For everyone writing to me concerned about the status of the stranded Trophy Wife™: she’s fine. She was going to be stuck in a gas station in Hancock, Minnesota for a night, and a local minister stepped up and offered her a place to stay…and when the weather cleared a bit, helped her get back home to Morris. So she has survived the storm, is doing fine, and is even going to work today.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
LOCAL MINISTER!????!
Think of the quotemining and other nefarious things that will come of this.
Minister? Really?
Hah. Too funny. :)
Oh this story will be funny in the right hands.
What did TW and the minister talk about, I wonder?
Before the religiobots come in here and start overtaking the thread regarding the fact that it was a minister that helped PZ’s wife out… just stop it… stop it now.
Yes, he was a minister, yes it was a good deed. The two are unrelated. It could have been a policeman, or the clerk behind the counter. This was a good man who did a good deed.
Personally, I’m more impressed that PZ simply stated that the man was a minister, rather matter-of-factly, with no hint of surprise, scorn, or snark of any kind.
Phil Donohue will probably keel over upon reading that.
Apparently, on hearing my wife’s name and town of residence, the minister asked if she knew PZ.
I’ll have to wait until I get home to learn the details of that conversation, unfortunately.
Celtic_evolution….seems you’re trying too hard here. There’s no reason to be afraid of a nice guy that believes in God.
HEEE. Are you serious? He knew you?
Oh please tell us when you know details if there was anything nice.
Though of course, the most important part is that the guy was a nice and helpful guy! Great fellow. Kudos to him.
HEEE. Are you serious? He knew you?
Oh please tell us when you know details if there was anything nice.
Though of course, the most important part is that the guy was a nice and helpful guy! Great fellow. Kudos to him.
Praise Jeebus. We’ll bet the posters at that web site that was praying for PZ’s conversion have practically gone orgasmic over this bit of news.
— Elwood Blues, The Blues Brothers
This should be good.
Hooray for nice people!
“See?” say the accommodationists, “The truth value of religion may be forever beyond the reach of our dirty, dirty secular science, but how can you criticise something that makes people do such good things?”
So he knew he had the Antichrist’s Trophy Wife™ in his car and he let her get away?
I trust she’s busy scrubbing the stench of good off of her while soaking in a nice tub of brimstone?
Good to hear everybody is safe and sound. Wasn’t Hancock where PZ was an election judge a while back?
Since this fellow is so helpful, is there any chance you might get him to give SciBorgs’ “IT” folks a hand?
Yay!
Theists are often good people, too. (I was one for a long time.)
Glad to hear she’s alright!
Still learning,
Robert
Glad to hear a minister is actually acting like Jesus tells him to.
Ever since I went to that site I imagine quotes like this without any humor, sarcasm, or irony for just a second. It is quite funny actually.
Was that not my very point?
Maybe he’s a closet Pharyngulite, read about TW’s plight here and went to pick her up. That would explain how he knew about PZ.
There are three churches in Hancock. Two are Lutheran and the other is a Congregationist church. This means that the Trophy Wife probably got stranded with a Lutheran minister who I am sure made no attempt to convert her.
I am sure, at most, he just shared coffee and doughtnuts instead of Jesus and said, “So, it’s a shame about them Vikings losing there, then?”
@20, seems you’re going out of your way to recognize something that need to be seen.
—but it’s no big deal.
Glad she’s okay. It is kind of ironic, although you can make the argument that odds were that whoever stopped to help would have been Christian, just based sheer numbers.
And no, it wasn’t God’s will. I’m half anticipating and half dreading how the more, shall we say, enthusiastic believers are going to run with this. Must get popcorn now!
OK, here are my back-of-the-envelope calculations.
We can take it as axiomatic that the STW wants to leave the gas station as soon as possible, so she would have accepted a ride from the first non-creepy person who offered one.
Of the set of non-creepy people who are willing to offer rides to strangers in blizzards, I’d guess that about 1% are ministers.
So the probability of this happening by random chance is 1%. There’s therefore a 99% chance that it didn’t happen due to random chance.
My best guess is that the 99% breaks down as follows: 49% chance that it’s due to intervention from some non-divine source (space aliens, CIA, collective subconsciousness). 49% chance for intervention from the deity that the minister follows. 1% chance for intervention from some competing deity.
QED
Oh, they shall know that we are Christians by …
our kindness to strangers, even when they may be Hellbound atheists.
