She is 87 and lives across the street. She played tennis regularly until the age of 83 (I’m ten years younger and lost my last match twenty years ago.) On Saturday evening she had a fall and found she couldn’t move. Her husband has Alzheimers and was no help at all. The bottom line is that she survived and has since been operated on for a broken thighbone. I won’t bother giving you the details of a story that could have had a less happy ending. But she was unable to move for nearly twenty-four hours before being discovered prostrate on the floor. When I expressed my admiration for her courage, I was told that she steadfastly maintained hope that assistance would eventually come, because right above the place she fell there was an icon of the Blessed Virgin . . .
People keep telling me that I have no right to attack religion which provides such comfort, solace and hope to so many. Unfortunately some non-atheists take such benefits as “proof” even of the validity of religious belief. Whatever about that extreme of credulity, I must insist, as I have often in the past, that my broadsides, my book and my blog are not meant for old folks comfortable and secure in their piety. I offer them my assistance; I would never personally attack their faith. My target audience remains Believers on the Brink, who long ago moved beyond praying to icons. You may be surprised to learn that I have no less than five Russian icons in my home. But if I have an accident like that of my aged neighbor, I will not depend on them or on Our Lady of Perpetual Succor for help, but on my cell phone.
DELENDA RELIGIO
Blind Faith: Blind Folly 
This post makes me think of this quote:”Iʼve never really understood how removing a bad way to reason will make it difficult to get through the day. If anything, it would seem that correcting someoneʼs reasoning would increase their chances getting through the day. When one has a more reliable form of reasoning they are then more capable of crafting conditions that then enable them to navigate lifeʼs obstacles. When one embraces reason only then they can legitimately have hope.” – Peter Bogohssian
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This post makes me think of this quote: “Iʼve never really understood how removing a bad way to reason will make it difficult to get through the day. If anything, it would seem that correcting someoneʼs reasoning would increase their chances getting through the day. When one has a more reliable form of reasoning they are then more capable of crafting conditions that then enable them to navigate lifeʼs obstacles. When one embraces reason only then they can legitimately have hope.” – Peter Bogohssian
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Thank you, Graham. Welcome to Blind Faith : Blind Folly.
Frank O’Phile
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It seems that God and other Monsters work in mysterious ways. Not that many years ago a young Australian golfer, who came from a good God-fearing (but non-Catholic) family was beginning to make his name on the professional international golf circuit. He was and remains a decent young man with a very wholesome image and genuinely unaffected manner. Back then, after clinching an important title he thanked Jesus for helping him sink the important putt on the final hole. I have no doubt that his faith helped calm his nerves at that important moment. I am less confident that Jesus whom many believe to be True God and True Man was able to spare the time to guide the putt on its important trajectory.
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