My God Problem
My God Problem: Wonderful writing
At first, I would rather be an agnostic, because I thought that was something scientist should do, since we cannot claim to know the true existence of a god. But someone pointed out that agnosticism makes no sense because if we don't believe in Santa Claus or fairies, despite having no evidence proving their existence or non-existence, why should we believe in a personal God despite having no clear evidence that he exists, except in two religious texts--Judaism and Islam--all written by human beings that show this God to be petty, vengeful, whimsical, jealous, and disgusted by shrimps and cephalopods, among other things?
Christianity is itself very troublesome, because Jesus Christ, a Jew, didn't have much time to flesh out his religion. It was left to Saint Paul to flesh out his divinity (no puns intended), and create the idea of the Trinity, a notion so mystical that it is hard to analyze or question.
That's why I'm beginning to lean toward being an atheist. I cannot believe in a god as much as I cannot believe in a fairy or Santa Claus. That doesn't mean I would presume to take away your right to think about the nature of the Big Bang, or the universe, or consciousness, or existence. I only would take away your right to use old texts written by hoary bearded men, that would deny my right to exist just for lying with another of the same sex.
At first, I would rather be an agnostic, because I thought that was something scientist should do, since we cannot claim to know the true existence of a god. But someone pointed out that agnosticism makes no sense because if we don't believe in Santa Claus or fairies, despite having no evidence proving their existence or non-existence, why should we believe in a personal God despite having no clear evidence that he exists, except in two religious texts--Judaism and Islam--all written by human beings that show this God to be petty, vengeful, whimsical, jealous, and disgusted by shrimps and cephalopods, among other things?
Christianity is itself very troublesome, because Jesus Christ, a Jew, didn't have much time to flesh out his religion. It was left to Saint Paul to flesh out his divinity (no puns intended), and create the idea of the Trinity, a notion so mystical that it is hard to analyze or question.
That's why I'm beginning to lean toward being an atheist. I cannot believe in a god as much as I cannot believe in a fairy or Santa Claus. That doesn't mean I would presume to take away your right to think about the nature of the Big Bang, or the universe, or consciousness, or existence. I only would take away your right to use old texts written by hoary bearded men, that would deny my right to exist just for lying with another of the same sex.
posted by Alan at July 18, 2006
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