Hooray for nice people! indeed!
Don’t forget to check for signs if conversion. I believe they leave a mark on the back of the neck. Or maybe that was invaders from mars. Similar outcome though.
Been coming here too long to think that’s the case… but hey, maybe you’re right… we’ll certainly see, and I reserve the right to return to your post with a hearty “HAH!”. ;^)
Glad to hear it! On the news this morning they said several people had been stranded overnight.
I wonder if this helpful stranger minister is one of the “closet atheist ministers” that Daniel Dennett is now studying.
@29
I hope you’re not right…but I do know the mentality of the horde…so you might be.
Oh, dear. I see two major possibilities here: the minister was either
1. hoping for The Conversion to End All Conversions, which would have meant Jesus Cred Times Infinity,
OR
2. interested in biology.
Qwerty@22-
You hit the nail on the head right there.
And just about anybody in that part of the county would offer to help someone in that situation. I bet even a godless heathen like PZ would. Maybe even share a bit of BBQ’d baby.
Or just being nice.
I’m glad to hear the Trophy Wife
Glad to hear all is well!
One of my friends has a theory that having severe winters makes for nicer people, since not helping someone in need in wintertime can be a death sentence in some conditions.
Here’s hoping that anyone else who was stuck in yesterday’s blizzard managed to get home safely as well.
Speaking of which : results of the poll are out and PZ won. So they now want to know if he agrees that they pray for him and want to know when to do it (I guess they think they must do it simultaneously or the all-powerful god won’t listen…) :
http://www.pray4healing.com/2010/01/25/miracle-poll-we-have-a-winner/
Thanks Dave,
I’ll keep that in mind as I head out into the warm sunshine to grab lunch. I’ll do my best to snarl at someone and knock over an old lady.
Something tells me that human society ought to make for nicer people, since not helping someone in need can be a death sentence. Something tells me that doesn’t necessarily bear out, though.
First, what are the odds that the minister discovered her plight by reading about it here? (I’m just curious…)
Second, why does my sign-in get hacked up by the Servers of the Pharyngugods? They don’t like Google signatures?
Nameless Cynic
I think Rev BDC probably has the right answer.
Technically, can’t anyone become a “minister”? Hell, I saw Homer Simpson do it once. Ordained ministers perform weddings all the time. I don’t think they have to be associated with any religion.
I agree with Rev. BDC, He was just being nice. However, I cannot wait to hear what the convo was like with the TW and the Minister; wow, does that sound like a sitcom or what?
I would love to be a fly on the wall when the minister tells his congregation that his simple act of goodwill brought him within a degree of the most notorious atheist in Minnesota. There’s going to be a collective “oooooh” with that revelation and water cooler fodder for weeks.
I think it’s the influence of Ayn Rand that makes us suspicious of other’s behaviors. I think, “Just being nice,” makes perfect sense, and defeats the fucking libertarians all in one fell swoop.
Or maybe I just think too highly of my fellow man.
I think it’s fantastic that there are some helpful, decent, nice people in this world. Good on that minister bloke for helping a Trophy Wife in distress.
Of course the fact that the chap was a minister is hilarious under the circumstances, but still, good on the bloke!
Louis
I have found that most ministers who are not bent on being MegaChurch&trade or TV salesmen for God are very altruistic & helpful – they just attribute it to a higher nonexistent power.
@Dusty,
Sure. For $25, you can be a minister of the Church of the Subgenius. I highly recommend it.
Also, in Alaska at least, *anyone* can perform the marriage ceremony. My good friend Wade married my wife & me. I think some other states also allow non-ordained folks to perform the ceremony. I highly recommend a non-conventional ceremony. Wade’s 10-year-old daughter had a speech: “I think it’s good that Tony and Aliesha get married. They are always hanging out together.”
It’s unfortunate that decent, honest folk get misled.
if it would have happened in Iowa, i would have picked Pastor Deacon Fred of the Landover Baptist Church :-)
Anyway, it’s a good message that everything is ok. Thank [Please insert name of Deity You may believe in here].
You’re welcome, Destlund. Sorry to offend by badly paraphrasing a late-night conversation from several years ago. The core of the argument wasn’t that fair-climed people were evil, but that hostile environments might force a higher degree of cooperation – or human society, as you say – than more forgiving ones. In any case, sociology is not my forté, and I fear that even delving this far is getting in over my head. Hope everyone is safe and warm.
