God Talk

“We Need to Talk About God” appeared In Sunday’s opinion section of the NYT.  It’s an op ed by Jonathan Merritt, an outspoken and sought-after writer, speaker and advocate for Christianity and for increased influence of Christian thought in American life.  In the column he laments that, when he moved from the Bible Belt to New York, his conversations stalled when he started to use word like “saved” and “grace” and “gospel”, this in spite of polls indicating more than 70 percent of Americans identify as Christian.   

I have a revelation for Mr. Merritt: people lie to pollsters.  The last thing most Americans would tell a stranger whom they have no reason to trust and no obligation to be candid with, is that they don’t believe in God.  The most reviled label in America, several rungs below politician and lawyer, is atheist. I was raised Methodist so it would be easy to say I identify as Christian, certainly more than Muslim, or Hindu, or Jewish, or Jain, or Taoist, or Zoroastrian.  Besides, I do enjoy Christmas gift-giving and hiding Easter eggs. 

But the truth is I’m atheist.  Here’s what that means: I don’t believe there is a sentient being who is all-powerful, or all-knowing, or certainly not all-good.  Let me emphasize that I believe this.  I don’t know it to be the case any more than Mr. Merritt can know that God does exist.  It is by definition unknowable.  It is a matter of belief.  I believe that when I die, the lights will go out, “darkness will veil my eyes” as Homer put it in The Iliad.  No heaven, no hell, no halfway houses.  I will cease to exist, forever, just as I did not exist in the forever before I was born.  No reincarnation as a worm or a dolphin (have to admit dolphin looks like fun).  

So when someone says they are “saved”, of course that’s more than a little bump in the conversational road.  That clues me in that this person not only believes in God, heaven, hell, and divine inspiration of the Bible to name a few key points, but most significantly, this person is obligated to “witness” to me and try and “save” me.  I suddenly remember there is something very important I must do, like rearrange my sock drawer.  Merritt notes that “Jesus’ final command to his disciples was to go into the world and spread his teachings.  You cannot be a Christian in a vacuum.”  Islam, from the little I know of it, is more direct.  “Kill the infidels!”  In other words, stop being an infidel and I won’t kill you.  Looks like a hopeless impasse to me, especially with Christians and Muslims both in possession of weapons of mass destruction.  

God, Allah, Yahweh, Vishnu, Zeus, Mazda, they’re all the same to me.  According to my belief about death, it doesn’t matter whether you believe in heaven, hell, or reincarnation, because when you die you’ll never know whether you were right or wrong.  And neither will I.  As far as I’m concerned, you can believe any fool thing you want.  Where I draw the line is when you try and push your beliefs on me, or make my children participate in your prayers, or use my tax money to promote your particular beliefs.  Johnathan Merritt thinks we need to talk about God.  I’ll be happy to have that conversation with him but I don’t think he’ll find it very satisfying.