Followers of my blog know that I have been a large supporter of the
Give A Damn project (see entries
here and
here). I would support this project anyway, but I support it more because of my relationship with Rob Lehr. Rob and his production company filmed Skepticon I (for cheap, I may add). Rob is also a member of the Church of the FSM here at MSU, and has led the organization during my absence in the past.
This morning, at about 4 am CST, Rob and Dan were doing a flyover of Nairobi to get footage for the documentary when
the plane crashed. Rob is interviewed in the video.
Now, here's something interesting. The
Give A Damn documentary promos build up Rob as the atheist who doesn't give a shit about others. I know Rob, and while he is often frank and eager to lay responsibility where it should be, he is not apathetic or dispassionate. All the same, that's how he has been billed for this project.
However, Rob the uncaring atheist was the passenger that lept out of the plane before it could spiral down (ultimately landing upside down and bursting into flame upon impact before exploding five minutes later). The gash on Rob's head would later require six stitches and he also has a fractured leg. After landing, he
went back into the burning plane and pulled out an unconscious Dan, then
went back in after the co-pilot. In the process of unlatching the co-pilot's seat belt Rob's arm caught on fire (he has burns up and down his arm from it), yet he still managed to get the co-pilot free. It was at this point that the locals dragged Rob and the co-pilot to safety. If the co-pilot lives (he's currently in critical condition), it may very well be because of Rob's selfless bravery. I'm very proud of Rob, and infinitely grateful that one of my closest friends is alright. I've always known that Rob had this type of character.
So for all of you who have ever said that atheists have no impulse to be moral, you can now borrow my crowbar in the interest of dislodging your feet from your mouth - the atheist dragged one of your own from a firey wreckage when god was too busy to do it.
Which brings me to my next point. Before I get into it, I want all my readers to bear in mind that this event was a tragedy. I feel for everybody involved, and I had to really mull over whether or not I should say what I'm about to say. I am not an asshole (in fact, I'm often too caring for my own good - my parents can vouch for this), and believe me when I express that saying what needs to be said even though it may hurt people is not always easy for me. This scenario is no different. I realize that some people may brand me as insensitive, and I admit that I can't blame them. But if we don't all learn something from this, then we are not doing anybody a favor. That being said, here we go...
Dan and Dave are both religious, which is why it was no surprise to see that Dave's first post on the
Give A Damn twitter feed was:
I couldn't believe my eyes. If it was god that kept Rob and Dan (and possibly the co-pilot) alive, why did he allow the plane to crash in the first place? Moreover, the pilot of that plane is dead. Dead. He is survived by a wife and four children. How could anybody possibly call such a thing a miracle? This is a travesty, maybe worse.
The truth of the matter is that if god was watching, he left it to the hands of a non-believer to do what he couldn't (or wouldn't) do. The reason Dan is alive and that the co-pilot has as high a chance of survival as he does is because a rather exemplary mortal, not Jesus, was watching over the believers. All the prayers in the world would not have budged Dan one inch further from that wreckage. Instead, the man who thinks he only gets one crack at life was self-sacrificing enough to dive back into the blaze and rescue them. Don't thank god - thank human goodness.
When travesties of this magnitude can be used as evidence of god's goodness, one can only wonder what could ever possibly be used to establish his wickedness or apathy (or reasonably, his non-existence). The real inversion of reality here is that many Christians still consider god more worthy than man; even the best of men, like Rob.
I am infinitely grateful that Dan and Rob, both my friends, are going to live. Dan has a broken collar bone, but he'll recover. More Give A Damn twitter feeds beseech me to offer my prayers for them. I will not pray. If god exists, he didn't help them then and I have no reason at all to believe he would help them now. Instead, I'll give credit where it's rightly due and when they return home (Rob lives under two miles from my house), I will fry them up some bacon and buy them a beer, and reassure Rob once more how proud I am to know him.
Comments (32)
"Instead, the
man who thinks he only gets one crack at life was brave enough to dive
back into the blaze and rescue them. Don't thank god - thank human
goodness.
When travesties of this magnitude can be used as
evidence of god's goodness, one can only wonder what could ever
possibly be used to establish his wickedness or apathy (or reasonably,
his non-existence)."
Well said, Sir.
Quite frankly, Rob deserves the Ultimate Badge of Ultimate Baddassery. And I'm really damn glad to know him.
that is courageous
Wow. What a hero.
Wow...I really am not sure what to say. I have nothing to add, you really said it all already.
Well said. I am very proud of Mr. Rob...
that guy's got a pair of brass ones.
I'm glad that Rob took action and saved the lives of two others when the tale could have been much more deadly. My condolences to the pilot's family.
Thank God for atheists!
I will have to use that as a blog title here soon. I do so enjoy making my fellow Christians think a bit.
Well said. Here's lifting a glass to their survival... and in memorium of a life lost...
