Pamela Sutter - May the Farce be with You: A Lighthearted Look at Why God Does Not Exist

Copyright 2015 by Pamela Sutter. All rights reserved.

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Sutter, Pamela.

May the farce be with you: a lighthearted look at why god doesnt exist / Pamela S8itter; illus. by Pamela Sutter. - Tucson, Ariz: See Sharp Press, 2015. 30 p.: ill.; 22 cm.

1. Skepticism. 2. Atheism. 3. Critical thinking.

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Atheist. The word has shock value, but it simply means without belief in God. Unlike agnostics, who suggest that God is unknowable, and that they cannot or do not know whether God exists, atheists discount any and all supernatural entities. Atheists are not waiting for evidence of God any more than they are waiting for evidence of purple unicorns.

It is no coincidence that humans are the only species that practices religion, for we are also the only species that is aware of death. Soon after evolving the ability to think (and to think about death), we began to believe in gods: sun gods, fertility gods, volcano gods, animal gods, and the god of special interest to atheists, the monotheistic Judeo-Christian, omnipotent, universe-creating God of the Bible. God belief seems to be an inevitable cultural byproduct of self-awareness.

We may be smart enough to believe in (more accurately, hope for) a higher power, but our unique human brain is also stubborn enough to continue believing/hoping despite the discoveries of science that pretty much put God out of a job. Recent polls indicate that roughly 10% of Americans consider themselves to be atheists, making nonbelievers a larger minority than Jews or Mormons. That still leaves 90% of citizens claiming to believe in God.

Gods existence, it is said, cannot be disproven. In fact, anything that the mind can imagine can never be disproven. Think up something fanciful, something you know cant possibly exist, such as an invisible elf that resides in your refrigerator or a table with 10,000 legs. Poof! it automatically has an above-zero chance of existing, because it cannot be proven absolutely that this invention of your mind doesnt, hasnt, or wont exist somewhere at some time in the universe. All of space and time would have to be searched to prove it 100% false.

The logic seems absurd, but its a necessary disclaimer. A believer who says prove God doesnt exist could just as easily demand, Prove there isnt a colony of Flatlanders living in Planet Xs core. Gods existence is more problematic than that of Flatlanders, for God is supernatural, not physical. The whole cosmos could be searched atom by atom and Hed never be found. Because of this, atheists consider belief in the supernatural, and hence in God, to be irrationalas irrational as backwards time travel or claiming to know the final digit of pi.

A comatose young boy hovers near death. Family and friends pray hell survive. The boy dies. The family muses that God needed him; hes been called home and is being embraced by all his loved ones that preceded him. Perhaps his parents ask, Why God, why?! and then concede that the answer would be beyond their understanding. Suppose the child survives. Its a miracle, their prayers were answered! Now lets say the boy survives, but with a severe handicap. Were the prayers only partially answered? No, the boy becomes an inspiration to others as part of Gods grand plan. What about a patient down the hall who dies. Not enough prayers? God needed her more? (And for that matter, how could God need anyone?)

Notice that no matter what the outcome, believers twist events to justify their sense of hope. No matter what happens, God comes out smelling like a rose.

A glance at the newspapers reveals Gods odd prayer-answering priorities. Apparently He favors granting record-breaking home runs over saving a doomed commuter train. He allows a planeload of praying passengers to smash into the ocean while He puts someones multiple sclerosis into remission. He looks the other way when a toddler is kidnapped and murdered, but gladly answers a farmers prayers for rain.

When planes dont crash or when a person doesnt get a disease, prayer again gets the credit, and God gets points for allowing life to proceed normally.

Praying before a sporting event is among the most ridiculous forms of worship imaginable. To think that the Creator of the universe would care about the outcome of a high school football game is ludicrous. Did God favor the winning team? Was He angry with the player who made the losing fumble? Many believe so: one in four Americans believe that God intervenes in sporting events.

He must have really had fun with the 49th Superbowl (Seahawks vs. Patriots), especially in the final minute. That Godwhat a prankster!

The motive behind prayer is especially revealing. Prayer begs God to intervene. Isnt that second-guessing Gods intent? Isnt prayer a suggestion to God that this present course might not be the best way to handle things? Do you really need to take little Timmy now? Praying implies that Gods divine plan is in error and that we have useful advice for him.

Why interfere with the Lords plan for us? Dont pray for a loved ones cancer to be cured, for its Gods will that this disease will claim her, after which shell be on her way to heaven. Might unanswered prayers be a test of faith? God wont give me more than I can handle. My, what a nice God, always testing us, always toying with our emotions.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon spawned a surge of prayers, though all too late to have changed Gods mind about allowing the tragedy. Inevitably, the where was God? question surfaced. Clergy answered, Its not a question of where was God or why did He let it happen, but rather, why wasnt it worse? So, if we can imagine something worse, we then praise God for not letting it happen? Religious believers used every excuse in the book. The alternative was notably absent: Maybe there is no God.

The fact is, no prayers are answered. No prayers go unanswered. People are simply seeking meaning in otherwise inexplicable events, in much the same way that they see shapes in clouds. Prayer can be used as a form of calming meditation, which in turn can aid the body to heal, but theres nothing divine behind this placebo effect. Scientific studies show similar results from petting cats and watching fish swim in an aquarium.

Prayer is simply a human reaction to apparently meaningless physical and emotional pain.

A horrible accident took place in December 2000 in which an eight-months-pregnant woman was hurled through the windshield of a truck onto the pavement; the jack-knifing vehicle then sliced her body in half. This caused the expulsion of the baby, still attached by the umbilical cord and very much alive. The childs survival was hailed as a miracle by the womans husband, the driver of the truck. Something else must be at work here besides luck, he commented.

A miracle? It was a miracle that the mother died an ugly death by being cut in half by a truck? A miracle that the baby will grow up without his mother and, when old enough, will be saddened by the horrible way she died? A miracle that the baby was jettisoned onto cold asphalt as his father became a widower?