Oregonians debate existence of God

The past two Mondays, our local newspaper -- the Salem Statesman Journal -- has run comments from readers about the existence, or lack thereof, of God. I've enjoyed this change of pace for the editorial page.

Since Oregon is one of the least religious states, it isn't surprising that many opinions on this subject were pleasingly churchless.

I've shared them below. I didn't include any comments from true believers, but you can see the entire slate of opinions here and here.

(Or download these PDF files.)
Download SJ1 existence of God
Download SJ2 existence of God

"Simple question that deserves a simple answer: nope."

"If by god you mean an invisible, supernatural being with magic powers capable of suspending the physical laws of the universe, the answer is no."

"I do not believe in God as a man that created Earth. I believe in God as a philosophy — as an idea that we are flawed human beings that make mistakes. I believe that we should treat each other with respect, help our neighbors."

"... It may seem unlikely that the conditions for life came together here on Earth without some intelligent guidance until you factor in the billions of galaxies and the billions upon billions of planets, and the billions of years this universe has been here.

Given the science we have now, the existence of many planets similar to Earth is all but a mathematical certainty, not to mention all of the possibilities for other types of life, with no need for supernatural intervention.

Recent work in physics has offered an explanation for what came before the Big Bang, the possibility that there are an infinite number of universes, spawned by an infinite number of Big Bangs, and that time itself may be infinite. So, the existence of the Earth, and the universe, is not evidence for God. God is simply one possible explanation, for which there is no empirical evidence."

"The simple, direct answer to the question is 'Yes,' 'No', or 'I don't know.' Belief, or lack of it, demands no evidence. For me, science is so much more compelling than the supernatural explanation. If God is responsible, where has she been for the last few billion years? I have some questions and complaints."

"I'd have to qualify myself as an agnostic. ... After many years of unanswered prayers, I began to question. At first, the question was not, 'Do I believe in God?' Rather it was, 'Does God believe in me?'"

"... we can't even begin to know how or why the universe — or dirt — exists. To pretend to know is arrogance of the highest order and is the root cause of war and hatred in this world. There is nothing wrong with 'I don't know' as an answer to the question. After all, the mysterious is beautiful and wondrous, and needs no 'God' to make it so."

"I believe science has done an adequate job explaining the seasons. So, now please do the same. Give me one shred of scientific evidence of 'god.' I'll wait."

"Religion is made up nonsense, a crutch for the weak-minded among us. If one person initiated a religion today based on the myths contained in any of the three dominant monotheisms' books, s/he would be considered insane. Just because there are a multitude that say they believe, then society accepts the fictions. ...

Humans would be better off without organized religions tainting our societies. Most of the mayhem during wars stems from religion, even in WW2 due to the Nazis' attempt to exterminate Jews, a religious-based classification of people. Muslim terrorists today use their fictitious beliefs to blow up people. Religion is the bane of humanity."

"I do not believe in supernatural beings of any kind and I do not believe in magic. I have no idea how or why the universe was created. I have no idea how or why life began. However, I would wager it all happened in accordance with the laws of physics. To suggest that some magical being simply willed it into existence seems ludicrous to me. To suggest that an all-powerful being sat down at the drawing board, planned out everyday detail, and then actually constructed the universe is equally ridiculous. ..."

"If some 'god' really does exist, you and I and all of those who question its existence will suffer no consequences for our lack of belief. What we will get, however, if this schizoid god turns out to be real, is an explanation for why this god chose to put we hapless humans through a metaphysical waterboarding. This god better have a ... good reason!"

"A more important question is, how do we conduct our lives? Since life is only for a short time and goes only one way — from birth to death — are we making the most of this time? And secondary to our own enjoyment of this experience, and probably the most important question of all is: Are we good to others or least not doing them any harm?"

"There is no way there can be a god. I don't believe in a book created by man."

Comments

[tucson]

Many are conditioned to believe that God must be absolutely present. God is conceived as being eternally present, or the presence of what is present and the absence of what is absent.

Another way of looking at the issue is to see that what God is, is the absence of what is present, and the presence of what is absent.

In other words, whatever we conceive could not be God for God is the conceiving and not the conceived. God therefore is absent as anything that could be known (conceived) and yet is always present as Its absence of any sort of objectivity whatsoever.

[Blogger Brian]

tucson, what you said is almost perfectly clear to me -- which makes me worry a bit about my sanity.

[Tim]

Oregon here we come. Stuck right in the middle of right. It seems as though here in Alabama, that if you don't believe you are breaking the law. I have a pretty good job and the climate here is almost perfect, but some days I yearn for a little intelligent conversation. Thanks for your blog, I am going to start one so I have more room to vent. 140 Characters is begining to be not enough. Tim

[Blogger Brian]

TIm, come out West. Or rather, Northwest. The climate here in western Oregon also is almost perfect. Plus, we don't have high humidity, nasty bugs (aside from a few mosquitos), or hurricanes.

And like you said, you'll have the opportunity for more intelligent conversations out Oregon-way. Portland is a way cool city, as are Eugene and Ashland. Salem, not so much, but we like it here for other reasons.