It was Blaise Pascal who gave the world
a famous wager. Pascal said that one must believe in God. The reason for this
was that if you die and God doesn’t exist then nothing would happen to you. Yet
if God does exist and you don’t believe in him, you will suffer an eternity of
torment. The non-believer lives in light of Pascal’s wager. He is warned of
‘judgement’ and hell. He is often told he is a bad person, or that he is living
his life the wrong way.
It is often said that having faith in God is the hardest thing that a human being can do. Yet I am going to argue that non-belief is at times a far more challenging and scary position to take. The fear of death governs us all, but death like almost all fears is disguised. For fear of death is really fear of the unknown. This is the starting point of the difference between the believer and the non-believer. For they both have different ways of responding to the unknown. The religious person has an answer to the unknown. He switches the unknown to God. This position has it advantages for sure; the main one being that it offers comfort. It offers comfort both in life on earth and on the one that is promised to come after. On earth it leads to the idea that God has a plan, so even in this dark and murky world, this is part of the eternal goodness of God’s ultimate plan. They also do not fear death, as they have an eternal paradise to come. The believer gets to bask in the glory during his lifetime, knowing that he will end up alongside God.
The non-believer does not have this comfort, for the non-believer the suffering that people experience in the world is puzzling. This sensation of confusion is deep, it hurts the non-believer, and he has no plan to fall back on. When the non-believers child dies, he cannot say that he is ‘now with god.’ The non-believer also has no sense of the life to come after, for him death is the end of any kind of conscious existence. For many this position seems dark, and the non believer is often asked, ‘ Do you really believe this is all we get?’ The non-believer has no easy comfort. The non-believer has no get out clause. This is without a doubt a scary position, and the punches keep landing from the believers.
For without a doubt the believers have numbers in their favour, non-belief is a minority position. Humanity longs for comforting answers, and religious belief delivers them.
So why is it that in face of most of the world thinking I am wrong, and the fact that my position being difficult, that I am happy to say I am a non-believer? I would be lying if I didn’t say that sometimes the religious argument does scare me. I do ask myself like Pascal did all those years ago, what if I am wrong? I have attempted to educate myself in as many world religions as possible. For I have always thought it was madness to not agree with a position without attempting to understand it first. Yet even in the face of these fears I do not believe.
The first comfort for the non-believer is our greatest friend reason. Now many people have different definitions, for just what reason is. For myself reason, is the use of the evidence in respect to an argument. Reason is the act of looking for the evidence. For me there is no strong evidence for a deity in the universe. Many will disagree with this statement, yet I stand firmly alongside it. There is no argument I have found for Gods existence that has not relied on faith. Aquinas attempted five and Anselm attempted one also. Yet the combination of time and reason has shown both of these arguments to be fallacious. So the religious argument moves onto faith, which is a fair position. Many a believer will say I have faith also, a faith in reason. Yet a faith in reason alone is not the answer. Reason is a method, without external evidence it is nothing more than mathematics. For me Reason is the starting point, yet for the religious person, God is both the start and the end. The non-believer only asks that life be looked at like a court case, where argumentation is based on reason. Nobody would like to be convicted of murder on the basis that somebody else had faith that they had committed the act. Now the person accused of murder would ask for a position that relied on more than faith, they would ask their case be judged on the evidence available. That is all I ask people do in the question of God existence. As the great Bertrand Russell once said when he was asked what he would say if he had to face God after death. He would simply say “ not enough evidence God, not enough evidence.” If I had to meet a vengeful God I think I also would have to echo Bertrand’s remark.
The second argument I have as a non-believer is this. Christianity is the major world religion; by this I mean it has the greatest number of followers. If what is right is simply a question of numbers, then this is the religion that the non believer must be most fearful of. On the afterlife, Jesus said that the only way to the father is through him. This means that the only people that will get into this promised paradise will be Christians. This would mean that however a man conducts his life, if he is not a Christian he is going to suffer eternal torment. As a non-believer I can see the madness in this, we with non-belief can judge people by acts rather than by faith. The Christian believes that even the greatest Hindu or Muslim is going to hell. They can have given to the community, cared for their family; even have tried to bring about world peace. Yet they are going to hell, do I really need to point out the madness in this? If Heaven is just a club for Christians, I want no part of it. I will suffer Hell with my fellow non-believers, and the other religious that were ‘wrong’. The non-believer can judge a person by their actions and that is possibly the greatest gift you can offer anyone. As a Christian remember the next time you meet a Muslim or Jew or Atheist you really like, that you think they are going to spend eternity in torment.
The last argument I have is that life only gains meaning in the face of death. For if we all lived eternally, then much we love would become obsolete. Little things such as giving up time to help someone would become a futile gesture. For what is the sacrifice in giving up time, if we have an eternal bank of time? Look at something such as marriage, a marriage is such a beautiful thing because, a couple promises to spend their life with each other. The beauty is in the sacrifice of ones life with that person. If we have eternal life, then marriage also loses beauty as either one of the couple have endless time to change their minds. Love relies on death; it is given life by it. The non-believer realizes that he must enjoy the life here on earth. He must treat everyday as something important, as his time is not endless. Time gives birth to beauty.
So yes the non-believer’s position is often scary. You often feel the outsider, and are faced with many dark predications about yourself. You are told that you are living a sinful life. Or that all non-believers are really negative people, chained by reason. The non-believer should simply turn around and say 'No, you are wrong'. Firstly there is no empirical evidence for either Heaven or hell. Stop talking as if your faith is a fact. Faith is a position that should never be confused with face. You should also say that as a non-believer you believe in fairness, you try and judge people by their acts rather than religious beliefs. This you believe is the mark of reason. You may also say that I have found meaning in life, in the fact that this is all we have, that we should appreciate all the experiences that we have. We should not hide suffering behind Gods plan, but we should try and lessen it. So yes Pascal the road to non-belief may be dangerous and challenging, but I am willing to take on your wager.
