Finally, a True Miracle!

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One of the most popular questions atheists get from Christians is, "What would it take for you to believe?" The question is sometimes intended to obtain support for the popular misconception atheism involves some sort of faith. Other times it reflects genuine curiosity about the sort of evidence atheists would accept as supporting the theistic belief claim (i.e., some sort of god or gods exist). Atheist responses vary (mine is here), but one of the more common involves the direct experience of at least one god appearing in the absence of altered states of consciousness or mental illness. In other words, we'd need to have some direct experience with these gods in which we are constantly being asked to believe.

What we have here is not quite this convincing, but it does appear to be a true miracle. That should be good enough. I expect many atheists will soon convert to Christianity upon hearing this news (many probably already have).

The Associated Press broke this amazing story (update: link no longer active) late this week. I am saddened that it has not received the attention it deserves and am no wondering about some sort of atheist media bias. After all, what else could explain why the following miracle is not the lead story on every major news network? Clearly, somebody in the mainstream news media is biased against Christians!

Here's the miracle:

CALEXICO, Calif. – The hottest thing on the griddle at the Las Palmas restaurant these days isn't the food — it's the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that a cook says she saw on the griddle.

Restaurant manager Brenda Martinez says more than 100 people have flocked to the small town of Calexico on the California-Mexico border to gaze at the likeness of the Virgin Mary since it was discovered as the griddle was being cleaned.

Among the awe-struck was a group of masked Mexican wrestlers who arrived Thursday for an exhibition at a nearby swap meet.

One, known as Mr. Tempest, says: "This is amazing. It's a true miracle."

Since the discovery, the griddle has been taken out of service and placed in a shrine in a storage room.

Have you converted to Christianity yet? No? What are you waiting for?

And now, I'd like to offer three brief observations about this story:

1. It does not seem to take much to get a group of Christians to "flock" somewhere.
2. Any story mentioning "masked Mexican wrestlers" deserves way more attention than it ever seems to receive.
3. I enjoy the whole people-seeing-religious-figures-in-shit meme entirely too much.