Questions Answered- Jacob Abdo asks "Hasn't Evolution been proven wrong?"

This "Questions Asked" is in response to a Jacob Abdo from Twitter. During our short conversation he made several criticisms of evolution and science which were clearly borne from ignorance of the topic in question i.e.-





This is the first of his revealing messages. That he thinks that men came from monkeys.


We didn't

Ok, well MOST of us didn't....

But then again neither did Monkeys!  We both have a common ancestor.  Huge difference.

Here's another;

This is just nonsense and the kind of thing that drives me crazy. If you are going to criticize something, then PLEASE have the courtesy and intellectual honesty to read up on the topic instead of just trying to find arguments against it.  There is nothing wrong with trying to falsify something. That is the highest form of science. But to start with a proposition (that evolution is wrong on divine grounds) and then seek things to confirm it is intellectually dishonest because you are not seeking truth, you are merely bolstering your argument with no concern for reality. You simply can't debunk something that you don't understand.

In this tweet he is seen conflating evolution with abiogenesis. Evolution explains the diversity of life, not it's origins. Although abiogenesis has demonstrated that life from non-life is possible and has a number of different hypothesis on the topic, there is no single accepted one. Not that it matters, as all that you need to do is demonstrate that it is possible.

In any case, I digress.  I am just making my first point which I hope that he will take to heart. Do not criticize science that you don't understand.  You lack the foundational knowledge to do so, and only come off looking like you have an agenda ... which is true. His agenda is to keep faith in his god and deny all science that seems to disagree.

(A point on this is that science doesn't care about god. It makes no comment on it at all.)

These are the tweets of contention.

I will first say that no one worships Darwin (or if they do, they are ridiculous) and further no one says that everything he said was right.

There were definitely points upon which he was wrong. He had no idea how the traits were passed on to the offspring. It has only been in the modern era that we have discovered DNA and understood more fully the passage of the allele. No one disputes that. So to say that Darwin has been proven wrong is partially (although only in the detail not the idea) correct.

Evolution, however, is still unfalsified.

That is because it is correct. It is accepted universally by natural scientists all over the world and on the basis of mountains of evidence.

I said this to him and he responded with a link to his source of information.

I hate answering to whole pages of information as answers to questions, but this is a reasonably civil and polite person and just seems to be working on a wealth of misinformation on the topic.  So, just this once ... I will answer to the best of my ability.

I am not going to post the whole narrative of the page, but I will address some of the clear and willful misrepresentations of the science by the author of this page.

Before I begin, I hold no animosity towards Jacob.  The author of this page though is a disgusting representative of his religion and of science. I say this because as I read his article I see common arguments and unscientific propaganda.  These are easily researched falsehoods. He has made zero effort to ensure that what he is saying is true.

ZERO!

That is disgusting in a forum of supposed scientific conversation and such people deserve no respect. They are manipulating the informational authority that real scientists have in order to bolster support for his ideas.  They are using scientific terminology in order to garner respect and support from the scientifically illiterate.

Disgusting.

In any case ... on to the post.

I will address three main points:

First, that there is no fossil evidence to show slow and gradual change in species as they speciate;

Second, that the Cambrian Explosion is a major problem to the theory; and

Third, (and I can't believe that people still have to address this) irreducible complexity and Michael Behe.


Ok, here we go ...



 
"There is no fossil evidence to show gradual change in species to demonstrate speciation"


The first thing to understand here is that fossilization is an extremely rare event.  It is to be expected that we won't have a complete fossil record of every species at every stage of it's evolution from the beginning of time. That is an unreasonable thing to demand. What I am assuming is that this question is referring to  "transitional forms". The problem with looking for transitional forms is in definitions.

I call this the "Issue of ignorance" or the "Kirk Cameron Crocoduck Connundrum"

Very often what the under-educated (on the topic of evolution) are looking to see are animals that have half-formed parts.

Fish with legs, or birds with scales or things like our crocoduck friend here ...

I'm working on a powerful tail for swimming until next June, then WATCH OUT!

These amalgams of species simply don't exist, nor would we expect them to. In fact, if we ever discovered something like this, the theory of evolution would come into serious doubt.

Evolution happens in much much smaller stages, and the forms that scientists see as "transitional" are merely species in a time where we can most clearly see the step from one function to another. 
Put another way, a transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits common to both the ancestral group and it's derived descendant group.

