(Short answer: "Because you're not credulous enough anymore."
It may have been April 1st yesterday, but televangelist Pat Robertson wasn’t kidding when he told a viewer that Americans aren’t experiencing God’s miracles because they are too “sophisticated.”
Why do miracles “happen with great frequency in Africa, and not here in the USA?” asked a 700 Club patron Ken. “People overseas didn’t go to Ivy League schools,” Robertson replied with a chuckle.
“We are so sophisticated, we think we’ve got everything figured out,” the Christian Broadcasting Network chairman continued. “We know about evolution, we know about Darwin, we know about all these things that says God isn’t real, we know about all this stuff.”
According to Robertson, it’s the “skepticism and secularism” that is being taught at “the most advanced schools” around the country that is keeping God’s miracles at bay.
Meanwhile, Africans are “simple” and “humble.” “You tell ‘em God loves ‘em and they say, ‘Okay, he loves me’,” said Robertson. “You say God will do miracles and they say, ‘Okay, we believe him’.”
If Americans wish to experience more miracle, Robertson concluded, they must reject their miracle-negating sophistication in favor of the more credulous African way of life.
A few observations from Fark
Technically, he is correct. The reason for lack of miracles is because now we understand a bit more how the world works. What once would have been described as a miracle is now scientifically understood.
Who knew an omnipotent being could be thwarted by an education?
With each discovery, our collective naivety decreases incrementally, and our "need" of a magical being to hang the hypothesis of our creation and existence upon decreases as well. In short, we "mature" as a species, with the attendant decrease in our need for imaginary friends.
Poor old Pat. Education makes people more receptive to more mundane reality based explanations of events. No wonder he's against it.