God in the 21st Century – Robyn Williams

Robyn Williams addressed The Sydney Institute on Tuesday 23 August 2011 as part of a discussion on God in the twenty-first century. Robyn Williams, who is the ABC Radio National presenter of The Science Show & Ockham’s Razor argued the case for atheism. He was joined by Angela Shanahan, a columnist with The Australian, Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins from the Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney and Dr Shakira Hussein from the National Centre for Excellence in Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne.

GOD IN THE 21^ST CENTURY – ATHEISM

ROBYN WILLIAMS

There are ten reasons I don’t believe in God – ten reasons that I’m an atheist. But first a couple of caveats.

I don’t get up in the morning and affirm after my muesli, “I am an atheist.” It doesn’t cross my mind. I suspect this is the same for most modern people, whatever the lip-service they offer to belief or whatever the pious habits they maintain. It’s not a Godly world and doesn’t need to be.

Secondly, I am not impressed by “Negative Theology”: that branch of religious philosophising that stops us from pointing out the ever diminishing tracks in the sand of a deity ever more marginalised by evidence and common sense; the kind of theology that tells you that God is ultimately unknowable. It is the ultimate Get Out Of Jail Card and makes discussion futile. If God doesn’t impinge, what’s the point?

Finally, you can never, ultimately, disprove God’s existence. There is always the element of uncertainty that makes all knowledge conditional. But you can make a case that God is irrelevant. That is my own atheistic approach. But it never demands that others fall in step with me or anyone else. Believe what you will. But do not impose your religious rules on others. Or stop the fun.

My ten reasons are as follows:

1. We have no need of a Creator. Science has provided a superb explanation of how come nature is as it is. Besides, a Creator, a supreme Engineer, would be deeply embarrassed by botch jobs such as the prostate gland, the agony of childbirth and the persistence of haemorrhoids. A Creator who scores C minus is unthinkable.
2. The various religions are mutually contradictory. I do not accept that they have sufficient in common to offer an overall, convincing unity of purpose. One God, many gods, reincarnations, none of the above, heaven, hell, take your choice. Even Christianity transmogrifies as you move from Old to New Testaments. Imagine any weird scenario you like: some religion somewhere will match it.
3. Ethical systems do not need religion. Professor Peter Singer has pointed out that most cherished Christian and other laws have been preceded in other centuries and other cultures (some secular). “Do unto others..” has an extensive history outside the Church, as it must, because human society could not function without agreed rules. Try driving drunk on the wrong side of the road and see how long it takes for the roads to cease to function. THOU SHALT …is absolutely necessary, or communities fail.
4. There is a clear Darwinian explanation for the ubiquity of religion. Apart from consolation and reassurance (and don’t forget how terrifying the pre-civilised world once was) religion unifies larger groups and gives them a totem to follow, a compelling reason to be AT ONE against the enemy. LIFE OF BRIAN and The Pythons showed to the perils of disunity. See the film again.
5. This also explains the otherwise puzzling manifestation of deprivation and asceticism in a life of piety. Why endure chastity, poverty, flagellation and utterly arcane prose and pointless ritual and regulation unless we are innately susceptible. Richard Dawkins has pointed out that we are programed to be obedient to elders as youth. Our present society notwithstanding: in the old days you obeyed Big Daddy. Mortification was part of the deal. We are programed to obey, and suffering makes it real
6. You don’t need to be Mother Theresa to do good. Some think she did less good than the PR suggests. Good people do good things, some in the name of God, others as just themselves. Altruism is part of the human (and animal) condition. How else are we committed to children and family?
7. Religion has a terrible history of cruelty. May I remind you that the history of slavery was underpinned by an assumption of OUR superiority; others show unswerving contempt for the INFIDEL. There is no outrage imaginable unexplored by God’s representatives from Ireland to South America, from India to Pakistan, from Spain to Saudi. Enough.
8. The modern world and its scholarship have left little place for a God beyond some left over question marks of little account in daily life. I do not know where the universe came from. Perhaps we never shall. We do know, if God did make the universe so as to contain us, his unique and treasured children, he did so as a 9 billion year afterthought – and in a speck of planetary detritus hardly noticeable in our vast galaxy, let alone the rest of space.
9. God’s representatives are a really unimpressive lot. If George Bush, George Pell, Tony Blair, Fred Nile and Sarah Palin are examples of God’s will made manifest then, frankly, I’d rather not bother.
10. And finally, above all, I could not possibly take a God seriously who is constantly AWOL. When two young girls are abducted by the Belgian paedo monster Marc Dutroux and kept under the floorboards till they starve to death, when the Congolese militia rapes the 10,000^th miserable woman, and then her daughter as she’s forced to watch, as Cortez destroys an entire civilisation in South America and as European invasions wipe out 90 per cent, yes 90 per cent of native North American people after Columbus, as some drugged out teenage hoon drives himself and his five very young mates into a wall and oblivion or a lifetime of quadraplegia: where is God? Again?

The usual ridiculous response is that great evil leads to saintliness in response. Good responds to bad. We need to be free to choose. Really? Norway was perfectly civilised before the maniac went beserk. The 20,000 young men had perfectly wonderful and hopeful lives before some idiot sent them into the Somme, a place none of them had previously heard of. It is insulting to be offered the sophistry of evil enabling the good to gain ascendancy. You don’t need an Auschwitz to be able to choose Arcadia.

This final reason is really the James Murdoch clincher. If you did not know you are incompetent; if you did know and did nothing then James, God, there’s not much point having you.

Or in the words of Jean Paul Sartre (quoting another) and referring to all the millennia of human suffering and injustice: “God’s only excuse is…he doesn’t exist.”

An afterthought

In her radio show, Dr Laura Schlesinger said that, as an observant Orthodox
Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22, and
cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following response is an open letter to Dr. Laura, written by a US man, and posted on the Internet. It’s funny, as well as informative:

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have
learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as
many people as I can.  When someone tries to defend the homosexual
lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly
states it to be an abomination … End of debate.

I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of
God’s Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female,
provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine
claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify?
Why can’t I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus
21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her
period of Menstrual uncleanliness – Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I
tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a
pleasing odour for the Lord – Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They
claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2
clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill
him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
abomination, Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I
don’t agree. Can you settle this? Are there “degrees” of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a
defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my
vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around
their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How
should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different
crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend).  He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble
of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we
just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people
who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable
expertise in such matters, so I’m confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.

Your adoring fan. James M. Kauffman, Ed.D. Professor Emeritus, Dept. Of
Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education University of Virginia

PS (It would be a damn shame if we couldn’t own a Canadian)