The previous two essays for 2009 have discussed both the commonality of the three religions of Abraham, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but have also discussed their particular added interpretations of their common myths, which each religion uses to claim unique status. Those claims for unique status certainly get them and the rest of the world in a lot of trouble. None of them understands that their faith is a billowing cloud of myths, which, if they chose, could be used in delightful and constructive ways in our societies. Each of these religions makes the mistake of believing fervently that their myths are facts. That grievous error allows the true believers of these religions to attack all others who do not share their particular twist on these common myths. In their defense of these acts of violence, each of these religions hides behind their poles of morality and compassion, failing to acknowledge that they also possess a pole of deep intolerance for all others of all other faiths. We now live in a violent world because of this rabid intolerance and hatred of “infidels”, of all description.
Our founding fathers certainly understood the fallacy behind these religious mythologies. They had a deep distrust of religions, and in particular Christianity. The writings of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, Thomas Paine, and later, Abraham Lincoln, make it clear that they knew no religion could be a part of this new democracy and allow it to remain a democracy.. Charles Darwin carefully crafted an exposure of the development of all life species, including humans, through a process of natural selection. That brilliant exposure made it clear that humans could not have been suddenly created by a Divinity. Bertrand Russell created a storm of protest when he enumerated the reasons “Why I am not a Christian.” In our current time, we have heard a further storm of atheist protests. There are a plethora of books available, which decry God concepts and religions, and staunchly proclaim that atheism is the only rational answer to our origins and our future. These include “The God Delusion,” The End of Faith,” “Atheist Universe,” “Critiques of God,” “The Portable Atheist,” and many others. While all of these critiques are well intended, well constructed, and logical, they all miss the point, just as much as religious myths miss the point. Blind religions are not the answer to human needs, but vacuous atheism is certainly not the answer either. There is a reason why Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and all other religions of all description exist. There is a reason why there are expressions of God concepts as soon as there are expressions of art or language, those particular manifestations that mark humans as humans. There is a God, of whom we should all be abjectly humble and deeply reverent, at all times. This God is a part of all things and all events in our universe.
Although the size of the human brain has doubled about every 1.5 million years, the first hominids, who appeared about 4 million years ago, were not dumb creatures. From the very first language, art and music that came out of their minds, they knew there was a God. They expressed such. They felt it and knew it in their bones. Since then, all humans have felt it and known it in their bones. We do not have to be told. We intuitively know there is a great force, or forces, that control events of our world or known universe, beyond our reach and beyond our control. Although much of our God concept consists of placing all the unknowns of our universe in a dark, mysterious basket of undetermined monstrous size, and calling it God, we know that our God is more than that. We know in our bones, our souls, and our very lives that not only is most of the universe unknown, but there is an all-pervasive force that in some way controls everything that we do and everything that happens to all life and all inanimate matter. As surely as we exist, we know there is some sort of God that is a part of everything. When we hear the shrill cry of atheists who say that we should give up all religious concepts, and all God concepts, we turn frightfully cold. We know better.
There is no question that we live in a strange universe. The most recent information we have from physicists and astronomers is that the matter we can see and detect, which includes all suns, belts, planets, galaxies and dust, accounts for only 5 percent of the predictable mass in the universe. All the rest of the mass of the universe, for want of better descriptions, is called dark matter and dark energy. We have no good idea so far of exactly where this dark matter and dark energy is, or what it is. Our ignorance of what created the universe and what makes it up, is abysmal. Although it is a marvelous adventure to investigate, discover and learn about our universe, we haven’t gotten very far yet. This great unknown is certainly in and of itself enough to cause us great awe and reverence. Yet we know intuitively, somewhere deep inside, that God is much more than the unknown.
The evidence for God is all around us, in everything that we do, in every decision that we make, in every action that we take. This God has been a part of every atomic, chemical, and matter reaction in the universe, since the beginning of time. This God, for want of a better description or better term, is called the Laws of Chance and Probability. Every series of reactions occurs by chance, forming a bell shaped curve, with outliers at either end. Every decision and action we take should be based on analysis of the chances of success based on this bell shaped curve. Failure to make our decisions on this rational basis, leads us badly astray. Currently, the vast majority of humans are making their decisions based on religious myths of divine guidance, invincibility, and immortality. We should instead be making our decisions by playing the odds as best we can, based on the realization that we are unplanned life forms, who are totally insignificant parts of the universe, and highly mortal. We have only one chance to do it right and leave something of value after us. There is without doubt a God. This God, however, does not plan, does not direct, does not care, does not judge and does not interfere. We make stupid choices, as we have done so far in our existence, based on fables and myths, and we are gone. If we challenge our all-powerful God, we will lose.
Religious fanatics, who practice human intolerance and violence based on myths of superiority and immortality, are certainly wrong. Atheist nihilists, who fail to understand that we should treat the laws of chance and probability with great awe and reverence, are also wrong. Human intuition is right. There is an all-pervasive God. There is a reason why religions are an innate part of human conception and human history. There is indeed, a Lord of the Dance.