A FEAR THAT GOD EXISTS

I appreciate honesty in people, especially in philosophers who talk about their atheism.  Many people are familiar with Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins as major spokespersons for atheism.  Dawkins in particular has made rather nasty and silly comments about Christianity.  You know it is irrational to believe in God.  But, in a debate with Alister McGrath, Dawkins said he was open to the possibility that the earth was seeded by space aliens. Based on all that evidence that we have for the existence of ET, don’t you think that is a rational response?

Thomas Nagel is a Ph. D. from Harvard.  He specializes in Political Philosophy, Ethics, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Mind.  Nagel is an admitted atheist.  He made waves sometime back by suggesting that Intelligent Design was a reasonable position to take considering the evidence in the universe.  Apparently some science writers and fellow philosophers did not take too kindly to his thesis.   You may not realize that there are many people like Nagel who cannot speak out because of the Gestapo like tactics imposed at many universities.

In his book, The Last Word, Nagel penned these words: I am talking about something much deeper – namely, the fear of religion itself. I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.

The existence of God is the most logical conclusion we can come to, in spite of the efforts of the scientific materialist. But I have long believed that most atheists were not so much atheists as God haters.  Why would a real atheist care what others thought?  Why would they write books, go on lectures and try to destroy the faith of young college students if they believed there is no God?  It seems like a wasted effort.  I believe it is because they hate the implications of the existence of God and therefore hate God himself.  If there is a God then we do not belong to ourselves, we are no autonomous creatures who shape our morals and values and our purpose for living.  If there is a God then he  has exclusive claims on our lives and he demands obedience and conformity to his will.  They think they can cover up their hatred by spewing illogical nonsense at the world as a form of misdirection.  They have their reasons, their father did not love them, their mother was cold, God did not heal a loved one.  So, they abandon God, they hate God and they want the rest of us to think it is all about being intellectual.

Then along comes Thomas Nagel and his honesty.  I don’t want there to be a God.  I like my world without a God, but I fear, my greatest fear is that God exists.

Personally I think he has a lot to worry about.