Does seeing people attribute things to god annoy you?

Doc_Savage

Hi all, i was just trying to find the fighting schedule for the olympics so i don't miss Katie Taylors fights, when i stumbled across this article; http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/olympics-2012/irish-news/katie-taylors-olympic-hope-no-longer-just-a-dream-3111128.html

now i think that katie is a wonderful ambassador for us and for boxing in general but when i see lines like this;

I want to thank everyone for the prayers. God has been so great to me over the last few years. I achieve nothing without him.

I twitch.... i don't really like lines like that in general, but when someone like an olympian says something like that when in the same article they say

It's years and years of hard work just to get there, now I'm going to be an Olympian

i really twitch.... i have nothing bad to say about the girl but surely when you are able to recognise the hard work that has been done as she can, you would find it hard to attribute it to god?

there are many people that do this(actors, musicians, politicians etc.), and i think it's silly.. i suppose that it irks me would be the best way to put it.

any other opinions?

Galvasean

I find it weird when sportspeople cite God as the reason for their success, but you never see a footballer cry to the heavens, "Why have you forsaken me Lord?!?!" when they miss a penalty.

This is Kaka.

He is on a 200k per week contract with Real Madrid. For someone who belongs to Jesus he sure is taking his sweet time selling all of his belongings and giving the money to the poor...

JamesGW

Doc_Savage wrote: »

any other opinions?

Nope ....... They wouldn't allow me to post what I think of people who attribute anything to god ..... or what should be done with those people ..... :rolleyes:

MrPudding

It bugs the fcuking sh1t out of me. It really, really winds me up. The fact that some stupid fcuking footballer thinks god help him stick a ball in the back of a net and does not stop to think "perhaps god's time would be better spent stopping babies dying in Africa" drives me up the wall.

MrP

Einhard

Galvasean wrote: »

I find it weird when sportspeople cite God as the reason for their success, but you never see a footballer cry to the heavens, "Why have you forsaken me Jesus?!?!" when they miss a penalty.

This is Kaka.

He is on a 200k per week contract with Real Madrid. For someone who belongs to Jesus he sure is taking his sweet time selling all of his belongings and giving the money to the poor...

As far as I'm aware, Kaka does donate a large percentage of his earnings to charity.

As to the OP: I find it amusing, but why would I find it irritating? Too many atheists get their knickers in a twist over things like this.

I think people find it irritating because it's either trivial things you can't imagine an omnipotent deity would give a damn about, or because it's stuff like a team of doctors working their asses off to save someone and that someone then goes "oh yeah god did it" bypassing them entirely

Sarky

If anything, it makes me kinda sad that such people think so little of themselves, and feel so incapable of achieving anything on their own merit. Great athletes are great because they train hard and dedicate themselves to a sport, not because god heard them pray harder than a child dying of starvation.

Doc_Savage

that's it on the nose sarky.

They know they put in the hard work, they still feel the need to praise the intervention of god. and i suppose the best way to describe my reaction to it is like this...



disappointment...

joseph brand

Let's not forget Fabrice Muamba who was struck down with a heart attack, by god.
God then fixed him with sprinkly magic and unicorns.

Of course it was nothing to do with the team of well trained doctors and heart specialists. He would have survived even if they weren't medical personnel at all, but a gang of florists tending to the dead man.

Also, I hear that god is far more interested in helping footballers score than anything else. He supports Liverpool. :pac:

Galvasean

Einhard wrote: »

As far as I'm aware, Kaka does donate a large percentage of his earnings to charity.

There's no real sacrifice there though. A guy reeling in more than 200k a week can easily donate large sums to charity and still live the life of obscene luxury. He's not exactly living the humble life Jesus preached of.

Galvasean

joseph brand wrote: »

Let's not forget Fabrice Muamba who was struck down with a heart attack, by god.
God then fixed him with sprinkly magic and unicorns.

Of course it was nothing to do with the team of well trained doctors and heart specialists. He would have survived even if they weren't medical personnel at all, but a gang of florists tending to the dead man.

Muamba was very appreciative of the doctors, physios etc. who helped save his life. It's strange that he is often partially quoted to make it look like he was thanking God and God alone. I don't see why he gets used as an example of the 'thank God but not the doctors' mentality when there are a lot of much more intellectually honest examples floating around.

joseph brand

Galvasean wrote: »

joseph brand wrote: »

Let's not forget Fabrice Muamba who was struck down with a heart attack, by god.
God then fixed him with sprinkly magic and unicorns.

