Tim Minchin's "Thank You God" (Reason Rally version)

that 300 years after the enlightenment we'd still have to be here having a [ __ ] rally for the obvious and they that's what I thought but actually I had an experience recently that kind of changed my take on a lot of this sort of stuff and I want to share it to you because I'm not going to be doing some of the more sort of God bashing stuff that I used to do because this this thing happened right um I I'll tell you because I think you you deserve an explanation for why I'm not doing songs about about irreligious songs anymore I'm just enjoying the silence this is what happened this is what happened right true story this is an ENT entirely true story I was in Melbourne in Australia in Victoria down the the southeast of Melbourne yeah Melbourne come on why Australians aren't meant to yell when they hear geography they recognize that's an American habit don't don't yell just cuz you recognize the geography no do Melbourne I was in Melbourne and I was doing a gig uh in a bar in a small bar and I was standing there after the gig with a small group of Comedians and I noticed this bloke down the end of the bar very striking bloke he was he was about 6'2 one of these kind of Aussie bronze dozy guys shirt open down to about here hairess and tanned guy he was but I also noticed him cuz hanging around his neck lying against his um tanned hairless chest on the end of a quite prominent silver chain was a quite prominent Silver Cross you know the kind of cross you might wear if you're a fan of intersections or the lowercase letter T but probably most commonly if you're a fan of the app aratus upon which first century Romans tortured and put to death thieves and Jewish insurgents anyway he was standing there and he was looking at us and I could tell he wanted to come over to us he had that look about him he was very intense he was on his own was slightly weird and eventually came over with his torture equipment flapping against his chest and he said good day Tim my name's Sam his name appears was Sam and he said I'm from dandong wo dandong for those who don't know is an outer suburb in the Hills just outside Melbourne Victoria in Australia and eventually he got talking and he was talking he was one of those guys who didn't have a very good understanding of personal space but he was very passionate and I respect that but I could tell he wanted to say something and eventually he said I want to say something so I was right and he said I always I've always wanted to ask you something cuz I'm a big fan of your work and I don't want you to think I'm I'm offended or nothing cuz I'm not but I've you say I'm a Christian that settled that he said I've always wanted to ask ask you because you do a lot of material about God and stuff but you've never answered for me the fundamental question of why why you don't believe in God and I said well Sam I don't believe in God for the same reason that anyone who doesn't believe in a thing doesn't believe in it cuz I haven't yet been offered enough evidence to allay my doubts and he said he said but you don't just go through your whole life only believing things that you got evidence for do you i y yeah that's pretty much how thus far I've managed to Wade my way through my [ __ ] existence yeah and he said What about love and I said What about love and he said Do You Believe In Love and I said yeah I think so Sam I believe in love I feel love I feel loved yeah I believe I believe in love love you and he said aha you don't have any evidence for love and I said oh oh well yeah I think I mean sure love without evidence is stalking so I was going fine right and then Sam said this he told me the story of his mom an incredible story and I'll tell you it now as quickly as I can apparently Sam's mom in her early 60s had developed um a problem with her eyes and she didn't want to go to the doctor she didn't like the idea of doctors but eventually they could jol her into going and the the GP the MD took one look at her eye and said you must see a specialist as soon as possible this is a degenerative eye disorder if you don't have surgery you will go blind and Sam's mom was afraid cuz she didn't trust doctors she didn't believe in modern medicine but Sam and his mom had their Church there in the hills in the dandong Rangers outside Melbourne in Victoria in Australia there was one of these big glass really popular churches and it was to their church that they went that Sunday and apparently the entire packed Congregation of some 3,000 people all simultaneously prayed for Sam's mom and the following Tuesday when they went to the specialist there was no sign whatsoever that there had been anything wrong with her eyes they were perfectly healthy she was she was cured she'd been healed and the reason this story had such an impact on me is I try more than anything else to to be intellectually honest you know with myself and with others and all I've ever said is I I want