Scientists have discovered a third type of human twin, neither identical nor fraternal. One of the twins was found to be a “true hermaphrodite” with both ovarian and testicular tissue. Whether or not we consider this a different type or species of human, one thing is certain: the book of Genesis doesn’t mention God creating human hermaphrodities.
Nevertheless, I can almost hear the creationists’ reply: “That isn’t evolution; it’s divine spontaneous creation.”
What about people who get fertility treatment. Are they invoking the hand of God? I ask this because, without fail, when the parents of the first viable *octuplets* are interviewed, they will undoubtedly say "each one of them is a blessing from God".
I assume this is where the disdain for stem cell research rears it's Christian Head. Fundamentalists must indeed feel like scientists are "playing God". I would think this would be evidence against God, that a scientist can create miracles, but what do I know (as an atheist).
Also note that Dick Cheney's daughter, who has become pregnant, whilst being openly lesbian, routinely refers to her fetus as "a miracle from God". Well, she might be right, of course it would imply that God sanctions same-sex marriage, something which Papa Cheney has publicly denounced. Christian Hipocrazy at it's finest. And when questioned about the obvious double standard, Cheney either declines to reply or mumbles about "private matters".
The subject of "miracles" has been discussed many times on this blog (interested readers are encouraged to do a keyword search). Mary Cheney's pregnancy is a perfect example. Her pregnancy would be "a miracle from God" if she had never been inseminated with male sperm. The fact that she was impregnated with male sperm makes her pregnancy merely a normal biological process: no more "a miracle" than the bowel movement I had this morning. But you won't find me staring into the toilet bowl declaring, "Look! It's a miracle from God!"
The same goes for Ben's example of drug-induced octuplets. One of my favorite such examples was when I saw the parents of conjoined twins (who had just had their twins surgically separated in a twenty-plus-hour medical procedure) declare that it was "a miracle" that their twins could now live separate lives. No, it was not "a miracle;" it was that very expensive, 20+ hour surgery that did the job. Now, if the twins had *spontaneously* separated…if the parents had gone to bed one night with conjoined twins and simply woken up the next day to find their twins sleeping in separate cribs…now THAT might have been "a miracle," but to ignore the surgery in favor of calling it "a miracle" is just laughable.
The same goes for "miraculous" catches in football games, or "miraculous" shots in basketball, or "miraculous" holes-in-one in golf. It's also true for "miraculous" survivors of disasters. I remember seeing an interview with the last person who got out of one of the World Trade Center towers before it collapsed on 9/11, in which the person said it was "a miracle" she got out alive. Sorry, but *somebody*had to have been the last one out, and the fact that it was that person was merely the luck of the draw, not "a miracle" at all. If the tower had collapsed thirty seconds later, then some other person would be calling it "a miracle" that s/he was the last one out.
Indeed, if some god were routinely violating natural laws to make "miracles" happen here on earth, then life as we know it would exist. Cars screaching toward head-on collisions would mysteriously pass through each other without damage, or mysteriously fly off in different directions so their occupants could escape injury. Explosions would stop and reverse themselves, so people caught in the blasts could get out. Hurricanes and tornadoes would suddenly vanish as soon as they neared population centers, or would simply stop occurring. People with amputated arms or legs would suddenly start growing new limbs. Students who ignored their homework would suddenly know all the answers on exams. Food and water would spontaneously appear near people who were starving or thirsty. The scarce resources of our planet would spontaneously increase in quantity to accommodate our growing human population…. I'm sure we can all think of many examples that would truly be "miracles," yet where is the proof that anything remotely like them has ever happened? The evidence simply doesn't exist.
I'm honored to even be mentioned in the same post as a miracle/turd analogy. I'm assuming Grumpy has never been constipated and resorted to praying to God? Well, I can provide you some fresh evidence that it works, if you insist. Unfortunately now I will forever have a mental image of Grumpy in a religious garb raising his arms above the porcelain God, Behold! Miracle!
You know, the "It's a miracle!" tag is used, I believe, as a commentary on something so extraordinary it is outside the bounds of normal expectation. We don't have the language, really, to express the emotions connected with these events. If pressed, I'm not sure how many people would really insist on the idea that such things actually came by divine intervention.
Clarke's Law states "Any sufficiently advanced technology will be indistinguishable from magic." I think the declaration "It's a miracle from God!" is more about the impressibility of the speaker (and his/her ignorance) than it is a statement of faith. Since we do not as a rule speak in terms of probabilities (in the scientific sense) what phrase would you recommend replace that one that would embody the same emotion expressiveness for the speaker?
Dost think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more tropes and similes?