A true atheist is one who is willing to face the full consequences of
what it means to say there is no God. For example, if he or she says,
"In the absence of absolute standards, I declare that murder is wrong
in the name of common sense," then they have made "common sense"
their absolute standard. What is in accord with "common sense" is
"right" and what isn't is "wrong." Or, "what is American" is "right"
and what isn't is "wrong;" or "what is legal" is "right" and "what is
illegal" is "wrong;" or "what works" is "right" and "what is
pointless" is "wrong."
Those three bring "God" back under different guises:
"nationalism," "legalism" and "pragmatism."
As Frederick Buechner says in "Wishful Thinking," "Many an atheist
is a believer without knowing it, just as many a believer is an
atheist without knowing it. You can sincerely believe there is no God
and live as though there is. You can sincerely believe there is a God
and live as though there isn't. So it goes."
It seems to me that what makes it hard to be an atheist are those
feelings human beings get in the pit of our stomachs: sometimes that
there is unimaginable beauty and joy in living; other times that
there is such horror that, wacky as it seems, there must be an
absolute good ... if for no other reason than to denounce absolute
evil. I suspect that the problem of good is a major stumbling block
for atheism, just as the problem of evil is a major stumbling block
for religious faith; both must learn how to live with their doubts.
A true atheist takes humankind's freedom very seriously. With no
God to point the way, we must find our own ways. With no God to save
the world, we must save it ourselves ... from ourselves, if nothing
else. The laughter of faith in God is like Abraham and Sarah's
laughter when God promises them that they are in a family way.
The laughter of faith in "no God" is heard in Sartre's story "The
Wall:" A man is threatened with death if he doesn't betray the
whereabouts of his friend to the enemy. He refuses to do this and
sends the enemy on a wild goose chase to a place where he believes
his friend can't possibly be. By chance, it turns out to be the very
place where his friend is. The friend is captured and executed and
the man is given his freedom. Sartre ends the story telling us that
the man laughed till he cried.
VERY REV. CANON
PETER D. HAYNES
St. Michael & All Angels
Episcopal Church
Corona del Mar
I am an a-atheist. I don't believe they exist. It is possible to
