The Arrogance of Belief

An oldie but goodie from July, 2007.

As I type this, I am sitting outside on a lovely Summer evening. A cool breeze helps to sweep away the memories of another scorching day of near 100°F temperatures. I can hear the sound of baseball on the TV inside, amid the chirping of various birds in the forest beyond. We live in wooded hills out in the country, and I can sit here on my deck and take in the beautiful sight of rolling hills of timber stretching into the eastern horizon in shades of fading blue as the daylight wanes, and the cool night air gently glides in.

Surrounded by such beauty and wonder, I ask myself how I can remain an atheist?

In my former life as a believer, I would no doubt look upon such an experience as a gift from God, in a world full of gifts and "evidences" of His existence. In that life, I believed that God cared about me personally and wanted me to see evidence of his love. And I did. Every happy event was proof of God's love for me and all of humanity. I went through my day thanking God for every little thing; the weather; friendly people; a good parking space.

In that make-believe world I created, God was not only the creator of the universe, the author of the Big Bang, and the one source and sustainer of all energy and matter, He was also aware of every atom and molecule in the cosmos, and yet cared enough to help me find a good parking spot. What a guy!

These days I view that attitude as a prime example of the arrogance of belief.

The arrogance lies in the assumption forced upon the believer that the author of life, the First Cause, the upholder of all the galaxies and stars and planets, the One who brought all that is into existence by his mere thinking it, that this Almighty Entity is concerned with the day to day wishes and wants of the believer (no matter how trivial).

Now, I don't think for a minute that believers themselves are arrogant people. On the contrary, I know of many believers who are the picture of humility and selflessness. The fault lies with Christian doctrines and practices that force a believer to the inescapable conclusion that they are God's most precious creation, to the exclusion of most everything else, including other believers.

I read recently in a forum I frequent, a post in which the writer expressed his thankfulness that God stopped the recent torrential rains long enough for him to mow his lawn for his Fourth of July celebration. This came at a time when Texas and Oklahoma were experiencing horrendous flooding as a result of days of heavy rain. Several lives had been lost, along with many homes. As the poster noted, there was even a dangerous spill of oil and gasoline that was sweeping downstream, putting many more at risk. But through all this, God, in His mercy, held back the rains so that this fellow could mow his lawn. The title of the thankful believer's post was "Thank you Jesus for the little things."

Somehow, I'm not sure those who prayed to the same God to save their lives and their homes only to lose them would have the same opinion about "the little things". Was God too busy arranging for the drying of that fellow's lawn to help those who died in the floods?

Several centuries ago, Galileo was punished for showing that the world is not the center of creation. He was later vindicated. Believers today suffer from a perhaps more sinister malady than the Church of the 17th Century, for they have placed themselves at the center of the universe. God caters to their wishes. God answers all their prayers (“Yes.” “No.” “Not yet.”). And God is there for them when they need Him (even when he isn't).

God may be the creator of the universe, but it's the believer who is at the center of it.

Sitting out on my deck on a warm Summer evening, I can appreciate the beauty and wonder of life without the arrogance of assuming it is all here for my benefit. I can be awed by the sight, realizing that it is a happy accident of natural forces stretching over billions of years that placed me here right now; and that I am of no account in the grand scheme of things; but I am alive, here and now, and witness to this precious coincidence of time and space.

A clear understanding of my nothingness in the scheme of the universe, combined with inexpressible awe in the face of natural creation - that's how I can remain an atheist.