The Religious Faith of Atheism

What is the best way to get to the mountain top?

Religious faith is all about striving to get to the mountain top, and believing that your particular denomination has the true map to get you there. They are all climbing the same mountain but the routes they take have them approaching the journey from all sides of the mountain. There are two types of people who don't bother to make the trip because they believe that there's no there, there. They are:

The A-theist

The atheist totally rejects the belief that there is a Deity, or dieties. Their belief runs counter to the Theist who acepts that there is at least one deity.

The Agnostic

The agnostic takes the view that the truth value in certain claims, such as claims about the existence of any deity, as well as other religious and metaphysical claims, are currently unknown. In other words they are waiting for irrefutable proof to convince them.

I am aware I have opened the book of a very huge subject indeed, so I will stick my neck out just a tiny bit to express my own opinion. I do not intend to change any one's thinking, in fact I hope my opinion doesn't make the slighest difference in the thought process of atheists. I have been simply mulling around in my mind the question of whether atheism made any sense to which I could adhere.

I have tried several religious denominations but I always found that things went on in the House of the Lord that were so hypocritical that I walked away from them and simply gave up. Had I become an atheist? Well, no, as I observe the world around me what I see is perfectly organised chaos at work. Wonderful and horrible things happen, and there are explanations that apply to both. As examples, the first thing we see is that the system of life and environment is all a delicate balance. We have beauty balanced by ugly; kindness balanced by unkindness; gentleness offset by cruelity.

The list goes on and on and on, including the fact that when tragedies occur where massive loss of human life happens, that is a culling of the species. Our world can only support a limited number of humans and animals. We humans have found ways to live longer through improving health measures, but that places additional strain on the planet. We talk about the day when the earth's population of humans will reach 10 billion. Perhaps this is an unsustainable number, so like rabbits and rats and other creatures that we humans have culled, we too will face a time when we will undergo  a severe reduction in our specie. 

Who, or what is responsible for the administration of the Universe? If not a deity then it all has to be happening through randomness. The complexity of the construction of the human being and the mechanism through which our bodies, and more importantly our minds work would have had to evolve entirely on its own and would have had to replicate itself throughout all humankind without any help. Is this possible?

Why are we humans not all the same? Why do we speak different languages, and why is there such a difference between how men and women think and perceive things? I think we are given these differences as a challenge to communicate successfully in spite of the chasms between us, and also our differences make life interesting.

So far, I have only dealt with the relatively uncomplicated world of human beings. At least we are all one specie. The animal kingdom is so very different where some walk on all fours, some fly, some swim, and some do all of the above.

If I were an atheist, when standing back and taking in the wonder of the universe, what would I rely on to sustain my belief that there is no deity in control? I cannot think of one thing. Well then, since there is a God what gender do we ascribe? Why not both, or none? 

I read a book in which a child asked his mother, what colour is God? His mother replied that God is the colour of water.

That is good enough for me!

Copyright (c) 2013  Eugene Carmichael