The page he linked quotes Darwin as a method of falsifying his own theory;

"The number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed on the earth, [must] be truly enormous. Why then is not every geological formation and every stratum full of such intermediate links? Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graded organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and gravest objection which can be urged against my theory."

The issue with using this quote is that they have no follow up.  Darwin explains (as they say in the article) that this is due to the imperfect fossil record and the rareness of the fossilization event. What they FAIL to mention is that not only does the fossil record begin to fill the gaps as the science matures, but transitional forms ARE found. 

The discovery of Archeopteryx was of particular importance (found in 1861, just two years after the aforementioned quote) because it seemed to confirm his theory. Archaeopteryx is a classic transitional form between birds and dinosaurs. Since then MANY transitional forms have been discovered and any question about the evidence in reference to "transitional forms" is made either out of an ignorant view of what transitional forms are and how evolution manifests, or out of an intellectually dishonest attempt to garner support from the scientifically illiterate/gullible.

The thing to note about these transitional fossils is that they always appear in order of sequence in the fossil record. If one ever appeared out of sequence, then that would be a major blow to the discipline but they never do.  

Not once.

This is what we would expect to see if evolution manifested as scientists say it is. If it were not happening like this, gradual change from one species to another (speciation) then we would expect to find overlap. That never happens. 

Without going into too much depth here I am pretty sure that we can lay that criticism to bed. 

On to the next point ...





"The Cambrian Explosion is a problem for the Theory of Evolution"



It is a sad state when arguments such as this still exist.  The last argument was born from a simple and easy misunderstanding of the science. This one is borne from a willful neglect to study it.

Science is wrong if I don't hear it!

Punctuated Equilibrium has explained the existence of the Cambrian Explosion and it's place in the story of evolution for almost 40 years now.

Wait ... I am getting ahead of myself. First let's explain and define our terms.

The Cambrian Explosion is a time about 570 million years ago when the vast majority of modern animal phyla appeared. (Phyla are "forms" or "body plans".)  

There is a common criticism that the appearance of so many new Phyla (not just new species) during such a short period of time is contrary to what the theory of evolution would predict. The second part of that criticism is that there seems to be no evolutionary history for these new phyla. They even go so far as to quote Richard Dawkins;

"it is as though they were just planted there, without any evolutionary history"-R Dawkins

"Please don't buy and read his book for context"    
 Signed-Creationists

 These claims are simply untrue. 

The most rudimentary research into the Cambrian Explosion reveals this so, once again, Mark Hartwig seems to be caught in what would appear to be a barefaced misrepresentation of the science.

So in reference to the point that there is no evolutionary history to these Cambrian fossils, this is partially true. There have been very few Pre-cambrian fossils but this is explained by two factors.

One:  Fossilization is, as we mentioned previously, a very rare event.

Two:  Pre-Cambrian species were invertebrates which would leave very little in the way of fossil record.

The mitigating truth here is that there are NO Pre-Cambrian transitional forms. There are a number of transitional forms found from the pre-Cambrian period and more are being discovered all the time.



Anomalocaris is one. It is the precursor to the arthropod family.

I don't think that there is any need to go further into something that has been known since the 1940's.

Time to catch up on your reading Mr. Hartwig.

Here is a link to a very short article on the Pre-Cambrian fossil record.



Now we get to the last, and most ridiculous of arguments ...





Irreducible Complexity

And gravity works with invisible strings tying everything down ...

This one is a problem of definitions and has been debunked time and time again. It is an argument that was first proposed by Micheal Behe, and was debunked about 3 minutes later.  It is actually a bit of a silly posit.

It is based on a false premise. Behe states that evolution is simply impossible because there are forms that could not have evolved because they are irreducibly complex. By which he means, the removal of any single part makes that form non-functional.

His basic misunderstanding of the science is explained here, but I will explain in shorter terms. \


Behe's posit is based on the false thinking that scientists claim evolution works by a gradual and step-wise addition of parts. It is culminated in the thought that any gradual evolutionary precursors to an irreducibly complex system would be non-functional.

There is one fatal flaw in his argument.

He thinks that evolution only works by adding "parts".  It can also work by subtracting or changing parts.

This completely debunks his claim that there are irreducibly complex forms.

Forms do NOT have to have the same function as they evolve and evolutionary precursors do not have to have common functions with current ones.

