angels and demons III

To round off my reflections on what we can learn from Angels and Demons, I thought it would be interesting to consider what is Blind Faith. Here is an example portrayed in the book:

Kohler stared a moment into his own stony eyes. Tonight I may die at the hands of religion, he thought. But it will not be the first time.

For a moment, he was eleven years old again, lying in his ben in his parents' Frankfurt mansion. The sheets beneath him were Europe's finest linen, but they were soaked in sweat. Young Max felt like he was on fire, the pain wracking his body unimaginable. Kneeling beside his bed, where they had been for two days, were his mother and father. They were praying.
In the shadows stood three of Frankfurt's best doctors.

"I urge you to reconsider!" one of the doctors said. "Look at the boy! His fever is increasing. He is in terrible pain. And danger!"
But Max knew his mother's reply even before she said it. "Gott wird ihn beschuetzen."
Yes, Max thought. God will protect me. The conviction in his mother's voice gave him strength. God will protect me.
An hour later, Max felt like his whole body was being crushed beneath a car. He could not even breathe to cry.

"Your son is in great suffering," another doctor said. "Let me at least ease his pain. I have in my bag a simple injection of-"
"Ruhe bitte!" Max's father silenced the doctor without ever opening his eyes. He simply kept praying.
"Father, please!" Max wanted to scream. "Let them stop the pain!" But his words were lost in a spasm of coughing. An hour later, the pain had worsened.
"Your son could become paralyzed," one of the doctors scolded. "Or even die! We have medicines that will help!"
Frau and Herr Kohler would not allow it. They did not believe in medicine. Who were they to interfere with God's master plan? ...

And so as Max hovers on the brink of death, one of the doctors cannot bear it anymore and covertly gives him an injection. Almost immediately, he begins to recover. But in some ways it is too late ... he is crippled. The parents proclaim a miracle of God, but they are distraught at his paralysis and bring him to a priest.

"It was only by the grace of God," the priest told them, "that this boy survived."
Max listened, saying nothing.
"But our son cannot walk!" Frau Kohler was weeping.
The priest nodded sadly. "Yes. It seems God has punished him for not having enough faith."

What delicious irony. This scenario portrays faith in God in a very poor light. Clearly it is something irrational, that only religious zealots would contemplate. And needless to say, the boy becomes completely disillusioned with religion, as would many of the readers. But is this really how faith is meant to be? I thought the following joke sheds some light on the topic with a rather different perspective.

Once upon a time, a man sat on his porch as a flood warning was beginning. His neigbor was pulling out of the driveway following the evacuation order from the community officials. The neigbor said, "Hey. Jump in. We can ride out together to avoid the flood." The man responded, "I have faith. God will save me from the impending flood."

A little while later, the water covered the street, and an SUV cut it's way through the flood. A stranger rolled down the window and said, "Hey fellow. Jump in, this flood is going to get worse." The man responded, "I have faith. God will save me from the impending flood."

As time passed, the water became high enough that the man had to move inside and look out his second floor window. A boat came by, and the man in the boat yelled out, "Jump in. This flood is going to get worse." The man responded, "I have faith. God will save me from the impending flood."

The man was forced to climb to the roof as the flood entered his second floor. A rescue helicopter whirled overhead and a voice came from a bull-horn yelling, "Grab this rope ladder. we'll save you." The man yelled back, "I have faith. God will save me from the impending flood."

The man drowned.

When he reached the pearly gates, the man said to Saint Peter, "I had faith. Why did God let me drown?" Saint Pete responded, "We sent you a car, an SUV, and boat and a helicopter. What else were we supposed to do?"

It's the middle of the week. Don't expect anything intelligent or insightful from me ... I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

But if you are interested, I've been involved in a little debate over at SingaporeAngle.
You can find a list of album recommendations (including mine) here. And the Weird Al cover of James Blunt here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or here.
And did you know that the original name for butterfly was flutterby? Strangly apt. Read about that and other strange things you likely didn't know.
And finally, this is a hilrious analysis of Brazil vs France.