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NEWS > BUSINESS > CANCER STRICKEN ATHEIST HEARTENED BY PRAYERS FOR FULL RECOVERY
CANCER STRICKEN ATHEIST HEARTENED BY PRAYERS FOR FULL RECOVERY
August 12 2010
Boise, ID - When thirty-seven year old atheist Julian Foster received test results indicating that he had cancer last month, he started treatment immediately.
“The doctors said I have a very good chance of a full recovery because it was caught early,” he said from the LaRue café where we conducted the interview.
Two months ago, Julian went to his doctor because he was having trouble sleeping. After a thorough examination, the doctor insisted on running a few tests. A colonoscopy and a tissue sample confirmed that a tumor was malignant. Julian began a course of chemotherapy. While he sometimes feels quite sick, he says that his mood improves knowing that he’s being treated using proven methods.
“You know, I’m kind of a rationalist so I don’t believe in God. I’m into the hard science. So once I know there’s a cure or a treatment based in Western medicine, I’ll kind of go with that treatment. I wouldn’t be into the crystals or that kind of thing.” Julian shakes his head, the little wisps of hair remaining on his newly bald scalp billowing gently in the air conditioning of the coffee shop.
Julian takes a common sense view of his own mortality.
“As an atheist, I think that once you’re dead, you’re dead. So it was kind of scary coming to terms with the fact that I could die. However, my mom has told me that she’s praying for me every day. She goes to
the church and lights a candle. She’s in a prayer group too, so she and all her friends pray for me. It makes me feel good about things.”
When asked if he would like our readers to pray for him, he nods enthusiastically, his strands of hair bob along with him.
“Oh, yeah. I’d be really delighted for anyone to pray for me, yes.” His expression changes suddenly. “No, wait – wait a minute. I want to make clear that people should be praying for my full recovery. I don’t want people to pray for the safe passage of my soul to Heaven or anything like that. Can we make that clear? I just want the prayers for a full recovery. Tell them not to pray for my eternal salvation, even if they’re praying for my full recovery and – failing that – my eternal salvation. Just leave out the eternal salvation bit altogether. If they want to pray, please focus the prayers entirely on the success of the chemo.”
Told that it’s immaterial whether people pray to a nonexistent omnipotent being or not about his recovery or the repose of his soul, Julian manages to confirm his atheism while maintaining that people
should only pray for his full recovery.
“It’s kind of important that the entity – in whom I refuse to believe unless I’m confronted with the hard facts of His existence, and let’s make that absolutely clear – it’s important that He isn’t getting mixed messages from people about my recovery. So if you’re going to pray for me, don’t send out the mixed messages.”
Julian’s final course of chemotherapy takes place next week. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that it goes well.
“Not two sets of fingers,” Julian insists, as the interview is wrapping up. “See, with two sets of fingers, the luck from the first set might cancel out the second set.”
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
NEWS > BUSINESS > CANCER STRICKEN ATHEIST HEARTENED BY PRAYERS FOR FULL RECOVERY
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