What do you say if you don’t believe in God? *UPDATED*

Do you remember that a few weeks ago I did a post about the atheist’s problem when trying to communicate to someone who has suffered a great tragedy or illness?  To save you the bother of clicking back and forth, here’s the gist:  I noted that in my Bookworm version of Facebook, which is conservative, when bad things happen, people send their prayers (and mean them).  In the real me version of Facebook, where most of my friends are liberal, when bad things happen (and something bad did happen, which is what triggered the post), they send their “wishes.”  That fact led me to make this point:

Reading all these “wishes,” I had an incredible sense of foolishness.  We’re all too sophisticated and rational to believe in God, yet we’re perfectly content with magic.  Bibbidy-bobbidy-boo!  I wish you well.

And therein lies the atheist’s conundrum:  What do you say when bad things happen?  You don’t believe in divine intervention, and the vocabulary of sympathy leaves you with nothing more than passive thoughts, unrealistic hopes, or foolish wishes.

All of this may well explain why I always have a dreadful time writing condolence cards or get well cards.  It’s not that I can’t cope with people’s loss or sorrow or fears.  Instead, it’s that I lack the vocabulary and the belief system that allows me to say anything meaningful.  I’m left with empty platitudes that, sometimes, seem almost insulting in their vapidity.

Why do I mention this now?  Because of the way in which the White House reported the President’s reaction to the news about the five soldiers murdered by a fellow serviceman at Camp Victory in Iraq:

President Obama “was shocked by the news of this incident,” the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said Monday.

“He’s saddened to hear the news from Camp Victory,” Mr. Gibbs told reporters at the White House. “His heart goes out to all the families.”

By tomorrow, perhaps, the White House will have added the obligatory prayer to the President’s reaction.  It’s significant, though, that in the first instance, Obama’s White Houses instinctively uses the same wishy-washy language atheists use:  “My heart is with you.”  “My thoughts are with you.”  “I send you my wishes.”  No prayers.  Never any prayers.

I’ve said before that, in the debate about whether Obama is a Muslim or a Christian, both sides are wrong.  Obama isn’t one religion or the other.  Instead, Obama is an atheist.  To the extent he pays lip service to believing in a God, God’s will is remarkably similar to that which Karl Marx articulated.  Obama’s holy book isn’t the Bible or the Koran.  It’s Das Kapital.

UPDATE:  Those who stopped for the comments were getting such a kick out of Mike’s spilling the beans on Obama’s evening prayer, I just had to bring it up to text:

Our Father, who art… me…. hallowed be My Name
My Kingdom come, My will be done
I will tax you from birth unto heaven
Give me today your daily bread
I will provide for you many temptations
So you will deliver to me your Vote
For Mine is the kingdom and the Power and the Glory
Forever and ever with Chavez my Buddy.
The Man.