Miracle
From Atheism
Miracle refers to something happening through the direct intervention of a divine being worthy of worship. In the past, people believed that witches and wizards could work magic because they had sold their souls to the devil. Such alleged actions were never called miracles. As with other alleged supernatural events, there is no evidence for miracles.
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Miracle claims and Christianity
Usually, miracle means something unexplained which believers think ordinary physical processes cannot cause. The term miracle is loosely used to refer to events with physical causes which a speaker thinks are wonderful. People may use the term miracle metaphorically when they talk about the “miracle of childbirth” or the “miraculous renewal” when plants put out new shoots and new leaves in spring. Credulous people People with strong religious faith sometimes believe that these wonderful events are literal miracles, i.e. that God intervenes directly whenever a child is born and intervenes directly every spring.
Escaping a disaster
Accidents and disasters are unfortunately all too frequent. Christians have trouble trying to explain the Problem of evil. If credulous people people with strong Christian faith escape a disaster that kills others, they are inclined to thank God for a “Miracle” and tend to overlook the others who perished.
Improbable events happen
Very many events are happening to all of us all the time. Easily a hundred thousand different events happen to us during a single day or a single week. From time to time something happens and we can prove mathematically that the probability of just that event happening is something like 100,000 to one. This should be expected and is not remarkable. Credulous people People with strong religious faith tend to see such events as miraculous.
Alleged miracles in the past
The Bible has many accounts which look like miracles if they happened. Other Mythologies religions have comparable tales which inspire wonder in believers. The Scientific method should lead us to be cautious about believing stories from the past when there were no firm, provable historical records.
Alleged faith healing
Christians have claimed to heal sick people by laying of hands etc. Again other religions also claim miraculous cures. The Placebo effect can explain a great deal here. Note, Faith is necessary for “miracle” healings. Scientific investigations by people like James Randi found no evidence for real miracle cures.