Of course it was nothing to do with the team of well trained doctors and heart specialists. He would have survived even if they weren't medical personnel at all, but a gang of florists tending to the dead man.

Muamba was very appreciative of the doctors, physios etc. who helped save his life. It's strange that he is often partially quoted to make it look like he was thanking God and God alone. I don't see why he gets used as an example of the 'thank God but not the doctors' mentality when there are a lot of much more intellectually honest examples floating around.

I'm confused.
Muamba did of course thank the doctors but Christians following the story were quick to thank god. I hope I didn't come across as saying that he himself ignored the work of the medical team.

Allah be praised!

For me it's more annoying when a disaster happens, killing 100's or 1000's, but when a few survivors are found it's described as a miracle.
The fact that no one crying miracle gets the direct and complete contradiction bothers me no end.

fitz0

It makes me think slightly less of someone when they thank god instead of whoever is actually responsible for helping them, but no, it doesn't especially annoy me.

krudler

ah god, the ultimate troll, something good happen? god looking out for you. something bad happen? well thats just the nature of free will.

shenanigaaaaaans!

Delirium

Bemuse would be a better word instead of annoy. The make God sound like a genie, but he isn't to three wishes and there's no guarantee he'll grant the wishes either.

Then you have what has been mentioned already, i.e. athletes (as well as movie and music stars) thanking God for giving them a victory/award. I never understood why they would thank God for getting them the award. Surely that means that they quite probably didn't earn the award?

I just never understand why people would believe that God would help someone win a trophy, yet ignore those who really need and deserve the help.

frozenfrozen

A lot of people like that probably wouldn't be able to achieve what they have without "God" in their life. Having the idea that someone is constantly looking out for them and helping them along the way. Someone to ask for psudo-help.

Fools, the lot of them

Sonics2k

It's not so much the thanking god that bothers me, even though that's just a really ignorant thing to do.

What get's me is how they love to thank God, but so rarely seem to blame him when something goes wrong.

juan.kerr

OP, I don't think you'd like this film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805526/

kerash

Doc_Savage wrote: »

Hi all, i was just trying to find the fighting schedule for the olympics so i don't miss Katie Taylors fights, when i stumbled across this article; http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/olympics-2012/irish-news/katie-taylors-olympic-hope-no-longer-just-a-dream-3111128.html

now i think that katie is a wonderful ambassador for us and for boxing in general but when i see lines like this;


I twitch.... i don't really like lines like that in general, but when someone like an olympian says something like that when in the same article they say


i really twitch.... i have nothing bad to say about the girl but surely when you are able to recognise the hard work that has been done as she can, you would find it hard to attribute it to god?

there are many people that do this(actors, musicians, politicians etc.), and i think it's silly.. i suppose that it irks me would be the best way to put it.

any other opinions?

Yes it really irritates me. I wish people would give themselves more praise for accomplishing something or surviving through a tough time or the living people that helped them.
Plus if you thank god for you winning, does that mean god didn't like the other person?!!

Sycopat

Doc_Savage wrote: »

any other opinions?

I tell myself most of them are being disingenuous. They know it was the hard work they did that got them, and the help and support of others. But if some fans at home don't hear them praise sky man, they'll throw a hissy fit and make it difficult on the athlete to get sponsorship or public funding through such tried and tested methods as letter campaigns or ringing the joe duffy show

robindch

King Mob wrote: »

For me it's more annoying when a disaster happens, killing 100's or 1000's, but when a few survivors are found it's described as a miracle.

Likewise. Immediately following some natural disaster a few years back, can't remember which one, somebody mentioned this over dinner, so I politely suggested that a "loving deity" wouldn't have caused the natural disaster, or allowed it to happen, in the first place. So the person told me that my cynicism was appalling.

facepalm

Gbear

robindch wrote: »

Likewise. Immediately following some natural disaster a few years back, can't remember which one, somebody mentioned this over dinner, so I politely suggested that a "loving deity" wouldn't have caused the natural disaster, or allowed it to happen, in the first place. So the person told me that my cynicism was appalling.

facepalm

Similarly, when the Southeast Asian tsunami hit in 2004 (that long ago!:eek:) one of the towns in Aceh province still had a church standing afterwards and all the christians were swooning over the miracle.

Either god is a flaccid weakling and can only save small buildings or he's a c*nt and is perfectly happy murdering 250,000 people but makes sure that his one of his churches doesn't get damaged. It's just insane.

