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God – Part 2

So a few days ago, I began a ramble about god, and more specifically, about why I’m not a fan.  This being part two – why I personally don’t believe in the big G.

I do not believe in god.  I separate this out from ‘atheism’, in order to avoid any question of ideology and politics in this fairly simple statement.  When asked why, I will refer you again to the simple starting point – that my parents did not believe in god.  This is a position which is easy to attack, so let me also add that over the years, I, like anyone who believes in god, have thought about my own stance, and reached my own conclusions, some of which I’ll give here, although again, I’ll aim to avoid a militant barrage.

I cannot conceive of any deity such as that which is laid out in the theological texts of our civilization.  I cannot conceive of a universe created purely for the benefit of humanity, nor accept that there is a single, human-observing creator who would permit pain, horror, terror, destruction, sin, who would punish his people for all eternity, send snakes and devils, make hellfire and heaven, or even just touch the blue light paper and walk away.  Before the arguments that are always returned at this point are made – that we have free will being the biggy – let me further add that I cannot accept the veracity of sacred texts whose contents are utterly unverifiable in any way.  A Jehovahs Witness spent a few futile weeks knocking on my door a while back, trying to convince me of the truth of the Bible, but always – always – the argument, which would spin across evolution, fossil evidence, nuclear fusion, the sun and the moon, terrorism and women’s rights – ended up with this simple statement: that his belief must be so because so it is written in the Bible.  I cannot accept that this one, contradictory, bewildering, interpretation-riddled text is the be-all and end-all of philosophical debate and moral reason, not least when that text permits the keeping of slaves, the stoning of adulterers and holy war.  I do not accept that it is an absolute truth.  I hasten to add, I say ‘the Bible’ only because that’s the text I’m most frequently exposed to – the argument extends to any holy work that I have yet been exposed to.

 

More, I find the notion that the wonders of the universe can be simplified down to a deity, to actually be mildly depressing.  Sitting on the shingle by the sea with my friends one night, we looked up and were able to see the moons of Jupiter, and know that above us are a billion, billion, billion stars, and billions of planets, on which new and alien life may have evolved with its own gods, its own beliefs and fears.  To reduce the universe down to a garden, an apple and a watching, frequently vengeful creator is, I think, rather demeaning for the sheer expanse of creation turning above our heads.

This ramble began with a missionary on the train from Ashford, trying to convince me of his beliefs.  His reaction, whenever I pointed out the logical flaws – and there are many, many logical flaws, make no mistake – was always to fall back on this statement – ‘within a year, you will preach the word of god’.  This was his prayer for me, it turned out, and the holy spirit was going to make it happen.  Watch This Space. Unfortunately, by the time the train pulled into Wye, I had lost patience with his default position of ‘it is so because the holy spirit makes it so’, and so got down to practical questions.  Abortion = murder.  Homosexuality = sinfulness, the sinners to burn in hell.  Islam = a religion of murder and violence.  ‘What about the Muslim Saudi women, imprisoned in their own homes?’ I asked.  ‘What about the politicians in Malaysia, what about the mosques which tend to the sick and poor, the pillar of charity in the tenets of the faith?  What about those lines which advocate peace with all mankind, as does the Bible, compared to those lines which, also like the Bible, whisper of wars with infidels?  Is this not all a matter of interpretation and are you not interpreting this in the blackest way you possibly can?’

‘It is just a facade,’ he explained, a few minutes later reminding me that by my failure to believe, I too was condemned to damnation.  ‘In one year, you will praise Jesus,’ he added.  My director, when I told him about this encounter, slapped his thighs with indignation.  ‘How dare he try to force his beliefs on you?’  Then again, in agreeing to argue with him on this train, I was, in my own way, trying to force my beliefs, on him – except I take some comfort in the thought that my beliefs had within them a clause which reads ‘subject to the evidence available, and with a willingness to adapt’ whereas, I fear, his did not.  The world is far too complex and difficult to boil down to x = sin.

People, individual people, by sheer psychological necessity, have to put themselves at the centre of the world, for they can only have the sense data of their eyes, their ears, their thoughts, and everything else is merely noise imposed by the outside world.  In the same way, societies and civilizations have put themselves at the centre of all things, and the doctrines we create serve to fulfill this fairly basic need, and fair enough.  The depths of what we don’t know are terrifying.  Where we came from, how we came, where we go, if we go anywhere next.  To consider how small humanity is, and how ultimate death may be, is frightening.  Pure and simple.  I don’t pretend that science has all the answers, but I will defend to the absolute its integrity in seeking them, and the hardship and rewards of keeping an open mind.