Riffing on God’s “mysterious ways.”

FAMOUS, OFT-MISQUOTED ORIGIN: “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.”        William Cowper (1731-1800)        Hymn No. 35, “Light Shining Out of Darkness”         A hymn written by Cowper, first published in Olney Hymns (1779). The beginning lyrics are usually misquoted as “God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform” and often wrongly thought to be a Bible quote.

BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS COUNTERQUOTE: “God does not work in mysterious ways — it’s blindingly obvious when he’s dropping you a big hint.”        A quip posted by UK blogger “Kroc Camen”        Repurposed for a current event

COLBERT’S VERSION:  “God works in mysterious ways. But at least he works. He’s never on welfare in mysterious ways.”        Stephen Colbert        On The Colbert Report, June 23, 2010

ATHEIST VARIATION #1: “There are no atheists in a foxhole, and there are, apparently, no atheists in the Ku Klux Klan.  God sometimes moves in mysterious ways, His lip service to exact.”         Attributed to Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983)        American author and journalist

ATHEIST VARIATION #2: “I have yet to see a good answer for why God is all-powerful and all-knowing and all-good – or even anything close to all-powerful and all-knowing and all-good – and still isn’t perceived by everybody. Does anybody have one? (And if you say ‘Mysterious ways,’ I’m going to scream.)”         Blogger Greta Christina        Regular atheist correspondent for AlterNet        Post on AlterNet, June 5, 2010

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Books of quotations for those who don’t believe in God’s mysterious ways…