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Hi guys,
Last week I was on a long haul flight. I kicked off my shoes and settled in and introduced
myself to the guy next to me, a Jamun something.
After take-off I was still admiring the view over the ocean over on the right hand side,
when a loud *** came from the left side of the plane. Because I was on the right I couldn’t
see anything, but I did feel a shudder go through this huge construction and heard the
spooling up and the screeching noise as the poor engine tore itself apart internally,
as the revs per minute went way beyond what it was designed for.
There was an eerie silence in the plane and people waited for the next event which was
either going to signal something good or bad. I turned to my left and saw the Jamun guy
clasping his hands and reciting something as his lips moved fervently without any discernible
words coming from his mouth.
I looked around and because a plane is always a fascinating microcosm, saw people doing
different things, such as touching their foreheads, chest and then each shoulder in some superstitious
ritual, apparently for good luck. Some were holding hands and rocking back and forth and
others still were putting their hands together in front of their faces and looked up at the
ceiling as though some safety instructions were printed there.
That reminded me, so I first checked that the plane was straight and level, slats and
flaps were retracted and the remaining engines were humming reassuringly. I noticed the pilot
was turning over the intact side and was releasing fuel. So I knew things were under control
and now familiarized myself with the layout of the plane, identifying the emergency exits
in front of me and behind me, counting how many rows were between me and the exit in
case my vision was impaired should we make an emergency landing. I also made a mental
note of the location of the compartments with fire extinguisher and first aid kit. So instead
of relying on and pleading with my favourite god, I prepared myself the best I could. Just
in case.
As far as I could recall, no plane emergency had ever resulted in a particular set of people
adhering to a particular religion having escaped unscathed while atheists and believers of
other religions had perished. Well, on second thought, that actually goes for any catastrophe,
funny enough.
I sent an SMS to my wife, telling her we’d be delayed due to an engine failure and overheard
my neighbour talking to his wife on the phone, telling her he was in a plane which was crashing
and his life was in the hands of his god and that they should pray for him so that his
god would protect him. And wouldn’t this be a good moment indeed for any of the gods
to come forward and say: here I am and now I will save you? Then, like Superman, take
the plane and put it down gently on the tarmac. With all the smartphones with their cameras
around, this would solve all the demands for evidence of the existence of a god and atheism
would instantly dissolve.
But all that happened is that my Jamun guy only cried for more and more prayers.
Hang on, I thought, if your god is responsible for this and in a position to actively do
something, why are you so selfish? Why not take care of some other people while you’re
at it? If the god on duty was the Islamic god it would be easy as no bird or plane can
fly without his personal assistance anyway.
16:79 Do they not see the birds controlled in the atmosphere of the sky? None holds them
up except Allah.
Other gods can’t do this for some reason. But maybe they could come up with a miracle.
While he was talking to his wife, I asked myself whether he loved his wife and children
in a different way or more than I did. Do theists and atheists feel different for their
loved ones?
Do theists and atheists have different preferences when it comes to coffee, Mozart or genocide?
Do theists and atheists have different preferences when it comes to anything if I exclude religious
things for a moment?
It would seem that all humans operate under a similar set of rules, the well-being of
the race, of society, of the culture, of the tribe, of the family, of me. I put this down
to human nature. Theists, because they were told to believe this, need to introduce a
super-natural being for this, their god, along with his texts, which are actually quite horrific
when scrutinised.
If a family has a field, the other family a plough and the third a tractor, we all benefit
if we combine our efforts. That increases well-being. If we now introduce more families
from other parts of the world and we see that this improves the techniques or the materials
used and in the long run this diversity increases efficiency and quality.
Isolation, on the other hand, decreases productivity and creativity. We see this all the time when
we come across some undiscovered tribe in a jungle somewhere. In-breeding is causing
huge problems today within some communities. Isolation also hinders development and progress.
So the ability to travel huge distances in a very short time did not come about by a
single person reading scripture, but a group of people putting their combined brain power
to the test and coming up with brilliant ideas and functional solutions. Unfortunately, because
they are only humans and no gods are there to help out, there are flaws and mistakes
are made. This means that ambitious projects carry inherent risks and dangers. Just as
the malfunction of an engine on a modern plane.
A gentle bump threw me out of my day-dream and back into reality. We had landed. Safely.
The pilots were trained to handle such a situation because people were aware of the possibility
of failures and mistakes and had prepared for them. None of the pilots had gone down
on her knees and shouted out a prayer but they had rather concentrated on identifying
the problem and taking the action necessary to resolve the crisis and get 100s of people
on the ground and now ground crew took over and got us into hotels to wait for a replacement
plane.
Actually, I enjoyed the extra relaxation and spent the day on the beach sailing and snorkelling.
But here is where I realised where the huge difference between a theist and an atheist
becomes apparent. After we landed, my neighbour enthusiastically thanked his god for saving
him and being a merciful god.
I went to the pilots and congratulated them for keeping their wits about them and thanked
them for doing a good job.
Credit where credit is due.
Thanks for your time ....