Atheist Ramblings - 1.6

The Banana Trick

...Just last nite, a theist tried to prove god by turning to the simple banana. His argument went something like this:

"Look at the ordinary banana, it is obviously designed. It comes in a convenient, bio-degradable wrapper that is removed easily, it is just big enough to fit in the hand, and it is curved slightly so it aims right at your mouth when you hold it."

...I almost fell off my chair when I read this one.

...What's wrong with this argument? Well, lets look at an extension of the above:

"The cow is obviously designed. It is large and easy to hunt. Once we catch it, all we have to do is skin it with any convenient sharp object. Slice up the meat and remove the inedible parts. Cook it for 10 minutes or so over a fire. And then eat."

...Perhaps the sarcasm isn't apparent, but in the cow example, surely a designed cow would be much easier to eat than all that. Then there's the potato that needs to be cooked. The coconut that is nearly impossible to get into and has to be shelled and shaved. Grapes and peaches that have inedible pits that have to be removed. The list goes on and on...

...Surely designed foods would be easier, or at least more standardized. The clear observation that there is no standard, and in fact, hardly two food items have the same problems. The total lack of commonality seems to point towards the natural, evolutionist way rather than some weak design argument.

...Evolution would lead to dozens of different solutions for the same problem. A designer would have solved the problem just a few times and used the best ideas all over (at least an intelligent designer would have).

...If the banana is the theists best "proof" of design, then they need a better spokesperson.

Something to think about

...A question I often have for theists of any variety is what would they be like if they had grown up somewhere else?

...For example, what if the christian had grown up in India? What about the Jew growing up in China? What about the Muslim growing up in a Southern Baptist family?

...The obvious thing is that the person wouldn't hold the same religion they do now. They would be just as ardent and faithfull for their new local myth as they are for their current brand.

...We are all born atheists. This is obvious when you realize that no Baptist family has ever raised a Hindu child (by default at least... the kid may have become Hindu afterwards). Children tend to follow the beliefs of their parents.

...If your particular brand of theism is so obvious and so reasonable, why are there other beliefs out there? Why would the christian be a Hindu if they had been born in India? Because all babies are born atheists and only learn about their local god through the efforts of their parents.

Why?

...What's the point above? Well, lets aproach it from the xtian standpoint (since I am most familiar with that).

...Why does god condemn more than 1/2 of the world's population to hell? All those Hindu's in India are going to burn because they don't believe in god. To the Hindus, all xtians are going to come back as cockroaches because they don't accept the truth of Shiva.

...What a silly system to set up! Those poor children are condemned from the start because they had the unfortunate luck to be born in a nation that follows Hinduism rather than xtianity. All those Chineese are condemned because they are taught to follow other beliefs.

...God created all those people and so few are going to make the right choice in him, and most of those who won't make the choice will have never had a chance.

...Loving god? Not hardly.

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