As organisms evolve, functions can change with the addition (or subtraction) of new parts. This changing function is where Behe falls flat. He feels that if the function wouldn't remain with the subtraction of a part, then the organism is irreducibly complex. (Not to mention that evolution manifests as small and gradual changes, and the addition of a whole part would be a large change. Invalidating his argument again.)

I'll give you an example of how evolution can work in ways that Behe would decree impossible (there are better examples in the link I provided, but I will use this one for simplicity).

This has been called the Mullerian Two Step and it goes like this:
1. Add a part
2. Make it necessary

First take a stone bridge. We'll call it the "Evolutionary Precursor Bridge";

Next, we'll add a stone and call it our "Transitional Bridge";

Then we'll take away the middle stone and call it the "Irreducibly Complex Bridge";

But is it really irreducibly complex?

Clearly not. The middle stone just became superfluous, so it was evolved out of the equation giving our bridge the appearance of irreducibly complexity.


So Jacob, there is your answer to the link of information that you sent.

If you actually read my article as you expected me to read yours (well, not REALLY yours as you didn't write it) then you will understand that your claims about evolution are false.

BUT don't be sad.  The truth of evolution has no bearing on your God or your religious belief. Evolution is an area of knowledge that makes no comment on God at all and has nothing to do with atheism.

So, Jacob, continue to believe if you want but try not to be ignorant of science in the process.

It only takes away from the validity of anything you say when you do and it makes you look like this guy

Peace!

P.S. Next time you tweet a response, please don't send links. Otherwise I will just start sending encyclopedias in response. Use your own 140 words please.

*thanks to Talkorigins.org for the example graphics.

UPDATE-
I got a response from Jacob this morning. It saddened me because it looked like he might actually interested in learning the science behind evolution. Sadly this is not true. While he promised to read it, and I felt that I had laid things out in terms that were easy to understand, this was his response.

Learning is hard!

This is sad.  I had actually taken the time to address the article he linked (and I really DO hate "link warriors") but I had hoped for more. His blog is all about technology so I guess that swayed me to think that he might be open to actual science.

OH! I can't forget to include this one.

It's just a theory, just like gravity, and umm, math...

"Only a Theory".... ugh....

If only he had sent THAT little willfully and nonsensically blind statement first, I might not have wasted my time...


peace.

Connecticut Tragedy and Heroism

No one should have to feel this.

During this continental-wide mourning for the victims, the community, and the families surrounding the Connecticut shooting tragedy, I have found myself listening intently and waiting for some closure.

Some reason for this terrible thing.

Some explanation for the brutality of patricide and the absolute barbarism of the shooting of children and the heroic teachers who gave their lives trying to defend them. (I'll get back to that in a minute.)

First, I would like to extend my deepest ... sympathy? Thoughts? Sadness?  Honestly, I am left without the proper words for the depth of emotion that I feel as a parent (and, in fact, as a human) over this.

I feel it necessary to apologize for not being possessed of the literary acumen to relay my message to those wracked with the weight of this tragedy, and I am left with only these words;

My thoughts are with you.

I struggle to know what else to do.

I am sure that I am not alone in this, but I know that SOME people DO know what to do.

They use it.

They use it as an opportunity to give their agendas weight in the arena of public opinion.

They are those who use it to call for prayer in the classroom.

Those who use it to call for a change to a more religious curriculum.

Those who use it to defend their political opinions.

Or even those who are using it as a platform to "praise" their god.

I understand that it is only natural to hope for something that can offer comfort, but this is different. There is not comfort in this, but a joy. Joy at the amazing nature of their idea or God.

I am not going to get into who, and what and where specifically because I feel that would take me off point and into discussing individual events, but I WILL get into what I think of that sort of opportunism.

It is DISGUSTING!

People saying that God saved one child, or that he guided that teacher to save her class at the expense of her life is disgusting.  Or taking away from her heroism to give praise to their "god"?

DISGUSTING!

If you believe that, then you are free to do so.  But for the sake of everyone else, keep it to yourself.

Victoria Soto. She was a hero. Not your god. HER. No one forced her and she deserves to be remembered as such on her own merit.

I am bothered that people would be so callous as to imply that this woman was anything less than fully responsible for the heroic acts that ended up costing her everything.

I am bothered by the people who think that they can take away from the evil of this man to suggest that it was not his fault, but OUR fault for removing obligatory prayer from the classroom.

DISGUSTING!

