I’ve decided to change religions. After fifty-six years as a Christian, I’ve had enough. What has it gotten me? Sure, the Christmas season is great (and getting longer, too) and I enjoy making a sandwich spread from Easter eggs, but otherwise, what is there, really? Throughout most of my life, at least the thinking part, when I wasn’t obsessed with the Dodgers or candy or comic books, I’ve contemplated whether there’s really some guy with a grey beard sitting on an enormous throne in the clouds. Sure I’ve prayed, and sometimes things I’ve prayed for have come to pass. But even so, I question whether those occasions were Lord or luck.
I’d considered becoming an atheist, because I thought they had a pretty simple take on the deity issue: there isn’t one. This simple belief encouraged me to want to learn more. It must be, I surmised, easier than having to learn the Apostle’s Creed, who wrote the gospels and the books of the Bible in accurate, sequential order.
The atheists have worked pretty hard at getting us not to believe in something that doesn’t exist. People like Madeline Murray O’Hair, probably the most prominent American atheist, and others around the globe, have exhorted people to cast off the shackles of religious dogma and embrace a concept of humanistic, critical thinking. “You can still be moral and be an atheist”, these folks cry, and they cite a lot of well-known 18th century people, like Voltaire, and ancient Greek guys, like Diagoras, for credibility. By their effort, people who don’t want to be religious aren’t going to be made to pray in school or learn about “creationism.”
I was reading on Wikipedia that only about 2.3% of people in the world are real atheists. That figure doesn’t include people who identified themselves as Buddhist. And, that many people in France don’t believe in God. So, atheists are in short supply around the globe, and those that are out there proselytizing for nothing are probably French. I guess in Paris you’re more like to hear a Frenchman say “Non, Dieu” than “Mon Dieu.”
I also read about the Godless Americans March that took place on November 2, 2002. I’m imagining a million godless people filling the streets in a long, dense wave of exuberant atheists cheering and chanting their opposition to the notion of heaven, “hell, no, we won’t go!” Actually, I think the participation was much smaller. The group was captured in the picture that appears here. Hmmm, doesn’t look like the event was well-attended. What could an atheist have to do that would be better than marching to promote his belief in nothing? And if you’re wondering, the march took place on a Saturday. Maybe it should have been planned to take place on Sunday.
It seems to me that atheists are placing a big bet, and not a very smart one. Okay, so say they’re right and there is no heaven and no God. When do they think they’re going to have empirical proof of that? After they die? And if they can get it then, I don’t think it’s going to be from peering in from outside the pearly gates. The view’s going to be from a warmer place.
Maybe I’m not ready to join them. I’m not really a betting man, and even though I can’t prove that God either exists or doesn’t, I’ll guess I’ll bet on uncertainty, and cover that bet with faith
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Kerry Lauerman
Joan Walsh
Salon.com
Comments
I still do not understand why American Atheists need to "congregate" and to "proselytize". Some of them down here in DC have even organized themselves under the denomination 'Beltway Atheists" and they meet on Sundays... In France, atheists could not care less whether you "believe" like them or not, and will only shrug their shoulders if you start singing religious hymns. French atheists enjoy the many vacations the lay State still maintains from previous religious traditions such as Easter Monday, Pentecost Monday, Ascension Thursday, The Virgin's Day in August and Christmas Day... It is one more day they do not work and they only have the government to thank for it! And they would not give away their hard-earned weekend rest to commit for an atheists' Sunday meeting. Actually, the whole idea of atheists meeting to worship the lack of God together would have the French collapsed with laughter... How insecure in their "faith" ( or lack thereof) are they... that they need to assemble?
You are right: in France, we do not say "Mon Dieu" that often, nor "OMD" (OMG). We tend to be cruder and say "Merde alors!" (S##T!).
Rated!
