Thoughts on athiests and other unimportant stuff...

When I was a kid (in body and in mind) I enjoyed the occasional indulgence in Mad Magazine - in particular the comic genius of Dave Berg's "The lighter side of.... We even owned a little paperback with a collection of his comics as they appeared from the 60's & early 70's. One of my favorites was of a very dour looking pale thin guy wearing a sandwich sign that read:

"I Swear To God, I'm An Athiest"

We can laugh about this now, especially in the post-modern world in which we live. Today that sign might read:

"I Think I May Be An Agnostic, But I Don't Really Know For Sure"

One of our favorite commedians put it this way - it's no longer in vogue to call yourself an athiest - instead you say, "I'm an agnostic, and you're stupid."

However unpopular, athiests still don't seem to be in such short supply .

In a recent article in Newsweek, Rabbi Marc Gelman (here) comments on a recent debate between Rick Warren (Pastor of Saddleback Community Church) and "Devout Athiest" (my term) Sam Harris on whether we can know that God is real. Dr. Gelman (in addition to being a trained Rabbi he holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy) says that the two are missing the point - that the existance or reality of God is a "Mystery" and is born out in how we live our lives. For him (if I understand the article correctly) not only is this the wrong question, but it is also unanswerable and completely subjective. He goes so far as to wish that Rick Warren could be less exclusive in his belief.

This (to me) is disturbing for at least a couple of reasons.

God's existance is not dependent upon my thoughts or feelings about him. To say that God may be real to one person in such and such a way, and not to another person and that's O.K., is to render God subject to OUR will and whim. If He is God - by nature He stands outside of creation - all of creation must be subject to Him. We seem to have this backwards. He is God whether or not I acknowledge Him.

As well, it would seem for Rabbi Gelman that, since he is so willing to let everyone have their cake and eat it too (just read the article) he may not be among those who would acknowledge the existance of a "real" God. I cannot in fairness speak for him - but his language (and inclusiveness) are strong clues. True, God's essence may be beyond our grasp. However, the question still stands: Does He or does He not exist? This may be a continuation of the previous point - but it bears repeating: He would exist - or not exist apart from my belief, if He is indeed God.

Thirdly - and this is a very common argument (read: worn-out and over-simplified). Can the true athiest even exist? An athiest by definition is one who believes that God does not exist. However, can he "prove" that God does not. He can appeal to nature (natural disasters, etc...). He can appeal to man's nature (his cruelty and such). He can appeal to logic - ("Is there impirical evidence that God does exist?"). These are all examples which would question the existence of a "just" God. True, they are good questions, but can the athiest "Prove" that God does not exist? Can he claim to know everything? He would have to know everything about the entire universe to know that there isn't a God hiding somewhere in some far off corner. Logically then, the athiest cannot honestly claim to know everything - and so, the athiest vanishes forever in a small simple puff of logic.