Some Christians are just going to say "Well, it was God that made Rob be there in order to save the other guys in the first place so yeah, it IS God's fault that they survived" and then, they'll also say that the pilot dying is just part of a bigger plan and bla bla. It's sad, really.
I don't know who Rob is, but I'm really proud of what he did. The world needs more people like him.
That's crazy.
You're not insensitive. You're an atheist who makes a very good point here and do it very well. I'm a Christian, but I tend to believe God is not responsible for all things good and evil. People have a free will, and stuff happens. So to some I'm a heretic. Your friend demonstrated the highest courage (especially given his view of no hereafter) and obviously places a premium on the lives of others over his own. He's a hero. Plain and simple. Thank God for Rob. And yes, thank God for atheists...because frankly it is important to see such courage and ask ourselves as Christians if we could do the same.
God doesn't get credit when things go wrong. But when something goes right it's all thanks to him/her. All the "thank gods" going around really take away from what really happened here. If Rob, the crazy offroad driver, the hospital staff, or anyone else involved did anything differently we might be looking at a different outcome.
Last year after my apartment flooded I met an older man how in the moment suddenly got the strength kick down his door, saving himself and his wife. (It was quite a daunting task considering both Floyd and I couldn't get our door to budge with the water pressure on the other side, hence our second choice of the window. It was if someone had pennied our front door.) He attributed his strength to god. I figured was hardly the time to discussion religion with him but it was kind of sad that he couldn't fully accept credit for his heroics.Terrible accident. Wonderful courage. Great post.
<3.
wow, im sure that hit really close to home. it is a miracle that they survived, but god must have other plans for the pilots family.
Why does everyone think God promised to make everything OK? He didn't. This is grossly oversimplifying, but the promises God made were to provide things to help you cope with what happens, which happens because of human error, which exists because God gave us all free will. Sure, he could have stopped the plane from crashing, but if he did that he'd have to solve every problem in the world, which would involve the removal of free will. Would you rather have that? I wouldn't. The other main promise God made was everlasting life, in the form of going to heaven, as a gift that you need only accept to have. The only thing he asks is that you believe certain things. And even then, it's up to you whether you believe it or not. He doesn't force anything on anyone. For those of us who believe, we believe God has way more wisdom than we do and that there's a reason why he doesn't just simply do everything we want him to just because he can. That plane was going to crash because of that very reason, God or no God. I am of the belief that sometimes shit just simply happens, not because God did it or because wasn't there... it just happens. In this situation I could see how it was Rob, and only Rob, that saved those men just as easily as I could see God having done something to arrange it so he could. However, more often than not I can see God's hand in many situations in my own life where he gently arranged things to help me out a little more than if he'd had a hands off approach... ways that didn't involve taking away someone's free will somewhere. Even without that, I don't consider my relationship with God to be that he is a vending machine that dispenses magic to do anything I want done. I consider him as an entity, that through my belief in him, changes me from the inside out in a way that helps me cope with this crap that we call life.
I'm happy for Rob and the other two that survived, and my condolances (sp?) go out to the family of the pilot. I bet if Rob wouldn't have been hurt while retrieving the co-pilot, he would have went right back in for the pilot. Some of the most sincere, kindest, happiest people I've ever met are athiest/agnostic and they are less judgemental than most of the Christians I know.
You are not insensitive, you are simply calling the cards as they lay. The truth is the truth, and you, my good man, have announced the truth =)
WARNING: HERE BE ANGER
I understand where you are coming from with this post, and I understand why you do and say the things you do and say. But why are you making this about atheism versus Christianity? Why can't you just be happy that Rob and Dan are alive and not worry about your agenda, just this once?
@insanitybook - Perhaps you missed the place where I said I was happy they were ok?
Because the things we say are important, and the things we let slide are important. If we allow the appeal to emotion to pollute the pool of ideas, we're not doing ourselves a service at all.
JT
@Zerowing21 - I did not miss that. And you'll have to pardon me, but I think that the pure joy that a friend is not hurt can transcend duty for a moment. It's not pollution; it's human nature. But that's just my opinion. You're free to disagree.
Thank Rob!
@XDaemonessX - "Some of the most sincere, kindest, happiest people I've ever met are athiest/agnostic and they are less judgemental than most of the Christians I know."
Isn't that being judgmental to say that? (:
@Zerowing21 - Bertrand Russell once gave his assessment on the reality humans in his book, "Why I am not a Christian":
That man is the product of causes that had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms...
Agree or disagree, and why?
@vivaverbum - See my comment policy on the left side of my main site. If you'd like to blogalog on the evidence behind our origin or a similar subject, I'll happily oblige you.
JT
@Zerowing21 - My apologies if you feel that I am getting off topic. My reason for providing the quote and question, is if you find Russell's assessment to be correct, haven't you wasted a lot of ink on this post?