Thursday, January 29, 2009

KEEP THE FAITH










The battle of slogans between Christians and atheists has reached ridiculous levels in Madrid. Depending on which bus you catch you can either be accompanied by a pro or anti God poster – and if you change routes you can travel with both.

If there is a God, I suspect he, she or it has a keen sense of humour. After all God did create man and woman. I would also think that God is having a good old chuckle at the antics of the Christian and Atheist lobbies. The fact is that whether you are the Pope, an Imam, the Chief Rabbi, the Dalai Lama, other religious leaders or the venerable Stephan Hawkins – you have no idea if God exists or not.

I would describe myself as a Catholic agnostic. An agnostic certainly because I simply have no idea whether a Supreme Being presides over us or not. A Catholic – well as they say, once a Catholic always a Catholic - and although I have long since lapsed the smells and bells still ring a chord in my heart.

What both followers of God and atheists share is faith. If you read the writings of the key figures in the Christian church you will see they were filled with doubt – just like we are. It took the act of faith for them to say – yes, we believe in God and that God is Christ. It is the Catholic faith. Equally atheists cannot be sure there isn’t a God either – their poster says as much – “There’s probably no God…” So to accept that there is no God requires faith as well. So it is also the atheist faith.

I believe we all need a spiritual element in our lives. However we won’t know whether God exists until we are dead – and then it could be too late for many good and bad reasons. Amen.

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