Goddidit
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==External variants== | ==External variants== | ||
| − | *[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AWizardDidIt ''"A wizard did it."''] — Xena, The Simpsons. | + | *[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AWizardDidIt ''"A wizard did it."''] — <s>Xena</s>Lucy Lawlessw, The Simpsons. |
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jZy4ZFgS8o "''Simpsons did it.''"] — Dougie, South Park. | *[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jZy4ZFgS8o "''Simpsons did it.''"] — Dougie, South Park. | ||
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdocQHsPCNM "''Magic man done it''"] — Robin Ince, British comedian. | *[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdocQHsPCNM "''Magic man done it''"] — Robin Ince, British comedian. | ||
Revision as of 01:20, 2 February 2011
- Not to be confused with "goddammit"
Goddidit is one of the masterstrokes and trump-cards that creationists or other biblical literalists have at their disposal when debating points with naturalists and rationalists.[1] It proposes that anything is and was possible because of the omnipotence of God - specifically the ability to bend the laws of time, logic and physics. This means that arguments that focus on the feasibility of a global flood for instance - complicated analyses of how much water would be required, if food could be provided for Noah's animals and the construction of his ark - can be swept away and ignored.
The concept of 'God did it' can be used to create unfalsifiable theories. A creationist need never doubt creation because God could have made anything. It may also be used as a euphemism to indicate something that cannot yet be explained by natural laws, most likely due to lack of information or knowledge.
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Simplest?
One of the main reasons that the argument is popular is its apparent simplicity. It is essentially the simplest possible explanation for everything that happens in the universe - why bother with complex equations, evidence or anything when Goddidit will, in one word, sufficiently explain everything in the known universe? It is, thus, the answer to every and all questions taken to their extreme end (although if you're wondering how speaking the universe into existence actually works, you're a heretic and should shut up and go away).
Despite the convenience of the Goddidit explanation, entire reams of literature have been written by creationists to avoid it, attempting to present a scientific-sounding narrative instead, with Goddidit called in to whitewash over the flaws.
There is a massive issue of whether Goddidit is simple in the way that this parsimonious approach renders it correct. On the one hand, it is possible for a truly omnipotent being to do absolutely anything, so any unexplained phenomenon can be attributed to God's power and no complex natural explanations are needed. This is quite good for fundamentalists or creationists that need to justify lots of inconsistent data. On the other hand, Goddidit certainly begs the question of God's existence, and from the viewpoint of Occam's Razor, this is one massive assumption; the sort of assumption that should be avoided. From the view of simplicity, a creator would have to be incredibly complex, more complex than the universe, so invariably, a naturalistic explanation can only be simpler.
See also
- Escape hatch
- Magical thinking
- Aliensdidit
- Essay:What "Goddidit" means — an essay written to defend the use of the term on A Storehouse of Knowledge.
External variants
- "A wizard did it." —
XenaLucy Lawlessw, The Simpsons. - "Simpsons did it." — Dougie, South Park.
- "Magic man done it" — Robin Ince, British comedian.