Faith for atheists. Part 3

Faith for atheists

Part 3: If we are after the best deal, it has to be one that pays out now

I will begin by using the idea of fulfilling our potential – and the tragedy of not doing so.

Imagine someone with a skill or aptitude for something. It doesn’t matter what it is: in music, art, sport, intellectual ability, capacity for caring, creative thinking, community building, scientific research, whatever. If someone had this potential, but couldn’t be bothered to use it, we would think that that was in some way wrong. To pluck out just one illustration: if Usain Bolt realised he had the ability to become the fastest runner on earth but couldn’t be bothered to train or even to turn up for the Olympic final, we would regard that as a terrible waste.

Now, let’s consider key religious claims. You don’t get much bigger than the claim that there is an eternal life of bliss on offer in heaven. In previous ages, this gave huge motivation for the religious life. Particularly given that, for most people, life was quite short and very hard, and easily ended by warfare, famine or illness that today would simply take a short course of antibiotics to clear up, the “religious deal” sounded very attractive: “I will worship God; keep his rules; and after this earthly life I will get my eternal reward”. Some believers overtly (though perhaps they kept this to themselves) resented “losing out” in some of the pleasures of life, in order to keep God onside, but the whole package was worth the sacrifice. However, our increasing scientific understanding of the universe and of humanity has made it hard for many people to believe in life after death. Many people think that it may just, somehow, be possible, but I’m not going to bet my life on it, in terms of giving up things that I want to do just to keep God happy – just in case there is a God, and just in case he really does get cross if we break his rules. I’d rather not lose out on the pleasures of this life.

Instead, people in the UK expect that – given a reasonable roll of the dice – they can look forward to 80+ years of interest, achievement and enjoyment. I am not at all decrying interest, achievement and enjoyment, and we will return to this point. Likewise, I am not overblowing the criticism that life has been taken over by a consumerist mindset. However, there are elements of consumerism that, almost inevitably, invade our understanding of life itself. If, through absurdly lucky chances, I find myself alive in the modern age, in a peaceful and prosperous country like the UK, and if this life is going to end in about 80 years and that will be the complete end of me, then I have an opportunity – no, a responsibility – to maximise my fulfilment before this wonderful gift of life is taken away from me. This does not, of course, exclude altruism, principled commitment to good causes and sacrificial service, for all these things may be part of individual’s understanding of what fulfilment entails. However, we can see that, in an atheist mindset, if other individuals choose to maximise fulfilment through indulgent self-interest, there are no sure grounds for criticising them, for they are simply doing what life is for: fulfilling their potential according to their own standards of what they think is worth bothering about.

Therefore, to appeal to atheists to adopt the life of faith, I think we need to appeal entirely to this life on planet earth. Life after death may be a reality, but we cannot be sure, and no-one in this life is ever going to prove it.