Hi. I’m responding, if I may be so bold, to Eric Hunter’s lovely, heartfelt post on February 10, “Why doesn’t God save the day?” I want to answer Eric’s question in a very direct and positive way, but also (shamelessly) put in a plug for my new book, The God who doesn’t Exist, out now through ATF Press (see the link below*).
Yes, as it has become increasingly apparent in recent years, the omnipotent, creator God of historical religion — Judeo-Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc., etc. — simply doesn’t exist, never did. In his post, Hunter rehearsed the two obvious killer reasons.
Firstly, we live in an evolving universe, not one that was created in a once-off miraculous act. Perhaps there’s a God who gave birth (so to speak) to the universe in the Big Bang, a sort of divine, cosmic parent — we’ll interrogate this possibility more closely shortly — but there certainly isn’t one who created it.
Secondly, terrible things have always happened in the world, and continue to do so, with no obvious sign of God’s intervention to stop them, so even if God does exist they might just as well not! Yes, there’s many a theological tome written on the topic of theodicy, attempting to vindicate God’s providence in the face of the real existence of evil, but no amount of fancy theological footwork can touch the plain fact that God’s apparent indifference to the world’s suffering is the single main cause of the loss of faith in God — any god — in the contemporary world.
It’s all bad news so far; now for some good stuff. “Divine parent”? Hmm… that sounds more plausible. But what evidence is there for it? Well, there’s certainly no direct scientific evidence. When I googled “What caused the Big Bang”, the AI overview told me:
“The ’cause’ of the Big Bang, the event that scientists believe initiated the universe’s expansion, is a mystery, and some cosmologists suggest that it might be meaningless to ask for a cause since space and time themselves emerged with it.” (15 March)
Oh, yes, happy days, science doesn’t rule it out! But surely we need some evidence that actually rules it in? Here’s some.
The notion of God as a divine parent is an obvious anthropomorphism – so let’s pursue this further. Human parents give birth to a child, which starts out as next to nothing — a single fertilised egg cell — then grows gradually into a complex, highly organised living creature. This growth occurs, seemingly, under the child’s own steam – the parents nurture, coddle, feed, but they don’t, directly, cause the growth. Same for all living organisms. And the same, apparently, for the universe as a whole.
How so? Well, everywhere you look in the universe you see the same hallmark you see in living things: organisation. Everywhere, at all levels: from the highly organised internal structure of atoms and atomic nuclei, to geological, atmospheric and ecological systems, to planetary, solar and galactic systems. Everywhere the same telltale hallmark of something that is living, growing, evolving, organising, organic. Clear positive evidence, I think, in fact, that the universe is like an organism, “birthed” by something, someone – certainly not created, at any rate.
So what?! Still a long shot! And this divine parent, supposing they exist, seems pretty indifferent, as we’ve noted, to the suffering of the child/universe they’ve given birth to. Ah… but keep going with the anthropomorphism. Parents nurture, but don’t cause or control the growth of the child; and, yes, they eventually chuck it out of the nest to fend for itself – you’re on your own now, buddy; but, yes, do give me a yell if you need any help, I’ll be there for you.
What is the essence of this thing we human parents and the hypothetical divine parent, perhaps, give to their respective offspring? Why: life, freedom, a free life of their own. This most precious gift. The old creator God is the worst possible sort of parent — controlling, narcissistic, negligent — thank God they don’t exist!
This freedom the divine parent God hypothetically gives to the universe is the obvious cause of the terrible things that happen, all the evil in the world. The devil no more exists than the old creator God; it is wilful, intentional human selfishness that is the cause of all our woes – from children not playing nicely in the playground, to war and climate change.
OK, I get it — “you’re on your own now, buddy” — but where’s the “give me a yell if you need any help, I’ll be there for you” bit? I don’t see it, all I see is things going from bad to worse and no God riding to the rescue anywhere.
Natural-born human selfishness is the core problem, so can I remind you of a certain Jesus of Nazareth, rattling around the place 2000 years ago, claiming to be the “Son of God”, whose central teaching was selflessness, the actual antidote for all our ills; who proclaimed a coming “kingdom”, an objective state of human relationships in this world based on selfless co-operation between all people. Yes, he was killed for his troubles; but allegedly he came back to life, so that now through faith in him all people can undergo an amazing metanoia, a sort of conversion or change of mindset in which we start to acquire the capacity for something we weren’t capable of before, namely the ability to practise a little selflessness from time to time.
Yay! Will the kingdom come before we wipe ourselves off the planet with war and climate change? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see about that one. But now I think I get it: God doesn’t save the day – but oh yes, they do!
*See: https://antitheologia.com/books/
Fergus McGinley
Fergus McGinley is an Adelaide writer, teacher, lay preacher, with a background in science, philosophy, education and theology. He is the author of many essays, articles and sermons, and is the founder of the Anti-Theology Project, an initiative you can follow through the website antitheologia.com. Fergus’s new book, The God Who Doesn’t Exist (ATF Press), is available now through online bookstores.