Scanlas The 2nd

It annoys me when an athlete I want to respect pulls out god mumbo jumbo, I can't help lose respect for them. That annoys me.

DazMarz

It was also like the Germans during World War I; they had Gott Mit Uns on their belt buckles (and this is where the slur "Huns" came from), meaning 'God [is] with us'. They firmly believed that god was on their side.

Same during WWII, when the U.S. used a propaganda poster with boxer Joe Louis on it saying "We'll win, because we're God's side" or something like that.

People really want to believe someone is looking down on them, when in reality it's only birds and pilots looking down. Or people taller than them...

Kivaro

DazMarz wrote: »

It was also like the Germans during World War I; they had Gott Mit Uns on their belt buckles (and this is where the slur "Huns" came from), meaning 'God [is] with us'. They firmly believed that god was on their side.

Same during WWII, when the U.S. used a propaganda poster with boxer Joe Louis on it saying "We'll win, because we're God's side" or something like that.

There are so many gods around that they all can have one and still be right.

The spin:
The Germans probably still believe that god is with them because their war losses in the last century taught them humility. (P.S. But don't tell that to the Greeks).

With religious people, it's all about spin ................... like the church 'surviving' the Asian tsunami.

iguana

Gbear wrote: »

Either god is a flaccid weakling and can only save small buildings or he's a c*nt and is perfectly happy murdering 250,000 people but makes sure that his one of his churches doesn't get damaged. It's just insane.

Well one of those or the church was a solid stone building with decent foundations, in a village where the rest of the buildings were timber framed structures resting on the ground.

I'm getting bugged by this a lot when I look at some pregnancy/baby forums. You have a lot of women who are pregnant following fertility issues or recurrent miscarriage who are thanking God for the amazing blessing. Never mind that if God was so great they would have had a successful pregnancy starting from the first month they tried. They never thank the doctor who gave them clomid, the person who invented it or the gynae who performed their laparascopy and removed any growths that hindered their fertility, etc. It's all just God gave them a miracle baby. It makes me sad that the child will most likely grow up to hear over and over again about their miracle status, when if the child knows anything about it's conception it should be about the wonders of medical science or advice to be aware that they may want to monitor their own fertility if the parents' problem was one with a genetic root.

krudler

I like that god takes time out of his busy schedule causing natural disasters to help people win MTV Awards.

PopePalpatine

A prime example I can think of is Ayrton Senna. He was arguably the greatest F1 driver of all time, but deeply religious. There's some guy on another forum I use, a Gran Turismo one, who attributes Ayrton's success to his faith in God. TBH, if his faith has helped him win races, I think it had no more than a placebo effect. I doubt Schumacher has praised God as much.

the culture of deference

A friend of mine has a mother who said

"do you think he died because of his show"
commenting about Dermot Morgan

Someone I know hit a horse while driving at night on a back road, they were all praising god that she wasn't killed.

I asked why the fcuk would you thank god. If you believed in god why did he let the horse loose in the 1st place.

Fortyniner

The acclaim around the 'miraculous' rescue of the Chilean miners..

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/americas/the-facts-and-figures-behind-a-miracle-2378655.html

while the New Zealand miners perished..

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/australian-miner-william-joynson-had-bags-packed/comments-e6frf7jo-1225958885425

really annoyed me. 'Mysterious ways' my arse!

bull_ring

Galvasean wrote: »

I find it weird when sportspeople cite God as the reason for their success, but you never see a footballer cry to the heavens, "Why have you forsaken me Lord?!?!" when they miss a penalty.

This is Kaka.

He is on a 200k per week contract with Real Madrid. For someone who belongs to Jesus he sure is taking his sweet time selling all of his belongings and giving the money to the poor...

its the height of egotism but then again egotism is an essential tool for champion atheletes

they call it the tebow effect , tim tebow is an american footballer who gets down on one knee before each match and publically prays in the stadium , he,s something of an icon among republican voters in the usa

its a strange mindset , at least a billion people go to bed each night without having propery eaten that same day yet god is more concerned with kaka scoring a hatrick for madrid and brazil

bull_ring

Sarky wrote: »

If anything, it makes me kinda sad that such people think so little of themselves, and feel so incapable of achieving anything on their own merit. Great athletes are great because they train hard and dedicate themselves to a sport, not because god heard them pray harder than a child dying of starvation.

your joking , its because they think so much of themselves that they make such utterances , its extremley narcisisstic

Blowfish

PopePalpatine wrote: »

A prime example I can think of is Ayrton Senna. He was arguably the greatest F1 driver of all time, but deeply religious. There's some guy on another forum I use, a Gran Turismo one, who attributes Ayrton's success to his faith in God. TBH, if his faith has helped him win races, I think it had no more than a placebo effect. I doubt Schumacher has praised God as much.

