Posts Tagged ‘cause’


God Makes A Lousy Co-Defendant

August 6th, 2008 by Oskar Kennedy

Let’s talk about Matthew Lincoln, the 58-year-old Tennessee man who’s suing his former church. After praying to have “a real experience” while worshiping, Mr. Lincoln was so overwhelmed by his faith that he fell down and hit his head. Twelve months and two surgeries later, he’s still experiencing leg and back pain. When the church’s insurance company refused his claim, Mr. Lincoln sued. He’s asking for payment of his medical bills, wages lost when he was unable to work, and pain and suffering, all of which he values at $2.5 million.

Comment on this story has run along two major themes: “He got what he prayed for,” and “He should blame god, not the church.” I figured that Mr. Lincoln surrendered to the will of his chosen deity, so he should rock his injuries Job-style, and accept his suffering as the whim of that deity.

It’s a little like every story ever written about wish-granting genies. You ask for a whole lot of pudding, and a tanker truck carrying a ton of tapioca crashes into your house. You get what you wished for, with a side dish of zero sympathy. I assumed that a court would set Mr. Lincoln on fire before it awarded him any money.

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Realities 1:1 (The Real Story of Religion)

June 19th, 2009 by Oskar Kennedy

In the beginning was the Cause. And the Cause was without purpose or agency. And the Cause was neither Good nor Evil. Rather, it just Was. Immediately thereafter came the Effect. There was neither intention not design, yet the Effect followed inexorably and inevitably from the Cause, because that is How Things Work.

The Effect in turn became a cause, which begat another effect, which became a cause and begat another effect, and so on and so forth. A mind-boggling number of causes (and effects) came and went. Things continued along like this for an Exceedingly Long Time.

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