# Just curious how drowning a bunch of kids can be considered God's will **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 15, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860 "2025-07-15T01:00:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/241 "2025-07-16T21:14:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > You can absolutely study romantic love using a scientific approach. We can do stuff like monitor heart rate when someone sees the person they love, and note that there’s a physiological component. We can study examples of people sacrificing for non-blood relatives, and see that behavior matches the described internal state. We can hypothesize about a way that an instinct for romantic love might have evolved, and what survival purpose it might serve. None of this captures the experience of love, or explains why people love the people they love, against all reason. I’m sure I could come up with other examples but the crux of my argument is that believing irrational things is the stuff of daily life whether you’re religious or not. I do think there are matters of degree, though. Your average Trumper evangelical is several layers deep removed from reality, as opposed to most people, and I imagine many Dopers are probably separated only by a pretty thin layer. For a human. And speaking of that, I’d consider a Christian Democrat closer to reality than an atheist Trumper. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/242 "2025-07-16T21:27:30Z")
Yes, you could do that, but the last two or three episodes of the first season and all of the second season of Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It was terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/243 "2025-07-16T22:20:14Z")
Do I smell romance in the air? 😍 ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/244 "2025-07-16T22:31:34Z")
Coming home from a cesspit of militant Satanic atheism\*, I saw a new homily posted on the sign outside one of our local churches. It read “If Life Isn’t A Bed Of Roses, Remember Who Had To Wear The Thorns”. If such a sentiment figures in sermons around the country in the wake of the Christian camp disaster, one hopes the message is a bit more sensitive. \*Kroger. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/245 "2025-07-16T22:37:22Z")
You know theres a whole list of these pat church sign sentiments. Google it. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/246 "2025-07-16T22:38:43Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > one hopes the message is a bit more sensitive. One hopes that the next message is coherent and acknowledges that the Crown of Thorns was part of God’s plan. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/247 "2025-07-17T00:32:07Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > None of this captures the experience of love, or explains why people love the people they love, against all reason. Well, science isn’t great at handling qualia like “What does love feel like,” but it certainly can explain (at least in some part) why people are attracted to the people they’re attracted to - especially when it appears irrational or against their own interests. Quite a lot of papers have been written, for example, on the topic of why women stay in relationships with abusive men. Or why some people are attracted to the same gender, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/248 "2025-07-17T01:44:36Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > None of this captures the experience of love, or explains why people love the people they love, against all reason. Sufficiently advanced science could precisely explain “why people love the people they love”, just as it could explain explicitly why input _x_ causes output _y_ in any computing system. It is all in the layout of the circuits. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/249 "2025-07-17T06:00:12Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > So what’s the conclusion to be drawn there? That either God is a shithead, or God doesn’t exist and we just live in a shitty universe? That was covered in _Babylon 5_. > I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, 'wouldn’t it be much worse if life _were_ fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? ’ So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/250 "2025-07-17T07:20:31Z")
Yeah. I think the StarTrek(V?) movie, the one where Spocks brother shows up and does some Vulcan mysticism on everyone, steals the Enterprise looking for his _vision_ of God, covered it pretty well. _“Why does God need a Starship?”_ Kirk ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/251 "2025-07-17T07:32:33Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > That was covered in _Babylon 5_. > > > I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, 'wouldn’t it be much worse if life _were_ fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? CALVIN: It’s not fair! CALVIN’S DAD: The _world_ isn’t fair. CALVIN: I know. But why can’t it ever be unfair in my favor? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/252 "2025-07-17T07:37:18Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > _“Why does God need a Starship?”_ Kirk **God:** “To pick up Goddesses with of course, they dig a cool ride.” **Kirk:** “…Well, carry on, then.” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/253 "2025-07-17T14:33:39Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > **God:** “To pick up Goddesses with of course, they dig a cool ride.” “chicks dig the car.” -Batman ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/254 "2025-07-17T15:32:17Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > “chicks dig the car.” > -Batman Exactly the line that inspired my joke, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/255 "2025-07-17T23:25:01Z")
Once, I was trying to explain my atheist outlook (basically you live, you die, nothing afterwards) to my devout sister-in-law and her response was “But why would you want to believe something like that?” I knew then that explaining the difference between wanting to believe vs. objective reality was futile. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/256 "2025-07-17T23:49:07Z")
It’s so hard not to want to believe a divine power controls things. When your close to your demise, especially. I knew no saintly Jesus or angels would come save me at age 4 and I realized I would have to poke my fingers and take shots the rest of my days. At 4 I never realized the great strides in tech, to where I now have a CGM. But, no sky fairy did that. Science did that. And lots and lots of money. I get it. I’d love to think an afterlife awaits me. Alas, this tiny speck of a life we have is all there is. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/257 "2025-07-18T01:37:46Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > “But why would you want to believe something like that?” Of course faith has utility. My belief that this life is it also does. This being all I got means I really have to do my best with it. How I live my life and what impact it has on others now and the n the future means _more_ because this is it. Also I don’t need to live in fear of some arbitrary judgement; I can instead just focus on making the best choices I can and not worry that my many mistakes and failings will tip some scale the wrong way. That is of comfort to me. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/258 "2025-07-18T02:08:23Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Of course faith has utility. My belief that this life is it also does. This being all I got means I really have to do my best with it. How I live my life and what impact it has on others now and the n the future means _more_ because this is it. Also I don’t need to live in fear of some arbitrary judgement; I can instead just focus on making the best choices I can and not worry that my many mistakes and failings will tip some scale the wrong way. Gee, wish I could relate to that last bit (religious trauma makes it difficult to shake the fear of Judgment), but the first bit for sure. I’ve met some Christians with kind of a laissez-faire attitude to life, in essence, who cares if everything’s going to shit, I’m going to heaven! Meanwhile I think I’m just kind of amazed to be here and breathing. I think meditation on death, and its finality, is important. I have a book called _Japanese Death Poems_ which shows people processing their own mortality in a way that is radically different from Western ideas about it. But probably one of my favorite stories was that of an old, wisened Zen monk. His final words? “I don’t want to die.” Indeed. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/259 "2025-07-18T02:28:53Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > religious trauma makes it difficult to shake the fear of Judgment Jewish. Afterlife never a stressed concept and our judgement comes from our family! “You never call!” 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860/260 "2025-07-18T02:29:44Z")
Yeah. And then “I’m going home”. Seems he had other plans for an afterlife. I’ve read some of those death poems. Some are cloyingly beautiful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-curious-how-drowning-a-bunch-of-kids-can-be-considered-gods-will/1020860.md?page=14)