You say that God influenced her to save them but that he couldn't just influence the shooter not to go shoot in the first place? Screw you and your god then if that is the case!

Keep his evil to yourself.

You can certainly argue for the merits of prayer in the classroom (you would be wrong of course but I digress) but to deflect blame from the person responsible just to give your silly argument weight is awful and disrespects the memory of the victims whose lives he took.

It also gets to me when I hear about how God saved the one child who lived by hiding under the dead bodies of her classmates. You think that God gave her the inspiration to do such a terrible and scarring thing to save herself but that he couldn't inspire someone with a plan to save everyone? Words perhaps that might have had the divine power to talk him down? If not then screw your god, and you too for worshiping such an evil being!

For every time these things are said, there is a flip side that is disgusting to the memory of the victims.

God saved that little girl? The flip side is that god loved her more than the others.  How awful a thing is that to say to the parents of the fallen children?  Explain to the parents why she was spared and their child was not good enough.

The lack of prayer in the classroom is the reason for the tragedy? The flip side is that the shooter is not to blame, but that it was the punishment of an evil being to kill children and their protectors for the petty crime of not forcing people to love him enough.

God called them home?  God needed them more than we did? The flip side is that HE IS AN ASSHOLE!  I have had this said when I lost friends from oversea conflict. It makes me very upset to hear this.  I needed my friends, he is an infinite being (according to them) and can wait. He is mysterious? Mysterious is only a cover for us having to admit that, if he is responsible for these things, that he is an ass.

This is what I have to say;

These children died because of a sick sick man.
Teachers risked, and gave, their lives because they are heroes not because they were coerced.
Some children survived and some died. That is the tragedy.

Stop telling me that God chose some to live and let others die.
Stop telling me that God chose to show his love by saving one "worthy" child and not all.
Stop telling me that God was the hero who risked everything.


STOP!

There is real pain here, and your nonsense isn't helping.

Top 10 Reasons that Santa is Better than Jesus

What're YOU looking at?

It's that time of year again.  With all the cries of people taking Christ out of season, and the sobs of liberals bemoaning consumerism with Christmas, I thought that we could take a minute to compare the two through their chosen avatars.


IT'S TIIIIIME!

SANTA VS JESUS!! 

(Ready Santa?)

As long as this (nomnomnom) doesn't interrupt my cookie, (nomnom)...you can stay on the "good" list.

(Ready Jesus?)

WAIT!!! I didn't know the camera was rolling, I swear he was this way when I got here!

Oh Jesus, you are such a joker....

Let's waste no time and get to the list.

10. You don't have to die to see Santa.
Although to be fair he doesn't really get seen a lot, but he does leave presents in his wake.
         
9.   You don't have to believe in Santa to get a present.
He seems to favour the living, and his rules for judging good and bad are far less....... evil? (Seriously Jesus, beating sassy children isn't helping your cause)

8.   Santa shows up on time.
 (Jesus is 2000 yrs late!)

I've been busy!  You think I was just hanging around??

7.   Jesus doesn't provide seasonal Employment
Although his employees provide lots of income for people in the mental health professions...

6.   Santa loves figs!
They drive Jesus as nutty as squirrel poo...

5.   Santa doesn't ask for donations

4.   You don't have to eat Santa

Body and blood??? Ummm, not in THIS cookie is it?

3.   Santa only wants milk and cookies, Jesus wants your soul!
Although, again to be fair, Jesus doesn't break into your house to get it.

You SURE that you hate your genitals and all the same people I do?  Ok then, you're safe.

2.   Santa's employees aren't pedophiles

I don't always slag Jesus but when I do, I hit below the robes....AND SO DO HIS PRIESTS! *drums*

And the number one reason that Santa is better than Jesus is.......

1.   Santa isn't a republican

Umm, this is awkward but could you just play down our relationship a bit Mitt?

It was close on a couple of points, and Santa's penchant for break and enter crime certainly helped you, but for now Jesus will have to settle for a divine  "maybe next year Jesus..."


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Atheist Haiku of the Month- Holiday Edition

HURRY take the pic, my legs are cramping!

It's the holidays

it's for family and friends 

not flight of fancy

PS- Remember, not everyone believes as you do but we don't have to push our beliefs in order to push our well wishes.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!

Quote of the Week- Louis CK

As a red head I have no soul, so it is ok for me to mock God!