Never mind the obvious fact that God must have been in bed with a serious hangover on that particular day in 1994.

postitnote

Thanks to god for giving us sunsets and waterfalls and sunlight and er.. kiddy fiddlers

Galvasean

bull_ring wrote: »

its the height of egotism but then again egotism is an essential tool for champion atheletes

In most cases I'd agree, but that Messi guy seems to be a rare example of fantastic sporting ability with little or no ego. I guess he is just thankful that Barcelona paid for his medicine (which combated his growth defect) when he was a kid.

ShooterSF

Galvasean wrote: »

In most cases I'd agree, but that Messi guy seems to be a rare example of fantastic sporting ability with little or no ego. I guess he is just thankful that Barcelona paid for his medicine (which combated his growth defect) when he was a kid.

Defect? DEFECT? You calling us shortasses defective? Huh? :pac:

8kvscdpglqnyr4

Since we're in the middle of the Olympics I thought this guy was worth a mention: Jonathan Edwards
He an Olympic gold medalist triple jumper. He was a devout Christian. At one point during his career he wouldn't take part in an event on Sundays (missed a chance to compete in the 1991 World Championships as a result). He attributed his wins to God all the time.

He's now an Atheist.

BraveInca

MrPudding wrote: »

It bugs the fcuking sh1t out of me. It really, really winds me up. The fact that some stupid fcuking footballer thinks god help him stick a ball in the back of a net and does not stop to think "perhaps god's time would be better spent stopping babies dying in Africa" drives me up the wall.

MrP

Well we are talking about a God who, we are led to believe, actually sat down and carefully designed such wonders as Variola and Poliovirus and other great causes of childhood disease, disfigurement, blindness and death.

So there's every chance that He prefers to watch the football than bother with the dying babies in Africa.

kerash

PopePalpatine wrote: »

A prime example I can think of is Ayrton Senna. He was arguably the greatest F1 driver of all time, but deeply religious. There's some guy on another forum I use, a Gran Turismo one, who attributes Ayrton's success to his faith in God. TBH, if his faith has helped him win races, I think it had no more than a placebo effect. I doubt Schumacher has praised God as much.

You could go as far as to say his faith killed him, as it seemed he felt indestructible.

Galvasean wrote: »

In most cases I'd agree, but that Messi guy seems to be a rare example of fantastic sporting ability with little or no ego. I guess he is just thankful that Barcelona paid for his medicine (which combated his growth defect) when he was a kid.

Messi IS God :pac:

PopePalpatine

kerash wrote: »

You could go as far as to say his faith killed him, as it seemed he felt indestructible.

You have a point. I watched the documentary "Senna", and IIRC Prost did mention his faith making him feel invincible.

Penn

Read something lately (possibly on Facebook) about a guy who was an atheist. Started drowning while out swimming or something. His friend rescued him.

So naturally enough, he became Christian because obviously Jesus gave his friend the strength to save him, as his friend wouldn't have been able to do it himself.

I would hate to be that guy's friend, for so many reasons.

robindch

Penn wrote: »

Read something lately (possibly on Facebook) about a guy who was an atheist. Started drowning while out swimming or something. His friend rescued him.

I remember turning on EWTN last year sometime -- the ultimate in carcrash telly, btw -- and a lady, perhaps 30 years old, was telling of the time when she was a kid and her younger sister fell awkwardly while playing in a tree, and landed with her feet a few inches off the ground, suspended by her head amongst some branches. The younger sister wasn't strong enough to lift herself out of that position and began to choke, so the older sister watching from a few feet away and knowing that their mum was far enough away upstairs that there wasn't enough time to run up and grab her, started to pray to Jesus really, really hard and sure enough, as the younger sister was beginning to turn blue, managed to push herself out of the tree and onto the ground.

I can't begin to imagine what the younger sister must think on hearing that story, assuming it's true.

Penn

Penn wrote: »

Read something lately (possibly on Facebook) about a guy who was an atheist. Started drowning while out swimming or something. His friend rescued him.

