As a dyed-in-the-wool atheist secular humanist, I've gotta say the word miracle doesn't bother me here. It doesn't take goddesses or magic wands to make a miracle of a suicidal jump from the seventh deck of a modern cruise ship into an oddly waveless, currentless Adriatic Sea; or the ten-hour endurance test waiting to be discovered, or rather more likely not. Seen this way, seems like the term describes making it against particularly long odds.
As a dyed-in-the-wool atheist secular humanist, I've gotta say the word miracle doesn't bother me here. It doesn't take goddesses or magic wands to make a miracle of a suicidal jump from the seventh deck of a modern cruise ship into an oddly waveless, currentless Adriatic Sea; or the ten-hour endurance test waiting to be discovered, or rather more likely not. Seen this way, seems like the term describes making it against particularly long odds.