"It's in the 10 commandments not to take the Lord's name in vain, RAPE isn't up there by the way. Rape is not a 10 commandment. But don't say his name with a shitty attitude!"

Very true Louis.  No thinking person thinks that the 10 commandments are a a good moral guide. Is the God of all things, and the creator of the universe really that bothered by having his name said in anger? Are his feelings really hurt if someone says it with a "shitty attitude"??

What is he 5?

No, come on now be serious. I'm 7000.... just a bit older than the earth.

Why no admonition against rape?

Because God thinks that Rape is the shit!

How else can I get girls to have sex with my  peeps?

Clearly that is not a view that is shared by the general populace.... for good reason.
It is more important to not say his name without hurting his feelings than it is to protect half of the population from the violent misogynistic victimization of conquering soldiers.

Hmmmmm.....

Women don't like that stuff??

No, no they don't.

And that is just one more reason why we see the Bible as an awful book.

How about just killing sassy children?

Stop it God.  Just stop.

Atheist Haiku of the Month- Rememberance Day Edition

Soldiers, whether they're,

Jew, Muslim, Christian or Sikh....

Remember them all.

PS- We are paying a heavy price. The nation, the military, and each family and friend who has lost someone. I miss you my friends and comrades.

Offended? Why should we care?

Ahhh, Philosoraptor, billions of years have taught you so much....

I have spoken about this before (although not with the bent that rant with today).

It is on the subject of offense.  People use it as a cover behind which they can hide.  

"That is offensive"

"That might offend someone"

Or even conflating offense with hate.

This is the flip side to the old "Everyone is entitled to their opinion". Both as used to keep people from disagreeing with them, and they are both cowardly.

What they are really saying is "You are not allowed to SAY that you disagree with me out loud."

What I say is "Yes! You have the right to an opinion, and you have the right to be offended"

And I have the right to say that you are stupid....

The point that needs to be made is that no one has the right NOT to be offended. You have no right to ask that others not offend you.  

None.

Low hanging, underwear exposing pants offend me, sideways hats offend my wife, sassy kids offend my mother, but that doesn't give us the right to go yell at the offending people telling them to stop what they are doing immediately.

That is because offense is subjective.

But seriously... fuck these guys

You have the right to be offended by the things that you deem disgusting or inappropriate, but unless there is harm being done, you have no right to ask that person to stop.  

Don't misunderstand me.  You can ASK, but you have no RIGHT. They can stop because they are civil people, but they are under no obligation to do so.

Everything is open to critique.... EVERYTHING.

Every thought that is expressed, every belief that is manifested by action OR word, and everything that we do. 

I have a friend who was harshly criticized a while ago for stating her opinion about the Burqa. She was called racist (Islam isn't a race people!), intolerant, and even hateful. It is NOT intolerance nor offensive to speak up. It is her stating her opinion as freely as everyone else asks to be allowed. I have to say that I find that kind of intellectual cowardice VERY offensive. They are free to be that way, and I am free to say that they are closed minded cowards who haven't the brainpower to defend their positions rationally.

If you want to hide behind your "right" to an opinion, then you can't deny others their rights too.

Except them

If you are offended and disagree with an unpalatable opinion expressed, then speak up.  Have a modicum of courage and defend your position.

Or at least find a logical position from which to deride the one that you are offended by.

BECAUSE I HATE THEM

If someone says "Jesus was a homosexual who ran a backyard brothel for lepers and told Jews that ham was awful just so that he'd have more to serve his own guests", don't just cry how that hurts your feelings.  Speak up and explain to them how Jesus was a genuine boob connoisseur and hated ham in all it's forms.

On the flip side if YOU think that gay marriage is wrong, then you better have a good and supported position that extends outside of your religion to support this position, because you can bet that someone is about to rightfully call you on it.

Think he's a Muslim born in Kenya?

Do not confuse "intolerance" with "critique". Do not even confuse intolerance with something that is always bad. We are intolerant of a lot of things.

Racism

Bullying

Spousal Abuse

Pedophilia

AND THESE GUYS!

It is not intolerance that we should be careful about. It is spurious logic. It is learning how to differentiate between things that get on our nerves that really cause no harm, and things that we should protect ourselves and others from.

If you are offended, you should take a look at what is offending you.  Look to see if that offense is YOUR issue and whether or not it causes anyone harm but your butt-hurt feelings, or if it is something that we really should be intolerant of because of the harm that you see it can cause others.  