So naturally enough, he became Christian because obviously Jesus gave his friend the strength to save him, as his friend wouldn't have been able to do it himself.

I would hate to be that guy's friend, for so many reasons.

Found it. Facebook group called Fundies say the darndest things

Kivaro

Penn wrote: »

Read something lately (possibly on Facebook) about a guy who was an atheist.

There was a discussion about this recently on another thread, where I claimed that the guy (in a similar situation) was never REALLY an atheist to begin with.

"Once Atheist, you never go back." (Because it just doesn't make sense).
My argument is that if you are truly convinced of the obvious flaws in religious ideology, then there is no way you can wake up one day and say "Oh wow, yes, there is a fairy in the sky who is going to look after me ..... for ever, and ever."

By the way, there are a lot of stories going around about "converted atheists", the vast majority of which is a load of crap made public by the losing group.

meganj

I mostly feel sorry for them tbh. Not in a patronizing way but I feel sorry for people who are devout (not talking arm chair Catholics here) when things go wrong.

When my best friend died in April a family friend who literally spent a couple of hours everyday in mass saying Novenas and the like for a girl she didn't know, was devastated. Not saying I wasn't but for me i had to just accept it and try to keep going but seeing the devout people either losing their faith or trying to fit what had happened into gods plan was just so tragic.

I just imagine it must feel like such a betrayal and i imagine it makes and already horrific situation worse.

That's why I feel sorry for people who attribute every success and failure to god.

TwoShedsJackson

meganj wrote: »

When my best friend died in April a family friend who literally spent a couple of hours everyday in mass saying Novenas and the like for a girl she didn't know, was devastated. Not saying I wasn't but for me i had to just accept it and try to keep going but seeing the devout people either losing their faith or trying to fit what had happened into gods plan was just so tragic.

There's a certain sort of person, and they usually seem to be religious, that seems to almost thrive upon unpleasant situtations, death, disease etc. My mother-in-law is a bit like that, I actually get on really well with her and she's great, but she never seems really happy unless she has something to worry about, or somone's 'passing' to lament.

meganj

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

There's a certain sort of person, and they usually seem to be religious, that seems to almost thrive upon unpleasant situtations, death, disease etc. My mother-in-law is a bit like that, I actually get on really well with her and she's great, but she never seems really happy unless she has something to worry about, or somone's 'passing' to lament.

Yeah i get that. And she is one of those people, she's great and i adore her, but yeah she loves the black cloud.

Speaking of annoying MILs when my OH got a job after three months of unemployment (and lots if interviews etc) she was like 'oh all my praying worked' felt like screaming 'eh no! Your sons hard work paid off' credit where it's due and all that. That bugged me.

Penn

Kivaro wrote: »

There was a discussion about this recently on another thread, where I claimed that the guy (in a similar situation) was never REALLY an atheist to begin with.

"Once Atheist, you never go back." (Because it just doesn't make sense).
My argument is that if you are truly convinced of the obvious flaws in religious ideology, then there is no way you can wake up one day and say "Oh wow, yes, there is a fairy in the sky who is going to look after me ..... for ever, and ever."

By the way, there are a lot of stories going around about "converted atheists", the vast majority of which is a load of crap made public by the losing group.

Yeah, upon re-reading it today it does seem more of a "This is what Jesus did for me and he can help you too.... if you join our Facebook group" than a story of actually being saved. A lot of facebook groups go really far in trying to get people to join the group or share a photo. Saw one picture last night from a group that had a picture of an old woman. It said "Like this photo if you love your Granny.... Ignore it if you want her to die"

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

There's a certain sort of person, and they usually seem to be religious, that seems to almost thrive upon unpleasant situtations, death, disease etc. My mother-in-law is a bit like that, I actually get on really well with her and she's great, but she never seems really happy unless she has something to worry about, or somone's 'passing' to lament.

Living out in the sticks, you rarely hear a conversation that doesn't start with "(Name) is dead"

Kivaro

Penn wrote: »

Living out in the sticks, you rarely hear a conversation that doesn't start with "(Name) is dead"

Ah Jaysus no, don't tell me poor (Name) died.
He was drinking too much anyway, so it was bound to happen.

Penn

Kivaro wrote: »

Ah Jaysus no, don't tell me poor (Name) died.
He was drinking too much anyway, so it was bound to happen.

You don't know who he was? Ah you DO know him! Sure didn't you used to drive past his cousin's house every morning?