Hi Shalini, I see you made your way over here. Welcome aboard! I’m surprised you didn’t take umbrage at my description of you. Bear in mind I have nothing against you personally — I just have a real problem with the arrogant attitude I see in you and many of your fellow “God-bashers”.

Your comment is correct, of course. I could believe in a flying spaghetti monster, as some folks like to snicker about, but that wouldn’t prove he/she/it exists. The real crux of the matter is that your own argument makes no sense. If there is no God, that means there’s no ultimate standard of right or wrong — or even a coherent definition of truth — which means I’m free to believe whatever I want. How dare you criticize my belief in a God who you think does not exist when that criticism is a moral judgement — a philosophical postulation which has no logical grounding according to your own worldview.

I would be completely comfortable with you saying you don’t know if God exists or not, but you think it’s likely He doesn’t. Then we could have a friendly dialogue about meaningful topics such as truth, love, freedom, purpose, meaning, the nature of existence, and so forth. We could have an exchange of ideas and maintain mutual respect for each other in the face of disagreement. We even might learn a thing or two from one another.

But that’s not the case. Not only is your mind made up — there is no God, no supernatural reality, no ultimate purpose or meaning or destiny for the human race, no objective spiritual significance to anything we could possibly make or do — but on top of that you feel it’s your life-long mission to convince the rest of the planet that you’re right (and probably that they’re wrong).

You’re appalled at the religions wackos who go around trying to convert people. Frankly, I have a real problem with some of the “conversion” efforts in the evangelical world myself. But the fact is that your own fundamentalist views based on an extreme atheist/materialist dogma are simply obnoxious, unsatisfying, and unnecessary. We could both be much happier if you’d just drop the “angry God-hater” pose and start acting like you actually care about being a decent, compassionate, and humble human being.

I’m sorry I can’t go tell this exact same thing to Dawkins, Harris, and some of the other “New Atheists” out there. But I can tell this to you, since you’re here on my blog. I’m the last person on earth who thinks he has all the answers. In fact, in most ways, I’m a stupid buffoon who doesn’t have a clue. But I’m thankful to know one thing: there IS a God who loves me, who takes care of me, and has a plan for my life. I’d rather die today with His light in my heart than live a thousand years without it.

Blessings, Jared