Back again

After a little absence, back again. A job, finally, thanks be to God, has been keeping me busy and the new year with all its beginnings and changes pre-occupying my feeble mind.

With the new job comes a commute that lasts about an hour each way to and from work. There is time to do a lot of listening and thinking during those hours and I mostly occupy that time with audio books of one kind or another. However, on my way home one day, I was listening to a talk show and the topic was the faith of the Founding Fathers and their belief that the nation would survive as long as people believed in and had faith in the existence of God. Evidence of this is found through out our founding documents and other writings of the time, and though not all of those men professed Christianity itself, they all seemed to regard a higher power, the God of nature.

A woman called in, said she was an atheist and said (I paraphrase) such references were anachronistic in our time, that humanity,well, at least civilized humanity, had evolved beyond such mystical and superstitious beliefs and God was no longer a concept that held meaning. I turned off the radio and did not listen to what ensued, but played those comments over in my mind to see what arose.

The primary thing was this, that if we have no basis in God, then what? Not to say that this is God's only purpose, to underlie our founding documents, but in times of decision, turmoil and transition, to what (or whose) moral code do we turn? To what place do we run to fill the spiritual void that exists at one time or another in each of us? To whom do we turn, what authority do we seek for matters of our existence and how we should manage our time here with and among other people? Do the answers to these things not come from God? Interesting to turn over in one's mind while driving through rush hour traffic.

The woman's positions were certainly not novel nor are my questions. But this is where the faith question really hits the pavement. If I, believing in God are an anachronism, then so be it. It is there that I will go and there I will find the peace to sort out this 21st century world. Let the atheist have their atheism, which is itself a belief and a choice, I have no quarrel with nor any motivation to change them. I would only hope that if we who wish to believe in fairytale still do so, that they will be so inclined to allow us our space as well. After all, is it so harmful or shameful to love, forgive and even tolerate?