You might think that, by now, people would have become accustomed to the idea of natural catastrophes. We live on a planet that is still cooling and which has fissures and faults in its crust; this much is accepted even by those who think that the globe is only six thousand years old, as well as by those who believe that the earth was "designed" to be this way. Even in such a case, it is to be expected that earthquakes will occur and that, if they occur under the seabed, tidal waves will occur also. Yet two sorts of error are still absolutely commonplace. The first of these is the idiotic belief that seismic events are somehow "timed" to express the will of God. Thus, reasoning back from the effect, people will seriously attempt to guess what sin or which profanity led to the verdict of the tectonic plates. The second error, common even among humanists, is to borrow the same fallacy for satirical purposes and to employ it to disprove a benign deity.
Christopher HitchensTags: religion atheism humanism earth 2004 intelligent-design theodicy earthquakes natural-disasters 2004-earthquake-and-tsunami 2005 plate-tectonics tsunamis young-earth-creationism
In the aftermath of the recent wave action in the Indian Ocean, even the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williamson [sic], proved himself a latter-day Voltairean by whimpering that he could see how this might shake belief in a friendly creator. Williamson is of course a notorious fool, who does an almost perfect imitation of a bleating and frightened sheep, but even so, one is forced to rub one's eyes in astonishment. Is it possible that a grown man could live so long and still have his personal composure, not to mention his lifetime job description, upset by a large ripple of seawater?
Christopher HitchensTags: stupidity religion atheism church-of-england insults voltaire 2004 theodicy sheep earthquakes natural-disasters 2004-earthquake-and-tsunami 2005 tsunamis archbishop-of-canterbury indian-ocean rowan-williams
That natural disasters are required to provide Americans with a glimpse of reality in their own country is an indication of the deep rot infecting the official political culture.
Tariq AliTags: politics united-states new-orleans hurricane-katrina natural-disasters 2005 politics-of-the-united-states 21st-century 2010-in-literature
Our natures are, indeed, elusively insubstantial—notoriously less stable and less inherent than the nature of other things. And insofar as this is the case, sincerity itself is bullshit.
Harry G. FrankfurtTags: truth philosophy bullshit sincerity 2005
Hope for the best, plan for the worst, but also try to be prepared for the unexpected.
Radovan KavickýHow much time? Not as much as I had yesterday.
Orson Scott CardTags: time bean 2005 tempus-fugit
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