Discuss it.

Be open minded, and willing to change your opinion if shown evidence or support for the opposing position.

Why should we NOT be critical of things that we see are harmful? 

You have a right to be offended, and you have a right to defend your position. 

Just remember that saying "I'm offended" is merely another way of whining that you don't like how someone doesn't agree with your way of seeing things.  

That is right.  If you express only that you are offended, or that you are offended because of some personal experience, you are just whining. 

You don't have a right to ask that others "respect you" if you aren't willing to respect them back by allowing them the free speech that you are asking for yourself.

and fuck this guy too (for my wife)

The Immoral Power of Prayer

This is an issue that is very close to my heart, because I feel that it is something that is ingrained in children at a very young age and is harmful to their development as humane members of our society.

The immorality of prayer.

Why do I say this?

Not everyone who prays is praying for personal gain, or mundane things, most are praying for very humane and caring things.  

God, I knew that you wouldn't mind taking time out of your
 busy day for Monday night Football....wanna take sides?

People praying for a loved one's cure from cancer, 

Friends praying for friends to find a way out of the dark reality of drugs,

Fathers praying for daughters to find the strength to escape violent relationships,

etcetera, etcetera, and on and on ...

What could be wrong with that?

I mean, even if God ISN'T real, what is the worst that can happen?

We'd still have to see THIS!

The worst that can happen is already happening.

INTENT

Are people really trying to help? I know that the answer would generally be yes, but are they really?

Do they really think that their god will ignore the plights of needy people unless someone kneels and begs him to intercede?

Do they really think that he doesn't already know?

Do they think that it will make ANY difference at all if they believe that their god is a good and just god?

I would say that, if pressed, most people would have to consider their answer and say no to all those questions.

So why do they do it then?

Who does it help? To whom does it offer consolation? To whom does it give relief?

The answer to all these questions is: It helps only the person who is praying.

It makes them feel like they have done their part, like they have some real sympathy for the person in need.  Like they have a sense of humanity and caring that surpasses others. It makes them feel genuinely good that they are a good and caring person.

Seems like all the positive manifestations of prayer are all in favour of the person praying.  At worst, it makes it lazy, self aggrandizing, arrogant, UNcaring, and selfish.

At best, it is just arrogant, self aggrandizing and selfish.

Ummmm, that touchdown was for the whole TEAM!

When someone prays they are thinking that they have a special connect line to the creator of the universe, the artificer of the laws of physics and the writer of all morality. That is the very definition of arrogance and is worse than the worst case of nepotism that you have ever encountered.  

Ok, the second worst

When someone prays they are not bothering to bake a cake, or make a call to raise funds, or write a letter to help someone get a job, or even buying a card. What it does is give someone is a sense that they have done something. It gives them the sense that they are a good person and a feeling that they have proof that they really do have the person in need's issues at heart. Since no one would say that God would ignore the plights of the needy without THEIR voice to plead the case of the needy, it follows that the act of praying is lazy, self aggrandizing and uncaring (since prayer only benefits them, it is clearly not out of caring for the person in need).

At the very best, when the person praying DOES bake a cake as well, or DOES make a phone call as well, or even DOES pay a visit, it makes the act of praying useless.  What bothers me about those people praying is that if something good DOES happen, they attribute the prayer and god for the improvement, not the interceding of caring people. That spreads the wrong message in my mind.

So I can't see a single instance where prayer is a good thing unless it is for yourself and for the comfort that your beliefs give you.  (Even then I would argue that there are better ways to do that, but this is where opinion rings pretty heavily and I can't really back it up with evidence.  Just more opinion.)

Let's give credit to the people who really deserve it.

Doctors, case workers, wives, husbands, children, loving friends, policemen, science, caring strangers, and sometimes even bald chance.

But don't give credit to the prayer that did nothing but make the person praying feel as though they were finished and had to do nothing more to help.

If you really believe in God, and that he is a good being, then don't worry ... he's got it under control.

If you believe that your prayer is helping, then what you are saying is that God really is a self important, narcissistic, malevolent being who cares nothing for the needy but only for the praise that begging for help gives him.

And

If you really want to help someone in need, get up off your knees and use your hands.

Place a call, buy a card, send a donation, or just make a cake ...

Trust me, that is the kind of help, that actually helps.

maybe it doesn't help THIS guy

Peace