Why is it that theists can never understand, never even finish reading
simple, clear, lucid prose such as this? Do you see someone who "hates"
god here? Someone "rebelling against God" here? I see a calm, thoughful
man.
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I just find I don't believe in God. It just doesn't seem to be true, and
no amount of thinking about it seems to make it true. It seems inherently
untrue. And the thing that's hard about honing that position is, as a
reporter, I've seen many times how a belief in God has transformed
somebody's life. In all the ways I feel like you can witness God's work
here on earth, I feel like I've seen that. I've met a lot of people --
it's been the thing that's changed them, that's sustained them in a way
that I wish I could believe. But I simply find I don't and I don't feel
like it's something I have a choice about. I could pretend I believe a
God exists, but the world seems explainable to me without it.
I remember, even when I was growing up a little kid, it all seemed,
especially the Christian version . . . arbitrary. That the entire
universe would be created, and the system that was set up was: you could
actually lead a perfectly good life, and a life organized around good
deeds and caring for others, and yet if you simply didn't accept Jesus
himself, the Creator of the Universe would feel so vengeful about that
you'd be condemned to an eternity of torture. It just seemed like a
really weird system. Like what difference would it make to the Creator of
Everything? The whole thing seemed really arbitrary. Even as a kid, I
felt like, "Well, if that's the system: fine. I accept my damnation. I
don't think it's a fair system. But fine." I just don't believe.
Glass is host of "This American Life" for PRI (Public Radio
International). He discussed his atheism recently in the Chicago Tribune
with staff writer Robert K. Elder (publish date: December 14, 2000)
--
Enkidu AA#2165
http://www.musings.leaddogs.org/
EAC Chaplain and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
PGP ID: 0xC4CE8CF0
Blasphemy? No, it is not blasphemy. If God is as vast as that, he is
above blasphemy; if He is as little as that, He is beneath it.
-- Mark Twain
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