Rescuers, not God, key
I think we all breathed a sigh of relief at the news that the last of those trapped inside the Tham Luang cave was safely brought out. Our thanks should go to all those involved in this daring rescue, which will surely make its way into the history books.
But our thanks only need to go to those involved in the rescue operation (especially all the divers, including Saman Gunan, the Thai diver who unfortunately lost his life during the rescue mission), not to some imaginary being as some are now claiming.
I refer to those people like Rajendra Aneja (“Lessons from the cave”, PostBag, July 6), and others who claim that “The combined prayers of all Thais have saved these children”.
I believe only the rescuers saved the boys and the coach. They might have had some luck on their side in that the rain that fell during the rescue operation could have been a lot worse and could have completely flooded the cave. But the very idea that some imaginary being heard all the prayers and decided to intervene to help save them is senseless.
When a major incident or accident occurs and people pray, and lives are saved, the response is always “our prayers were answered!”. But when lives are lost, despite the prayers, the response from those that prayed, when challenged, is always the same — “he (god, or whatever you want to call him) had his reasons and we should not question his judgement”. Nonsense.
There is no god. Of course, I can’t prove that there is no god, or that prayers do not work. But no one in the history of all of mankind has ever been able to prove that God does exist, or prove that prayers work.
If you claim that something exists then it is up to you to prove it, not the other way round. I could use that argument to claim that Santa Claus, the magic Tooth Fairy, and the bogeyman all exist.
To those that say that people have a right to have a religion or a belief system, yes of course they do. But with freedom of religion comes freedom from religion. If you must have a religion then I suggest it should be a private matter. If you want to delude yourself about the existence of an imaginary being then you are free to do so, but please do not publicly claim that your prayers saved lives.
Unless of course, you can back up that claim. PETER ATKINSON