Eliot Daley is an author and pastor/chaplain and he has recently written an article on Huffington Post titled, "Memo to Atheists: Why I Choose God." From what I can tell, Daley seems to be someone who is scientifically literate and who is open to new information and new evidence. It is because of this that I would like to respond to his "memo" in a serious fashion and not just some quick comment on HuffPost.
Dear Eliot,
You have certainly put a lot on the table with your article and I would like to address some of your comments, thoughts, and concerns. I think you have raised some interesting questions that we all should think deeply about. In doing so, I also want to address some misconceptions about atheists which many people might interpret from your article.
First, I want to address your personal experience with "God." You claim that you have heard God talk to you on two occasions. You said:
"Given the content of the message, from whom else could those words have made any sense whatsoever?"
Who else indeed? I don't doubt your personal experience as I was not there. However, I do doubt your hasty conclusion and interpretation of the experience. What I mean to say is that I don't doubt that you heard those words, but you should realize that our senses are filtered through our brains and that on many occasions our senses can fool us. We can see things that aren't there and hear things that aren't there as well.
We live in a western society in which religion is forced on many of us by our parents shortly after birth. If we are lucky enough to be born with parents who don't do this, religion is still propagated throughout our society at a level which is impossible to escape. One would have to literally be living in a cave to escape the influence of religious belief in our society.
These serve to condition our minds and set the stage. We are also taught that internal dialogs with ourselves are signs of insanity. This is a point you hinted out in your article when you wrote that, "I wondered at the time just how long it would take the men in white coats to swoop down and cart off to a padded cell." So who indeed gave you your sage advice? I would like you to consider the possibility that the advice did not come from the sky, but rather from yourself.
"I cannot explain 'the problem of evil' and the inexplicable pain in the world (or in my own life), but they do not invalidate my enduring, inexpressible wonder."
As an atheist, I have no need to explain the Problem of Evil since it isn't really a problem for those who lack belief in deities. However, I agree with you that the evils in our society (either natural or human caused) do not invalidate my enduring, inexpressible sense of wonder at the universe and in human beings specifically.
I do think that the Problem of Evil is a valid problem for anyone who believes in God as a God would be defined within the Problem. Just because we both see the wonder in the universe doesn't get you off the hook from trying to rationalize how an all-powerful and moral deity could cause and/or allow by his inaction the horrible inexplicable pain in this world. This is a serious problem for religious believers and that is why the Problem of Evil has remained relevant 2500 years after it was first verbalized.
"1. Where did the stage, the combustibles, and the spark come from? 2. Why?"
I want to take issue with the questions themselves here. While science is still exploring this first question and if you read Dr. Lawrence Krauss's new book, "A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing," you will see that we have made a great deal of progress. However, just because I can admit that I don't know something doesn't mean that I ought to accept explanation from anyone who claims to have an answer. Religion may have answers, but whether those answers are correct is something to consider. I have found no compelling reason to accept the answers of religion on the matter of the origin of the universe. Religion has offered no credible evidence for their claims and until they do, I am under no obligation to accept ridiculous claims based on insufficient evidence.
As for the second question, it is a leading question. How do you know there is a "why?" You are making that assumption and that assumption can only lead to your answer of choice.
"I do not imagine the day when their [science] tools will comprehend it all."
I do not imagine that day either, but we need not know it all in order to rule out some obviously nonsensical and even ridiculous answers to certain questions. This is of course a variation of the God of the Gaps argument which you ought to be familiar with.
While there are many more points I could address here, I will just skip to my final point and address the title question. Belief either for or against a proposition isn't a choice. I could not choice to believe that the Earth is the center of the universe even if my life or the lives of those I love depended on it. I could lie and say I believed something that I in fact did not, but I can't make myself consciously believe something that I know is not true.
There are reasons why we believe what we believe and reasons why we don't believe various things. Sometimes those reasons have to do with evidence or the lack of evidence. Sometimes it has to do with factors we are not aware of such as the before mentioned early indoctrination of beliefs and/or the pervasive beliefs of society which sometimes cause us to leap to certain explanations over more plausible explanations.
Science is more than just theories and evidence; it is a method for learning about the world around us by minimizing our bias and filtering out these indoctrinations, pervasive beliefs of society, and questions in our perceptions. This is why science works and why we don't use someone's "gut" or "intuition" alone to determine the truths of the universe and the world around us.
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