evidence and here I was for the first time experiencing a first person account of what can only be described as a miracle yeah yeah so I went right on home and I wrote this [Applause] song I have an apology to make I'm afraid I made a big mistake I turned my face away from you Lord I was too blind to see the light I was too Meek to feel your might I closed my eyes I couldn't see the truth Lord but then like saw on the Damascus Road W you sent a messenger out to me and so now I've had the truth revealed to me please forgive me all those things I said I'll no longer betray you Lord I will pray to you instead and I will say thank you thank you thank you God thank you thank you thank you God thank you God thank you God for fixing the cataracts of Sam's mom I had no idea but it suddenly so clear and how I feel such a cynic how could I have been so dumb thank you for displaying how praying Works a particular prayer in a particular church thank you Sam for the chance to acknowledge this omnipotent opthalmologist thank you God for fixing the cataracts of Sam's mom I didn't realize that it was so simple but you showed it great example of just how it can be done they only need to pray in a particular spot to a particular version of a particular God and if you pull that off without a hitch he will fix one eye of one middle class white [ __ ] know in the past my Outlook has been limited I couldn't see examples of where life had been deined but I can admit it when the evidence is clear as clear as Sam's mom's new corne that's extremely clear thank you God for fixing the cataracts of Sam's mom I have to admit that in the past I have been skeptical but Sam described this miracle and I am overcome how fitting that the sighting of a sight based intervention should open my eyes to this exciting new dimension it's like someone put an eye chart up in front of me and the top five letters say I see g o d thank you Sam for showing how my point of view has been so flawed I assume there was no God at all but now I see that cynical it's simply that is interest on particularly broad he's largely undiverted by the starving masses or the in between the various classes he gives us strictly limited passes redeemable for surgery or two for one glasses I feel so shocking for historically mocking yeah your interest so clearly confined to the ocular I be given the chance you to chew the Divine and start a little business selling contacts online [ __ ] me Sam what are the odds that of History endless parade of gods of the God you just happen to be taught to believe in is the actual one and he aren't healing but not the AIDS ridden African nations the victims of the plague nor the flood adol Asians but healthy privately insured Australians with common and curable lens degeneration the story of Sams has about a single explanation a surgical God who digs on Magic operations now it couldn't be mistaken attribution of causation born of a coincidental temporal correlation exacerbated by a general lack of Education Vis physics in Sam's Parish congregation it couldn't be that all these Pious people are liars it couldn't be an matter a fact of confirmation bias or a product of group think a mass delusion an emperor new cloth style fear of exclusion now it's more likely to be an all powerful magician than the misdiagnosis of the initial condition or one of many cases of spontaneous remission or record keeping glitch by the local phys they're the only explanation for sounds M seeing they pray to an all knowing super being to the omnipresent Master of the Universe and he liked the sound of their muted verse suffer a bit of a change from his usual stunt of being a sexist racist murderers down and on just like that used his powers to heal the cataracts of Sam's mom of Sam Mom thank you God for fixing the cataracts of s's mom I didn't realize that it was such a simple thing I feel such a dingling while ignorant scum now I understand how prayer can work particular prayer in a particular Church in a particular style with a particular stuff and for particular problems that AR particularly tough and for particular people preferably whiten for particular senses preferably sight a particular prayer in a particular spot to a particular version of a particular God and if you get that right P us Smite take a break from giving babies malaria and pop down to your local area to fix the cataracts of your [Applause] mom W [Applause] wo [Applause] W so yeah no more no more of that stuff we are not The Crazy Ones that's a that's [ __ ] great banner I don't know I think we probably yeah just not about that um all right

Channel: - Carter

Views: 56,388

Keywords: Reason Rally, March 24 2012, Paul Provenza, Atheist Film Festival, Penn Jillette, Tim Minchin, sign language, PZ Meyers, Christopher Hitchens, Nate Phelps, Richard Dawkins, atheist, HelloCarter, HelloImCarter, Carter, greatest day ever

Id: bWsFcCCCxc4

Length: 11min 35sec (695 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 05 2012