According to the story, Voltaire did indeed have a priest attending at his death. When the priest told him to renounce Satan, Voltaire supposedly replied: "Now is no time to be making new enemies." His last words were allegedly: "For God's sake, let me die in peace."
There's an apocryphal story about this event I have always enjoyed. According to this version, Voltaire called for two priests and asked them to stand to the left and right of his bed. "Now I can die like Jesus," he said, " with a sinner at each side."
What has it gotten me? seems like such an odd question to ask in this context. Really, if you read your Bible, the only things it promises to give you in this lifetime are the doubtful pleasures of persecution and possibly death by torture. Well, and maybe grace sufficient to behave a little better than you otherwise would have.
Personally I think it's stupid - even for Christians - to think that our eternal destiny is sealed at death. There is nothing in the Bible that says we have to accept Jesus BEFORE WE DIE. Why not accept Jesus while standing in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates if you believe in all that stuff?
And I would suggest that religious folks maybe open their range of possibilities a bit and at least consider the possibility that we existed spiritually before being born into a physical body here, and that we'll continue to exist spiritually after our bodies die, and that our physical life here is just a chapter in a much longer existence - of which we seem to know very little while we're here.
A good book for christians to read if they want to expand their thinking a bit, but stay within the Christian framework, would be "Putting on the mind of Christ" by Jim Marion.
I forget my philosophy but wasn't this the essence of "Pascal's Wager" or something like that?
Either way, what this argument amounts to is: if you're right, now big deal. but if I'm right, you're going to spend eternity cleaning satan's toenails while on fire.
But alas, how is that any different than George Bush telling us we're all going to die in a nuclear fireball if we don't allow him to invade countries at will, torture and listen in on our phone calls?
Fear is a great motivator. There's no doubt about it. But for me, it's usually a sign that the purveyor of fear is either attempting to shamelessly manipulate me, or else they lack faith in their own cause.
And although I don't buy into the typical Christian dogma (I'm more of a Christian in the way that Jung was a Christian, e.g. all religions are metaphors for a larger truth that we typically are unable to fathom on a conscious level), I'm convinced that even traditional Christian churches are better off selling the "Good News" rather than resorting to the tired ol' hell, fire and brimstone thing.
If the fear of going to hell is even 1% of the reason that you're a Christian then I would urge you to consider the Biblical passage (I don't know the reference) that states, "Perfect Love casts out all fear", and get thyself to a spiritual place where fear holds precisely 0% sway over your beliefs.
It's ok if you don't; more God for me that way.
Hilarious post, david!
We atheist don't need empirical proof that there is no god, any more than we need proof that there is no Santa Claus. You can never prove a negative. It's just a matter of probability. If you see no sign that something exists, it's reasonable to live your life according to the assumption that it doesn't exist. No mental struggle required, really. We just refuse to speculate.
i would just ask... would god offer any rewards for this kind of faith?
"Not everyone who keeps saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will get into the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven."
according to the bible, just faith is not enough. you are also expected to do god's will. now your wager becomes more problematic: of all the religions, which one will guide you best to determining god's will?
even if you just restrict yourself to the christians, there are multiple sects with wildly divergent ideas about what is good enough for god. should you eschew medical treatment, like the christian scientists? should you relinquish all modern conveniences, like the amish? have you thought about trying snake handling?
sadly, i think that if there was a god, he'd be awfully disappointed in both the reality and the reasoning behind your faith. my literal father, who aren't in heaven would be hurt if i told him i only loved him for my future inheritance. would god be different?
There's the Pearly Gates, and two angels are outside presumably standing guard, BUT these angels are chickens! The cartoon shows Colonel Sanders approaching and in his thought bubble, simply the words "Uh oh."
So yes, if we've had the misfortune of living in a Universe created by a god so capricious that our eternal destinies depend on choosing correctly (which is largely a geographical/cultural choice anyway), then the joke is on us.
Another great Voltaire quote regarding religion - "God is a comedian, playing to an audience too scared to laugh."