The Low Standards By Which Miracles are Judged

February 19, 2013 by 26 Comments

As I’m sure you know by now, a meteorite hit Russia last week and did a great deal of damage. The Worldnutdaily, unsurprisingly, thinks it’s worth noting that people in a synagogue kept praying as other buildings were hit, and that a “miracle” occurred.

A meteor exploded over central Russia today, creating an atomic bomb-size shock wave that shattered tens of thousands of windows, shoved buildings around and injured an estimated 1,200, authorities said.

But it wasn’t big enough to disrupt prayers at a synagogue in the bull’s-eye, where Shliach Rabbi Yechiel Levitin told COL.org, a website focusing on Jews and Israel, “People come here to pray despite the cold, which is minus 8. The congregation prayed as usual, and they along with Head Schliach Rabbi Meir Kirsch were assisting the injured.”

“We heard a huge explosion … but did not know what it was,” Levitin told the website. “There was glass shattering everywhere, people trying to escape – but there was nowhere to run.

“Then we found out it was a meteor from space.”

He said one of the congregants ran outside to see what was happening, and a huge piece of glass fell into the spot where he had been sitting moments before.

“It was clearly a huge miracle,” Levitin told the site.

1200 people injured, but one guy not injured? Miracle. Why didn’t God give a damn about those other 1200 people?

Filed Under: Religious Weirdness 26 Comments
About Ed Brayton

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

  • steve oberski

    But not as low as the standards to which they hold their invisible “friend” .

  • http://thebronzeblog.wordpress.com/ Bronze Dog

    I’d be more impressed if they got a meteor to come flying in, abruptly stop in midair, and gently float down to the Earth’s surface in front a NASA science crew, causing no injuries or property damage in the entire process. That would at least convince me something weird and noteworthy is going on.

  • http://realitybasedbrainponies.wordpress.com/ Brony

    A general inability or unwillingness to compare your belief to the world in a rational way is the general theistic problem. There is a whole host of logical fallacies that are underlined with this common denominator.

    So much so that I try to have a script that walks them through an example where they use scientific thinking in every day life, but not with anything that involve peer opinions specifically. I wonder just how badly their social structures will snap when information technology makes shielding your community from information impossible?

    There are a lot of paranoid people out there.

  • Randomfactor

    Why didn’t God give a damn about those other 1200 people?

    They weren’t praying. Duh.

  • flybywire

    Well, the gentleman who ran outside wasn’t praying either. If he was, he would have been injured.

  • http://howlandbolton.com richardelguru

    So all those Russian Ortho-doxies should convert to Judaism?

    Wow! The mohalim could live off the tips alone!! (rim-shot)

  • http://aceofsevens.wordpress.com Ace of Sevens

    That’s -8 Celsius. Am I supposed to be impressed?

  • ShowMetheData

    God is awesome on toast – otherwise meh

  • jaytheostrich

    Hey, don’t dis -8 degrees until you’ve felt it. Brrrr.

    Does 1200 seem a little high to anyone? Is that a confirmed number yet?

  • macallan

    Does 1200 seem a little high to anyone? Is that a confirmed number yet?

    Well, by far the most injuries were caused by glass splinters flying around after the shockwave broke tens of thousands of windows. Considering that it seems to be a rather conservative estimate.

  • justsomeguy

    This morning on my trip to work, I walked through a crosswalk. Not 30 seconds later, traffic was careening through there at speeds of 20-30 miles per hour. Clearly, I was saved from getting hit by a car through divine intervention.

  • busterggi

    I have never been harmed by a tornado, volcanic eruption, earthquake, or wild tiger.

    Cthulhu saves!

  • julial

    I understand that many were injured by shattered glass because they went to their windows to see what the bright flash in the sky was.

    I wonder how I would have acted under similar circumstances.

    In elementary school during the cold war I was taught to duck and cover when the sky turned white.

  • Yellow Thursday

    I had -8F when I woke up this morning. I’m not impressed, either.

    There’s any number of things I would consider a miracle, but somebody not having glass fall on them isn’t one of them.

  • freethinkercro

    @4, @5:

    Most of the prayers in the videos I saw seem to be the Russian equivalent of “Holy [excrement]!!”

  • John Hinkle

    He said one of the congregants ran outside to see what was happening, and a huge piece of glass fell into the spot where he had been sitting moments before.

    “It was clearly a huge miracle,” Levitin told the site.

    A notable omission: the Rabbi failed to mention that the congregant was wearing +5 Shoes of Meteor Avoidance.

  • http://polrant@blogspot.com democommie

    When one considers the rather, ahem, “problematic” association that the russians have had wth jews since, well, always I would think that a lot of them would consider the meteor HITTING the synagogue a miracle.

  • Pierce R. Butler

    … bull’s-eye…

    I don’t think that word means what he thinks it does.

  • monimonika

    “There was glass shattering everywhere, people trying to escape – but there was nowhere to run.

    “Then we found out it was a meteor from space.”

    (bold bits imply that the people trying to escape was the congregation)

    one of the congregants ran outside to see what was happening

    How can this be called NON-disrupted prayer session?

  • reddiaperbaby1942

    Actually, minus 8 (Celsius, which I assume was the scale used here) isn’t all that cold. I live in Finland; even in the southern part of the country, where I live, we’ve had temperatures of -25 this winter, and life goes on normally — we just put on an extra sweater under our coats when we go out, and maybe (in my case at least) thicker mittens. In Russia, winter temperatures can routinely go down as low as -40 and -45 — one of the things which helped to defeat both Napoleon and Hitler.

  • Doug Little

    Why didn’t God give a damn about those other 1200 people?

    Why did god send the meteor in the first place?

  • Doug Little

    No I’ll go one step further,

    Why did god create the solar system with stuff in it that could extinguish his creation at any time, in the blink of an eye?

  • sqlrob

    Why did god create the solar system with stuff in it that could extinguish his creation at any time, in the blink of an eye

    Ceres, right corner planet *thwack*

  • Doug Little

    Ceres, right corner planet *thwack*

    Nah, there has to be a gravitational slingshot around Jupiter in there as well, and don’t get me started on the miraculous amount of movement that he can apply to an asteroid when performing a masse shot.

    God does not play dice, but he sure as shit can fleece you on the pool table.

  • Rip Steakface

    @24

    Who needs a gravitational slingshot when you can make things go to relativistic velocity by thinking about it?

  • Rick Pikul

    @julial:

    In elementary school during the cold war I was taught to duck and cover when the sky turned white.

    Given the results when a 4th grade teacher had her students do just that, it would have served you well.

    The classroom was showered with glass, the only injury being the teacher suffering a severed tendon . The teacher forgot to duck-and-cover along with her students.