Why won’t God heal amputees?

Sam Harris is popping up everywhere these days, and he’s putting forth some very challenging arguments advocating for saner discourse in matters of faith and religion. This makes a lot of sense to me:

“The point is not that all religious people are bad; it is not that all bad things are done in the name of religion; and it is not that scientists are never bad, or wrong, or self-deceived. The point is this: intellectual honesty is better (more enlightened, more useful, less dangerous, more in touch with reality, etc. ) than dogmatism. The degree to which science is committed to the former, and religion to the latter remains one of the most salient and appalling disparities to be found in human discourse.”

I remember being in high school and getting into these kinds of debates with religious-minded people on a regular basis. Once, I invited a Jehovah’s Witness into my living room and assailed him with challenging questions for a half-hour. He left me with a smile and a copy of “The Watchtower” as I sat there shaking my head, convinced the guy was a complete moron.

I grew up with a lot of anger toward the notion of a loving God who could intervene in human affairs. My younger brother Jimmy was profoundly disabled by an allergic reaction to the pertussis vaccine. I simply wouldn’t stand for any talk of a fair and just Lord of Lords. “Fuck God!” was often heard coming from my lips. Armed with rage and reason, I would attack any belief system that didn’t account for my brother’s condition to my satisfaction. Thinking about it now, I can see how the struggle to make sense of Jimmy’s situation led to my interest in both psychology and spirituality. Hmmm… Maybe that was all part of God’s plan? NOT!!!

Skimming through a Harris article, I saw a reference to a website dedicated to answering the question: Why won’t God heal amputees? Put that question on a T-shirt back in 1986, and I would’ve owned one in every color. Not that I’m trying to minimize the basic arguments by characterizing them as adolescent. As far as Harris goes, I agree with every argument I heard so far. It’s just that there’s so much further to go.