Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God.
Heywood Broun
Ah, April begins, and once again we have National Atheist Day, when we light-heartedly celebrate that herd of brave independent thinkers who assert that all of Creation exists without a Creator, and that they will soon explain, perhaps by next Tuesday, how matter and energy can arise ex nihilo. This National Atheist Day we will look at the extreme bitterness that many atheists appear to harbor against the God they say does not exist.
I submit that this rage is usually grounded in fear, a fear that God does in fact exist. One of the more interesting contemporary atheists, Doctor Thomas Nagel, Professor of Philosophy at NYU gets I think to the heart of the matter:
In speaking of the fear of religion, I don’t mean to refer to the entirely reasonable hostility toward certain established religions and religious institutions, in virtue of their objectionable moral doctrines, social policies, and political influence. Nor am I referring to the association of many religious beliefs with superstition and the acceptance of evident empirical falsehoods. I am talking about something much deeper–namely, the fear of religion itself. I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers.
It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.
Now of course some atheists are simply jerks, just as some Christians, and adherents of other religions, are. For these people their beliefs are often just excuses to blast people who differ from them. You can recognize them by their reluctance to engage in serious debate and their reliance on bombast and bluster. CS Lewis was a reflective, nice man, both as an atheist and as a Christian.
When it comes to religion, and Atheism is a type of religion, our beginning point must always be an honest search for the truth. Now we will end our festivities with some atheist music!
Perhaps we can settle this once and for all. I suggest we take it to the Supreme Court and they’ll decide with judicial wisdom whether God exists or not.
As Mr. T use to say in his weekly show “I pity the fool””