I'd say that commonly means not rarely or unusually and includes things that happen a minority of the time (occasionally) as well as things that happen more often than not (usually), but more than rarely. That's how I understand and use those words.
Left-handedness occurs
commonly, but in the minority of people. Righthandedness is even more common (people are
usually right-handed). Albinism is
rare or
uncommon.
This is surprising to see. I don't think I've ever seen a believer blame his god for anything. Good for you for countenancing the problem. Better to say that it is a mystery that you can't explain than to try to explain it unconvincingly. Neither approach will change the minds of skeptics, but the latter makes believers look less honest and objective, which I understand as damage done to them by their faith.
Better to just be honest than tendentious. You even were commended for it this time. Your stock just went up.
But there is still gratuitous suffering.
Then that deity is either unaware of man's suffering or unable to prevent it., because suffering is everywhere.
This is another area that is easy for the unbeliever but leads to moral mental gymnastics in believers who need to reconcile reality with their theistic beliefs. The answer for why suffering exists is straightforward from an atheistic humanist perspective. Constructive suffering promotes survival. People who can't feel pain die young. Diabetics that are insensate in the feet suffer damage there because of it, including being unaware that pets are chewing their flesh.
Given that, and the fact that nature is blind and bad things happen to good people because of course they will if nobody is preventing it, there's no problem except how to mitigate gratuitous suffering, which is a humanist goal. We do that by keeping people safe and healthy - no lead in the paint on children's furniture, fighting drunk driving, treating that diabetes, etc. - and free of privation (food and shelter insecurity), violence, discrimination, and whatever other factors in life promote suffering.
******
And if anybody reading thought that thought that there were a lot of uncommonly used words in this post that perhaps he didn't understand, yes, there were.
And not to impress, but because they were the good words for the occasion that I wanted to share.
Here they are again:
- countenance (v) - admit as acceptable or possible (as a noun, it means a face)
- tendentious - expressing or intending to promote a particular cause or point of view, especially a controversial one
- gratuitous - uncalled for; lacking good reason; unwarranted
- insensate - lacking physical sensation
- privation - a state in which things that are essential for human well-being such as food and warmth are scarce or lacking
Sorry if this seems pretentious.
- pretentious - attempting to impress by affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed
