On theism

The letter released by Yulia Tymoshenko  from her prison cell reminded me of that common saying that “there are no atheists in fox holes”.  Here’s a link to the letter which is an interesting read if you get the chance. In my case this got me to thinking about theism and why we either believe or don’t believe in God (or Gods).

I believe in God, as in that there is a non-human “thing” that started off the universe and still exists in a metaphysical form with power to intervene in anything that occurs in this universe. That’s how people commonly think of God, right? Then there’s, of course, differences in between what people attribute to God in terms of his powers, things he cares about, his opinion and judgement on human behaviour, things he intervenes in, and how he does so. Can I prove the existence of God or can anyone? No. People may raise certain arguments to support the belief in the existence of God, but there is no definitive proof in the way we commonly think of “proof”.

There are people who deny even the possibility that there may exist this metaphysical being who started off the universe. We call these people atheists. There are very few atheists in this world. I respect an atheist who will live his life according to his belief in the same way I respect a person with a spiritual belief in God who is not ashamed of his belief. There are, however, many people who claim to be atheists who mean only to say they don’t belong to any particular religion. But, then, what exactly is an atheist? It is a person who is self-reliant, who in his time of needs has only himself, his fellow humans, and our physical surroundings to rely on.  What’s wrong with that? Nothing! But what usually happens is when those things fail, most atheists become “believers”.

Why do we believe in God or gods? Because we don’t understand evolutionary theory well enough, because we’re ignorant and uneducated, because we lead empty lives and our spiritual beliefs make us feel like we have a purpose or our actions are relevant, because creationism for some reason makes more sense to us than the alternative, because our parents taught us to believe, because our government dictates we must follow religious doctrine, because believing in God seems right, etc., etc. And why do we not believe in God? Because we’re more than self-reliant – we’re arrogant in believing that we don’t need of anyone or anything , because we’re arrogant in the belief that humanity is the most superior being in the universe and don’t need of an external being or belief in an imaginary creature to survive, because we’ve been blinded and can’t appreciate the benevolence of God, because we’re more intelligent than believing in fairy stories any more, etc., etc. … You would have heard or maybe used any of these statements in the past, no doubt, but who’s right? What’s right?

Does it matter? Knowing whether a person believes in God or not tells you nothing beyond whether a person believes in God or not!  Actions, not beliefs, show our true character.