…
“Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) Christians, where is your faith?
In the garbage bin of history, I’d wager; just like the rest of the other pathetic excuses for cosmogonies which have come and gone.
