Photo by Andrew Morrell Photography
A good friend of mine has offered me the opportunity to present a reading at her wedding. She’s also given me the option of choosing the reading myself. I’d love to be able to come to her with some ideas, but I need some help!
What would you recommend I read at a secular wedding ceremony?
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
– C.S. Lewis
Dear Mr. Lewis,
You could be an alien (what I would pay to see you discuss this with Dan Aykroyd), but most likely it means you need to learn to accept reality and not invent a fantasy land to avoid the fact that sometimes we don’t get what we want. If no experience in this world will satisfy you, then perhaps you:
- Have not experienced enough of the world to understand how fulfilled you can be as a part of it.
- Refuse to be content.
- Misunderstand your desires.
- Are deluded into thinking what we desire should be fulfilled.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy drinking vodka with Dan Aykroyd.
graphic by James Ellis
I follow the hashtag #atheism on twitter in order to keep abreast on what people are saying about religion and other controversial subjects. Often the content contains thoughtful discussion or bits of news that interests me, but much of it resembles typical “zinger” one-liner material: pithy 140-character messages that resemble confrontational bumper stickers instead of well-balanced arguments against religion. Yeah, I’ve done it too. I admit it! Twitter is the safe-haven of the verbal jab.
I spotted one such “zinger” today:
Without faith there could be no genocide, no racism, no bigotry; faith breeds evil. #christian #jesus #bible #god #atheism #islam #muslim
-@FlyingFree333 (Flying Free), 29-4-2011 13:30:22
I’ve certainly heard this hyperbolic argument before, and as an atheist I do not agree. I realize you cannot easily present a reasoned argument for an enormous claim like this on twitter, but even if there were paragraphs of explanation behind it I’m not sure I would ever be convinced that the sole reason for racism, bigotry, and genocide is faith. To avoid an argument about vocabulary; “faith,” could easily be replaced by “religion.”
I am far from being an expert, but I think there are sociological, psychological, and economic causes unrelated to religion that cause these problems in the world. Religion is certainly used to justify many horrible actions such as genocide (e.g. Deuteronomy 20:16-18) and slavery (e.g. the Curse of Ham). However, I do not think all religions or faiths bring about these results, nor do I think ruling out other causes for the evil in the world is wise.
I’d really like to have a discussion about this claim. Is faith the cause of genocide, racism, and bigotry?
And as a side question: What do you think about these kinds of pithy statements on twitter? Do you think they help anything or perhaps give atheists a bad name?
Where I work, we have a “Rule of Three”: Cheap, Fast, or Good. Pick two.
You can do something Cheap and Good, but it won’t be Fast;
Fast and Good, but it won’t be cheap;
or Fast and Cheap, and it definitely won’t be good.
You can’t have all three!
My manager shared the “Rule of Three” during a meeting today, and another Christian coworker (a former pastor, might I add) who had never heard it before exclaimed his love for it. He added:
So it’s kind of like how God is supposed to be all-powerful and all-good, and yet there’s still suffering in the world. You can’t have all three.
BINGO! You win!
If only the words had actually sunk in.
If you’re not familiar with the origins of that claim, here’s the original oft-quoted passage from Epicurus.
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?”
–Epicurus (Greek philosopher, 341-270 BCE)
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