In the past few weeks, after revealing my atheism to my
family and my peers at the church I attended for many years, I have been told
that my life is meaningless. I have been told that without God I have no
purpose, that I can only live for myself, that my atheism is inherently immoral
and precludes the possibility of developing any sort of moral code. I have been
associated with the likes of killers and rapists because the world seems to
believe that without God there is no respect, or love. I know it will be hard
for me to convince you to change your mind on an issue as deeply personal as
religion, to convince you to look beyond the limits of what you know and resist
the temptation to judge based on society’s judgements. But at the same token I
have begun to realize that it is my duty to do so, as I have seen for myself
recently that our society has become deeply twisted in its views on fact,
faith, purpose, and beauty. We have come to a point where fact and faith are
mutually exclusive, where beauty cannot exist without purpose, and where
opposing views have become so radicalized their rhetoric becomes almost
tangibly bitter.
Before I continue I must clarify that my religious (or lack
of) belief does not mean that I hate religion. In fact I would argue the very
opposite. To me, religion is beautiful. To me, religion is a fundamental part
of what it means to be human, to contemplate the vast machinations of a
universe that cannot be fully understood. It represents the furthest level of
human curiosity and exploration and it is really quite extraordinary. Yet at
the same time, we have reached a point where those two fields, the search to
understand through fact, and the search to understand through faith, have
become true opposites. I honestly cannot fathom why this would be. Perhaps the
centuries of oppression by religious organizations fearful of the results of
scientific endeavors inspired the schism we now face. But that fear itself
represents a deep misunderstanding of the nature of faith.
Fact and faith are entirely separate, yes. Fact is what we
know to be true through observation, faith is what we believe and hope to be
true without observation. Fact will always contradict the teachings of faith.
There is not empirical proof that will support the veracity of any religion.
However, faith does not necessarily contradict fact. The two can coincide, and
it is in the very nature of faith to do so. Faith requires an element of
falsity. It is necessary that the believer be uncertain in the truth of their
belief, for if the truth were known then there would be no need for faith. To
deny the conflicting nature of the two facets of existence is to deny the true
nature of faith.
The issue of purpose also seems to be inexorably intertwined
with the issue of faith. I’ve never quite understood why modern consensus is
that purpose is defined by faith. This past Sunday I attended what is widely
considered one of the most liberal churches in this state. The pastor there
spent the entire hour preaching that without faith, ones life can never serve a
purpose, and all that is done is meaningless. I was told that the only thing I
am capable of living for is myself, my greed. It seemed to him to be entirely
outside the realm of possibility that I could ever desire to live my life for
others, to live my life serving others and seeking to create a better world for
those who truly need it. It seemed to him that the only way people achieve
recognition of such a purpose is through the teachings of scripture, and that
the lack of belief and written moral code in atheism meant that I, as a
non-believer, was inherently evil. I’d like to take this opportunity to show
that atheism does in fact have an express moral code. I believe that this one
life I have is all I have. I believe I have this opportunity to experience the
world I live in only once, and upon my death I will never be able to breathe,
to see, to think ever again. It is only natural then that I would make the most
of that one life. It is only natural that I would recognize the usefulness of
altruism, the benefits of serving to create a more enjoyable world. It is
natural in the mind of an atheist to realize that without the serving of all
the people to ensure a just world, that just world will never arise. There will
be no god to come in a remedy society’s ills. There will be no salvation; there
will be no second chance. I have now, and now only, to make the most of this
world and make the most of me. I, as an atheist, live for the opportunity to
serve others. Such a passion is not unique to faith.
This same man who stood on stage and sought to rip all
meaning from my life has also, in times past, sought to remove the concept of
beauty from my existence. He has encouraged the gross portrayal of atheism as a
hopeless and joyless form of existence. He has become overly fond of using a
situation that arose between him and one of his atheistic friends. It goes like
this. One day, the pastor challenged his friend to come up with one sentence
that perfectly describes his existence. The pastor then promised to take that
sentence and revise it in such a way to reflect his own faith based existence. The
sentence the atheist eventually came up with goes as follows: I am an accident,
born of nothing, waiting to return to nothing. The pastor returned with the
following: I am a child of God, born of Him, waiting to return to Him. The
pastor then proceeded to highlight what he saw as the inherent misanthropic and
melancholic tone of the atheist’s sentence in comparison to the miracle of God.
I never understood the pastor as he questioned how someone can find joy when
they believe themselves to be an accident. See, when I heard that sentence I
experienced a radical emotional shift. I have never heard in my life one
sentence with so much meaning. Its infinitely complex and it perfectly
describes the beauty of life from an atheist’s point of view.
I am an accident. Of all the possible ways the universe
could have come together at the exact moment I was made, it happened in exactly
the way it did to create me. Against all probable odds, millions of years of
accidents and random occurrences lined up to create the man you see before you
today.
Born of nothing, waiting to return to nothing. This is the
most profound statement. I was born of a meaningless mixture of elements,
brought together from across the universe into this one location. These
meaningless atoms were combined from the dust of distant stars, the elements of
collided asteroids and planets, the debris of the formation of the universe so
many years ago, and brought to life to create something oh so far from
meaningless. I was born of nothing, and yet born of everything. I wait to
return to that nothing. I live every day of my life knowing that I will one day
die, my body interred or burned, my molecules dispersed throughout the planet
to rest for thousands of years. In one billion years after the sun has expanded
and burned all life off this planet, I know now my body will be there. In seven
billion years when this planet is engulfed by the flames of our star I will be
there. My body will become the star and I will burn for a few billion years
more. One day the sun will die and my atoms will in some form or the other be
ejected into the depths of space to spread out across the universe. I will be
nothing, and I will be everything. I will be there when the universe falls in
upon itself and if some scientists are to be believed I will be there when it
explodes again to from a new universe, bound by new laws, filled with new life,
yes I will be there. I will be there in the midst of all this beauty, the
beauty of creation.
It may be hard to discern some sort of motive from my speech
today, so let me make it abundantly clear to you now. It is my wish that you
would ignore the poisonous judgments society has made against religion and
against atheism. It is my wish that you would find it within yourself to
recognize the dual nature of fact and faith despite the fearful ranting of the
religious leaders in this world. It is my wish that you would learn to find
your own purpose and not rely solely on the demands of others and of faith. And
it is my wish that you would learn to recognize beauty in all forms that it
presents itself in. In short, it is my wish that you would learn how to be
freed from judgment.
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