The God problem / the no god problem
Posted: October 24, 2011 Filed under: douchebaggery, philosophy, religion Leave a comment
I don’t generally find myself perturbed when other people believe or don’t believe in a god (or any sort). I only mind when other people insist that I have to live my life according to the values presented by them by their god. If I ate bacon, I wouldn’t mind that people who kept kosher didn’t eat bacon. And if I were to be at their home for a meal, I would eat whatever they were serving and be grateful for it. And if they uttered a prayer or lit candles or spilled some mead on the floor for Thor, I wouldn’t object or interfere. And if they wanted me to hold hands or sing Kumbaya or shout ‘Amen,’ I would do so. When in Rome and all that. But I wouldn’t tell them, “Yes, I believe in your god.” And I would find it rude if the devout insisted that I HAD to believe in their god or accept being proselytized to.
Similarly, I have to admit that I get kind of sick of some of my atheist friends who feel the need to respond with snark and mockery whenever they encounter someone else who believes. Some people’s certainty that there is no god can be as irritating and smug as some people’s certainty that there is a god and everyone who does not believe in THEIR god is gonna fry.
I find talking about religion with both militant atheists and militant believers to be exhausting and boring. I don’t know if there is a god, nor do I care. I think if there is a god and I am going to go to some sort of punishment after I die for not having managed to pick the right god out of the thousands available to believe in, then it is probably just another lottery that I didn’t win. Besides, I wouldn’t like a god that plays such a rigged game with his/her/its followers.