85/227. My Book p. 130. Post No. 1361 MY COMMENT : Catholic credulity has produced weeping statues of the Virgin Mother and bleeding statues of her crucified Son. And the annual event of the liquefying of the blood of Saint Januarius continues to draw the crowds on his feast-day. How can anyone believe that God would use such gimmicks to promote faith ? ************************** Catholics have their lunatic fringe, evidenced annually in the liquefying of the blood of the 3rd century martyr, Saint Januarius. The Church (the One, True, Roman, Catholic, Apostolic Church, need it be underlined ..read more

84/227. My Book p. 130. Post No. 1360. MY COMMENT : God gets the credit for “miraculous” recoveries from cancer, for surviving accidents that killed fellow-passengers, and even for hitting a home-run or scoring an unlikely touch-down. The sportsman’s grateful glance towards the sky, accompanied by the Sign of the Cross if he is Catholic, suggests that God made it happen. If He existed, I’m sure He would be amused. *********************** It was a difficult birth, but thanks be to God, both mother and baby are fine. It was a terrible accident : the driver was killed but, thank God, all of the p ..read more

83/227. My Book pp. 129-130. Post No. 1359. MY COMMENT : The subject is central to the argument for God’s existence as well as for “miraculous” cures. The “God of the Gaps” is a flimsy, facile foundation for both. Cures once thought miraculous often turn out to have a scientific explanation. Darwin established the truth about the Origin of Species and settled for agnosticism about the existence of God. Lack of evidence remains the stumbling-block for atheists – who are not holding their breath. ******************** No one can dispute the necessity of a cause to explain an effect. But to identi ..read more

83/227. My Book pp. 127-129. Post No.1359. MY COMMENT : I can see clearly now the rain has gone. It took me an embarrassing forty years – nearly half my life – to identify the smoke and mirrors that led me to gob the garbage about miracles. God – and the prayers of well- meaning friends – had nothing to do with my recent non-miraculous recovery. This comment is late (get used to it) but I’m not dead yet. ******************* Many of the faithful see miracles as a mainstay of their reasons for belief. Indeed, so did I long ago. I remember telling a skeptical friend “miracles either prove God exi ..read more

82/227. My Book pp. 124-127. Post No. 1358. MY COMMENT : Positive thinking never harmed anyone. Hope springs eternal. Look on the bright side. Those keys will turn up sooner or later. But Catholic faith in miracles goes way beyond optimism. The true miracle is when believers realize how naïve they have been. ********************* When I was born, I weighed ten pounds. The figure is hard to believe, especially if you had known me as a boy (“thin as a rake”, they used to say), and above all as a young Franciscan ascetic. I made up for all this, of course, later in life, thanks notably to the exc ..read more

FACT OR FICTION ? 81/227. My Book pp. 123-124. Post No. 1357. MY COMMENT : The word “credulity” has a special resonance when we read accounts of St Anthony of Padua’s numerous “miracles”. The Catholic Encyclopedia still swallows many of them, hook, line and sinker. ******************* Catholic authors and scholars have done what they consider their best to sift legend from history. Some pride themselves on their “objectivity” in identifying, for example, certain of the “miracles” of St Anthony, the 13th century “Franciscan thaumaturgist”, in the words of the Catholic Encyclopedia, as “apocryph ..read more

80/227. My Book p. 122. Post No. 1356. MY COMMENT : ” ‘Intelligent Design’ is, in fact, breath-taking inanity “. Not my words, but those of the Lutheran-Republican judge who banned teaching creationism as Science in U.S. Public Schools. ***************** “The molecular motor that drives the bacterial flagellum – which creationists believe has ‘irreducible complexity’, in the words of Judge John Jones – was rejected in his December, 2005, judgement reinforcing the 1987 judicial ban on teaching creationism as Science in U.S. Public Schools. The Lutheran Republican, Bush-appointed federal judge a ..read more

79/227. My Book pp. 121-122. Post No. 1355. MY COMMENT : Even for Darwin, ” The mystery of the beginnings of everything is incredible for us”. Which is why he described himself as an “agnostic”. An atheist knows that God does not exist. He does not know how the Universe and life began. He is an atheist-agnostic. ****************** A selection of pearls of Darwinian wisdom which contradict his earlier fascination with and admiration of Paley and his “Natural Theology” and which should have made “Intelligent Design” unthinkable : “The old argument of a design in nature, which in the past seemed ..read more

78/227. My Book p. 121. Post No. 1354. MY COMMENT : Words, and even astronomical figures, cannot describe just how gigantic the Cosmos really is. It is literally incredible that its mind-blowing dimensions are the result of “Intelligent Design”. Would anyone in his right mind, particularly a supposed omnipotent divinity, make all this happen – just for fun ? We will, no doubt, never know the origin, let alone the purpose, of the stupendous forces at work, but the religious short-cut is a road I refuse to take. ***************** Scientists tell us that there are, in the Universe, no less than 1 ..read more

77/227. My Book pp. 120-121. Post No. 1353. MY COMMENT : “Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen” nor the dangers to which we are all exposed. When you draw up a list, it is hard to believe in an Intelligent Designer, let alone a loving Creator. Right now I am in a convalescent facility for three weeks, after a full week in hospital, following breathlessness due to a weakening heart. May be my own fault – certainly not that of a “God”. ************** “Live dangerously”, someone said. But we have no choice. I was recently involved – twice – in a blood-bath. Thin skin and varicose veins succeeded i ..read more