It is often said that having faith in God is the hardest thing that a human being can do. Yet I am going to argue that non-belief is at times a far more challenging and scary position to take. The fear of death governs us all, but death like almost all fears is disguised. For fear of death is really fear of the unknown. This is the starting point of the difference between the believer and the non-believer. For they both have different ways of responding to the unknown. The religious person has an answer to the unknown. He switches the unknown to God. This position has it advantages for sure; the main one being that it offers comfort. It offers comfort both in life on earth and on the one that is promised to come after. On earth it leads to the idea that God has a plan, so even in this dark and murky world, this is part of the eternal goodness of God’s ultimate plan. They also do not fear death, as they have an eternal paradise to come. The believer gets to bask in the glory during his lifetime, knowing that he will end up alongside God.
The non-believer does not have this comfort, for the non-believer the suffering that people experience in the world is puzzling. This sensation of confusion is deep, it hurts the non-believer, and he has no plan to fall back on. When the non-believers child dies, he cannot say that he is ‘now with god.’ The non-believer also has no sense of the life to come after, for him death is the end of any kind of conscious existence. For many this position seems dark, and the non believer is often asked, ‘ Do you really believe this is all we get?’ The non-believer has no easy comfort. The non-believer has no get out clause. This is without a doubt a scary position, and the punches keep landing from the believers.
For without a doubt the believers have numbers in their favour, non-belief is a minority position. Humanity longs for comforting answers, and religious belief delivers them.
So why is it that in face of most of the world thinking I am wrong, and the fact that my position being difficult, that I am happy to say I am a non-believer? I would be lying if I didn’t say that sometimes the religious argument does scare me. I do ask myself like Pascal did all those years ago, what if I am wrong? I have attempted to educate myself in as many world religions as possible. For I have always thought it was madness to not agree with a position without attempting to understand it first. Yet even in the face of these fears I do not believe.
The first comfort for the non-believer is our greatest friend reason. Now many people have different definitions, for just what reason is. For myself reason, is the use of the evidence in respect to an argument. Reason is the act of looking for the evidence. For me there is no strong evidence for a deity in the universe. Many will disagree with this statement, yet I stand firmly alongside it. There is no argument I have found for Gods existence that has not relied on faith. Aquinas attempted five and Anselm attempted one also. Yet the combination of time and reason has shown both of these arguments to be fallacious. So the religious argument moves onto faith, which is a fair position. Many a believer will say I have faith also, a faith in reason. Yet a faith in reason alone is not the answer. Reason is a method, without external evidence it is nothing more than mathematics. For me Reason is the starting point, yet for the religious person, God is both the start and the end. The non-believer only asks that life be looked at like a court case, where argumentation is based on reason. Nobody would like to be convicted of murder on the basis that somebody else had faith that they had committed the act. Now the person accused of murder would ask for a position that relied on more than faith, they would ask their case be judged on the evidence available. That is all I ask people do in the question of God existence. As the great Bertrand Russell once said when he was asked what he would say if he had to face God after death. He would simply say “ not enough evidence God, not enough evidence.” If I had to meet a vengeful God I think I also would have to echo Bertrand’s remark.
The second argument I have as a non-believer is this. Christianity is the major world religion; by this I mean it has the greatest number of followers. If what is right is simply a question of numbers, then this is the religion that the non believer must be most fearful of. On the afterlife, Jesus said that the only way to the father is through him. This means that the only people that will get into this promised paradise will be Christians. This would mean that however a man conducts his life, if he is not a Christian he is going to suffer eternal torment. As a non-believer I can see the madness in this, we with non-belief can judge people by acts rather than by faith. The Christian believes that even the greatest Hindu or Muslim is going to hell. They can have given to the community, cared for their family; even have tried to bring about world peace. Yet they are going to hell, do I really need to point out the madness in this? If Heaven is just a club for Christians, I want no part of it. I will suffer Hell with my fellow non-believers, and the other religious that were ‘wrong’. The non-believer can judge a person by their actions and that is possibly the greatest gift you can offer anyone. As a Christian remember the next time you meet a Muslim or Jew or Atheist you really like, that you think they are going to spend eternity in torment.
The last argument I have is that life only gains meaning in the face of death. For if we all lived eternally, then much we love would become obsolete. Little things such as giving up time to help someone would become a futile gesture. For what is the sacrifice in giving up time, if we have an eternal bank of time? Look at something such as marriage, a marriage is such a beautiful thing because, a couple promises to spend their life with each other. The beauty is in the sacrifice of ones life with that person. If we have eternal life, then marriage also loses beauty as either one of the couple have endless time to change their minds. Love relies on death; it is given life by it. The non-believer realizes that he must enjoy the life here on earth. He must treat everyday as something important, as his time is not endless. Time gives birth to beauty.
So yes the non-believer’s position is often scary. You often feel the outsider, and are faced with many dark predications about yourself. You are told that you are living a sinful life. Or that all non-believers are really negative people, chained by reason. The non-believer should simply turn around and say 'No, you are wrong'. Firstly there is no empirical evidence for either Heaven or hell. Stop talking as if your faith is a fact. Faith is a position that should never be confused with face. You should also say that as a non-believer you believe in fairness, you try and judge people by their acts rather than religious beliefs. This you believe is the mark of reason. You may also say that I have found meaning in life, in the fact that this is all we have, that we should appreciate all the experiences that we have. We should not hide suffering behind Gods plan, but we should try and lessen it. So yes Pascal the road to non-belief may be dangerous and challenging, but I am willing to take on your wager.
By
Lloyd Duddridge
