"It's a bad night for atheists." No, Richard Dawkins didn't go to the stage at a Benny Hinn service, and PZ Myers didn't get his hands on some Communion host and get unexpectedly filled with the Holy Spirit. In fact, the night was redeemed for atheists because Josh Hamilton did not, in fact, win the MLB's home run derby.
But if he had, man, all you atheist bloggers and commenters would be running to your nearest church, wouldn't you? You'd Google up the Sinner's Prayer and start reading Chick Tracts for spiritual insight. Chaos would erupt throughout the country as all atheists would convert to American Fundamentalist Christianity.
Right? Isn't the idea of a guy who talks about Jesus all the time winning a sports event enough proof of the existence of God for you to convert?
Once again I'm reminded of Bono's words upon accepting the Grammy for "Beautiful Day:"
I would like to thank God and my mother also. But I just have this feeling, this picture in my head of God looking down on people like us on occasions like this and going, 'Uh-oh. Don't thank me for that song. There's no hook, the chorus is weak and they'll never play it on the radio.' Thanks for playing it on the radio.
God doesn't want credit for these things. I mean, some kind of generalized "I'm grateful to God that I get to play a freakin' game for a living" is always nice. These guys should be grateful to somebody that they get to make loads of money doing something with no intrinsic value to the world, though it'd be more accurate to thank the millions of people who invest their feelings of self-worth into professional athletes. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
