Goddamnit.
I never thought the day would come, but I’m going to have to renounce my atheism and cast my lot in with the believers.
The latter half of that proclamation is nothing new; I’m such a believer in (and product of) the Scientific Method that I take it as nothing short of faith. The first part, though, I never thought I’d have to utter.
But watching an episode of The Atheist Experience, a YouTube channel, finally sent me over the edge.
The show, hosted by Matt Dillahunty, features some lively debates between Dillahunty and select other atheists, who field ardent and sometimes angry calls nationwide from believers. I called in once. They take calls only from believers.
The shows of late have gone like this: A caller rings in and says something to the effect of: “I know you guys say there’s no God, but...”
At that point, Dillahunty unfailingly cuts off the caller to correct the record about his position on God — and the definition of atheism: the disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods. “I’m not saying there is no God,” Dillahunty is fond of saying. “I’m saying the burden of proof is on the believer making the claim.”
The caller is usally so thrown off by the nitpick that they never get to the meat of the philosophical difference.
I’m calling bullshit. Yes, that is the Oxford definition of atheism. But we know that everyday atheists mean ‘There is no god.’ when they identify as such.
I know that as fact because I used to say and think it all the time. And if you’re still talking Oxford’s definition ((in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being), I’d say it still.
But in the spirit of the law (which is what we all seek, yes?), I’ve abridged my thinking. If religion is undeciphered science (which I also take as faith), then that undeciphered science is the higher power. Whatever you want to call it — empiricism, evidence-based, factual, provable, predictive, falsifiable — that what I believe. That’s what I am.
And I’m tired of hearing people tell me who they’re not.
It’s that very behavior that has proved such political mildew at either end of the spectrum. On the right, you have a GOP that will tell you what they’re against: abortion, gun control, Obamacare. Ask them specifically what they do want, and you’ll get a CPAC-smeared version of “I don’t want to get ripped off anymore.”
The mold is no less toxic on the port bow. What is the woke cancel culture but a societal rejection of what we’d like to forget about ourselves?
Both are easy way outs, a sound bite after a close game, a political answer to an apolitical question. We like all music. We like all foods. We are non-binary, off-the-guage, undefinable-but-still-uniquely-individual fingerprints on the steering wheel that is humanity.
Fuck that. Pick a side, suit up, and get on the field. Regardless of jersey, we’re human, right?
We all believe in something.