I’m actually an ordained minister and can perform ceremonies.
Seriously. That’s where the Rev. comes from.
For 1700 years, Europeans and their descendants have said that all nice people have to become Christians, and if you don’t, it means you’re not a nice person. They even believe that the extra-nice people should become priests or ministers. The majority of people still believe that. We may think that they are foolish for believing that, but it doesn’t mean that the majority of them aren’t nice.
Good for the minister.
Just a thought, maybe you could have the minister and his or her wife over for dinner as thanks at some point? Show them the big mean atheist that was out of town is actually a nice guy too.
It might even be fun.
Thanks, and good on the minister.
Did she recruit him to volunteer at Camp Quest?
Good. The minister remembered Matthew 25:34-40 .
And really, no one should be surprised. Ministers often do things like this.
I take it he was a Samaritan minister?
Wife home safe, that is good news.
As for ministers, I don’t know what I would do without my neighbor, who is not only a church pastor, he is a Mac nerd who helps me with all my computer questions. Religion rarely comes up.
Wonderful news! What a nice person.
No Midwesterner would be surprised at the story. The natives often will help a stranger in trouble.
In California, any adult can become a “deputy Justice of the Peace” for the purpose of performing marriages. The license lasts for a day. When my wife and I got married, this is the route we went.
I would have been more surprised if the minister didn’t help out. Growing up in Alaska may have influenced this thinking, but anyone stranded in a snowstorm gets help when it can be given.
In point of fact, it is unthinkable to drive past an automobile stopped on the side of the road in northern Minnesota without checking to see if anyone needs help. I lived up there several years and did that and was done to.
BS
I’m glad TW is safe. The minister, he was being nice and doing what is done ’round these parts. In ND, it’s common for people to stop if you’re pulled over to the side of the road, no matter the weather and see if you’re okay or need help. Everyone helps everyone else in the winter, it’s just what ya do.
Come on now, I wouldn’t be suprised that the majority of ministers are good people. If the situation was reversed, and I came upon a minister in that situation and I felt safe doing so (and to be honest, the fact they are a minister would make me less hesitant to), I would offer him/her a place to stay for the night.
I’d snap a picture of a snow-covered pope mobile and move along though.
jrsutter,
I guess you don’t read Mojoey’s blog, Deep Thoughts.
When I read this blog I almost had my morning coffee spewing out on my monitor.:P
I would like to bring some levity to your wife’s situation though. I got to thinking how popular your blog is, religious people read it too. I would not put it past some religious psycho opportunist to happen to read your blog in that area and seek her out. Example: Dennis Rader aka “BTK” was a serial killer and president of his church. Consider the Scarlet A you strongly defend as also being a big red X, PZ. Posting her circumstances and location here could of had bad consequences. Especially since you have received threats against you for your non-belief.
I am truly glad that she did not end up in an even worse situation, but call me cynical, I would not put it past someone to read this here and seek her out.
@65
I think, outside the catholic church, your chances of encountering a rapist pastor is no greater than with the community at large.
I was speaking from the standpoint that ministers tend to be community leaders and well respected. While I wouldn’t trust one around my wallet, I think I’d feel safer than with just a general stranger, but this could very well be the result of the undeserved respect given to religion in our nation. So, while I would feel safer its very true I might not be.
@66
BTK’s serial killing had nothing to do with religion. I think he was a church leader because he belonged to a church and obviously had a thing about control.
I will concede one point, the abortion doctor murderer is getting lots of support from the religious right. I expected he would’ve been completely ostracized in public (revered in private), but that is turning out to not be the case.
PZ having mentioned that a minister helped is wife, is a testament that he isn’t a raging Atheist whose incapable of giving credit, where credit is due.
Had the good Samaritan been an insurance salesman, a web designer or a trucker, I highly doubt PZ would have even mentioned the occupation of the good samaritan.
It was super nice of the minister, the vast majority of anyone would never put a stranger up in their home and it was a class act from PZ to have mentioned it.
#28, the mark on the back of the neck happens when one is taken over by a Goa’ould. Snakey, power hungry aliens who try to convince humans that they, the Gs, are gods.
Susan, bah. Goa’uld are derivative — Heinlein wrote much the same in 1951 — cf. The Puppet Masters.
That was very kind of the local minister. A good example to us all.