Hey, Devout Folks: Facing Reality Would Be a Smart Move!

No god has “the whole world” in its hands

It was reported that on the Sunday following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, church attendance in the New York area was higher than usual. Perhaps people were searching for comfort, but my own fantasy was that these folks who showed up at church were there searching for a crucial answer—or to hold god accountable: why hadn’t their all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful deity done something to prevent the attacks? Was his attention captured by crises in other galaxies—or was diverting airplanes beyond his skill-set?
 
 
The clergy in the wide-range of Christian brands work hard to invent excuses for their inattentive god: He works in mysterious ways we don’t/can’t understand; he has a master plan that humans are not privileged to know; our free will causes all the problems; no matter what evils befall us, god cares about and loves us. Ceremonies and rituals are designed by the clergy to promote awe and wonder, to make folks feel humble and subservient in the supposed presence of their god at worship events. The clergy put their trust, moreover, in the ignorance of the people who are persuaded that they, the clergy, know what they’re talking about; they have inside knowledge about god. 
 
Working in favor of the church and the clergy, of course, is the highly personal, ego-based, nature of faith/belief, as captured perfectly by John Newton in his 1772 hymn:
 
“Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed!”
 
According to Jesus-script, god knows how many hairs are on our heads, and how many birds fall to the ground. Indeed, devout folks cherish the idea that he’s got the whole world in his hands. Favorite renditions of this 1927 hymn include those presented on the Ed Sullivan show by Marian Anderson (dignified) and Laurie London (exuberant). 
 
But these ideas about god are deeply rooted in delusions about the world, sustained, let me repeat, by the ignorance of the people who fill the pews. Or perhaps I should say the delusions are sustained by the refusal to learn about, seriously study, bring critical thought to bear, on so many horrible events in human history. 
 
In her 2018 book, Pandemic 1918: Eyewitness Accounts from the Greatest Medical Holocaust in Modern History, Catharine Arnold states that, because of the Spanish flu, “…100 million people died in the last year of the First World War.” (p. 1) While scientists were desperately in search of the pandemic’s causes and origins, religion was quick with an explanation: “In highly religious communities, Spanish flu was even seen as divine punishment for humanity’s sinful nature and in starting a war in particular.” (p. 15) Such ideas are based on the behavior of the vindictive, brutal god portrayed in the Old Testament especially—but preserved in New Testament texts as well. By no means could all those who died from the flu be identified as wicked people, as Arnold’s detailed reporting makes clear. 
 
“…victims collapsed in the streets, haemorrhaging from lungs and nose. Their skin turned dark blue with the characteristic ‘heliotrope cyanosis’ caused by oxygen failure as their lungs filled with pus, and they gasped for breath from ‘air-hunger’, like landed fish. Those who died quickly were the lucky ones. Others suffered from projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhoea, and died raving as their brains were starved of oxygen…Across the globe, entire cities became ghost towns as daily life ground to a halt.”  (pp. 10-11)
 
It is probable that the decline in religious belief in western Europe can be attributed to the monstrous evils brought by two world wars, which included the 1918 pandemic. Darrel W. Ray offered this evaluation in his 2009 book, The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Cultures:
 
“It took two world war for the Europeans to realize that the prayers of millions of people were not answered. It doesn’t take much intelligence to see that the god isn’t working too well when 92 million people die in two world wars, or to see the complicity and cooperation of the Pope, Lutheran clergy and Christians with Hitler during WWII.” (p. 75)
 
Many of those 92 million dead were killed in bombing raids, but there were other massive killings. The World War II casualties also included the six million people killed during the Holocaust, including Jews, gypsies, the mentally and physically handicapped, homosexuals. Contrary to the delusions of holocaust-deniers, this is one of the most well-documented crimes in history. One episode stands out especially: the massacre at the Babi Yar ravine in Ukraine. On 29-30 September 1941, more than 31,000 Jews were massacred by the Nazis. 
 
A much earlier holocaust that is so widely overlooked/unacknowledged is the one that began with the arrival of the Europeans in the “new world” beginning in 1492. In his 1992 book, American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World, David E. Stannard wrote:
 
“…the limited range of potentially serious diseases that did exist among the Americas’ indigenous peoples (primarily gastrointestinal disease and various minor infections) had long since been mitigated by millennia of exposure to them, as well as by generally beneficent living environments and more than adequate nutrition. 
 
“All that was to change, however, with shocking and deadly suddenness, once those first three Spanish ships bobbed into view on the rim of the Caribbean horizon. For it was then only a matter of months before there would begin the worst series of human disease disasters, combined with the most extensive and most violent programs of human eradication, that this world has ever seen.” (pp. 53-54)
 
Lynn. H. Nicholas, in her 1994 book, The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War, reported another tragedy during the 1941 siege of Leningrad:

 
“Only a thin lifeline of supplies could be brought in to Leningrad’s 3 million residents on the ‘Road of life,’ which crossed the frozen waters of Lake Ladoga. It could not save them all: in December 1941 alone more than fifty thousand died of starvation.” (p. 196)
 
This list of horrors and grotesque suffering can go on and on, which prompts any serious thinker to wonder: How does it possibly make sense to claim that there is a god who has the whole world in his hands?
 
But of course, these episodes of horrendous suffering remain outside the horizon of awareness of so many of the folks who fill the pews—and who eagerly accept the assurances of their clergy that the Christian god is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful. 
 
History provides massive evidence against these claims. 
 
Nor does it seem likely that folks in the pews are aware of the complexity of Christian origins in the ancient world: that is, how many superstitions—how much magical thinking—the new Jesus-cult absorbed and adopted from the surrounding cultures. Richard Carrier’s 2018 essay, Dying-and-Rising Gods: It’s Pagan, Guys. Get Over It explains this reality in detail. 
 
Nor are they aware of the turmoil in academic New Testament studies, derived from the profound disagreements displayed just in the four gospels. And the clergy are not about to advise their congregations to give serious thought to the major on-going debate as to whether Jesus actually existed. The literature on this topic alone is now vast. 
 
We are constantly reminded how crucial it is for the devout to snap out of ancient superstitions and embrace reality. In the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, Christian fanatics have confessed their loyalty to weird ideas. I recently came across this: 
 
“Charlie Kirk is a genuine martyr. God will etch his ‘witness’ into the marble of American history. This could lead to the greatest spiritual and cultural awakening since the late 1800s. The apocalypse is coming. The word ‘apocalypse’ means ‘revelation’ or ‘unveiling.’ In that day, not one drop of innocent blood will go unnoticed. Not one last breath on earth will hinder eternal life in heaven. Not one martyr will go unrewarded. Not one hidden evil will go undisclosed. Judgement will fall upon the wicked. Possibly the martyrs will be sent worldwide to administer true justice during the millennial reign of Christ. Of one thing we can be sure, the martyrs, including Charlie Kirk, will return. Just wait a little longer.” 
 
Just wait a little longer? According to Jesus-script, and the preaching of the apostle Paul, the millennial reign of Christ was supposed to happen any day now—back then! The New Testament authors got it wrong—totally wrong. This level of disconnect from reality—this commitment to ancient superstition—is a stunning reminder that human ignorance/stupidity is so hard to overcome. This kind of goofy religion is a very real danger, especially since it is endorsed by a major political party.  
 
 
 
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
·      Guessing About God (2023),
·    Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available. 
·      Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
 
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
 
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.