Is Faith the Answer?
by Doris Drisgil
On September 11, whose side was God on?
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The suicide hijackers presumably felt very close to God as they dove
into the tallest buildings in New York. Apparently they were convinced
that they were martyring themselves, and would, according to their
Muslim belief, go straight to Heaven rather than having to wait until
judgment day. No one pointed out to them that a martyr is someone who
would rather die than betray their cause. A person who commits
suicide, on the other hand, is just killing themselves and is not a
martyr, because it is a choice freely made, not one thrust upon them.
Was this act of suicide and the purposeful taking out 5000 innocent
people, then, an act that God would applaud?
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Was He on the side of the innocent victims? How many of them were
sincere believers? How many were Christians? How many were Jews or
Muslims? Or were they, all 5000 of them, evil, sinful, and worthy of
suffering an untimely death? Did their families deserve to suffer in
their loss? Or were Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson on the right track
when they said God has withdrawn his protection from the U. S. because
of our nationally sinful secular behavior?
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Since the attack, leaders from all over the country have been telling
us we must renew our faith, we must put our trust in God. But we have
every right to ask them: "Which god?" The god the hijackers believed
in? The god Falwell and Robertson bow down to? Or one of the hundred
deities that are worshiped around the world?
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If there is one obvious conclusion the thinking person can draw from
this tragedy, it is that no god could be cruel enough to will it to
happen. Any god who would support such acts is no god an honest,
compassionate person would want to worship. Faith in any such being is
not the answer. There is an alternative way of looking at life, one
that doesn't require reliance on any ambiguous and unpredictable
supernatural force. It is called Humanism.
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Humanists find no evidence for the existence of a supreme being that
intervenes in human lives. Humanists accept that the universe runs
according to natural laws, (best described by science), and that
everything that happens is a result of those laws, operating in
conjunction with human choice and random chance. Since we see no
evidence for a god or an afterlife, we understand that this is
probably the only life we have, and we must solve our own problems. To
the humanist/rationalist it is clear that fanatical belief in any god
is, and has historically been, one of our greatest problems; it
encourages the dehumanization of those who don't share that particular
belief, allowing hatred and cruelty toward all that are different.
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What this world needs is not more reliance on the supernatural, but
more reliance on ourselves, more respect for each other, and more
tolerance and compassion for all humans, whatever their background or
beliefs. That's what makes our philosophy Humanism.
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Freethinkers of Colorado Springs
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Colorado Springs, CO 80962-2946
Phone: 719-594-4506
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