Is there a God for the rich and smug?
Posted by BobG in Vancouver on 2008/03/21
The NY Times claims to be the newspaper of record. This morning, Good Friday, it published an article about luxurious residences on Biscayne Bay, Fla. Here is a quote from that piece:
Temptation got the better of him, and in February, Mr. Benisty, who is 39, snapped up the first house he saw, paying $3,150,000 for a 3,500-square-foot, four-bedroom weekend retreat on Di Lido, one of the Venetian Islands. The house retains many of its prized original features, including travertine floors, a generous patio and coral-stone exterior wall.
To say nothing of the view. Gazing beatifically across his private stretch of palm-fringed bay, Mr. Benisty said, “The thing that I like is that here, there is only you and God.”
After reading about this fatuous reference to God, I couldn’t help feeling curious about the notion that there must be a God for those who live in such places and indulge in self-reflecting thoughts and other gods for many other sets of people, rich, not so rich, poor and downright miserable.
Meanwhile The Economist published a longer article about God, religion and current scientific research titled:
Where angels no longer fear to tread
Can a science of religion help me satisfy my curiousity about why smug too rich people say such obviously dumb things about God and humans!
