The Inescapable God
It's hard to live like there's no God - it might be impossible.
Many in the west are dropping God from their worldview. They may or may not realize that they are picking up a new worldview (one without God).
Few that adopt a God-less worldview work out its implications. Fewer still live by those implications.
Most of us (actually all of us as we'll see) believe in things like free will, human rights, morality, justice, and meaning. These things make perfect sense within a Judeo-Christian worldview. Made in the image of God, we are given a purpose, dignity and worth, and a moral sense to comprehend the moral law that permeates the world.
If there is no God, none of those things are real. Free will, morality, human rights, and meaning in life are fictions.
What's wrong with believing that?
Nothing... except real life.
Free Will
There is no free will in a universe without God. We are just biology. Biology arises from chemistry, chemistry arises from physics, and physics tells us that we are simply a bundle of atoms.
Atoms don't choose. Their location and velocity depends on prior location and velocity. There's no "free will variable" in Newton's laws or quantum theory - it’s already determined. In a universe without God, it turns out that we are robots.
But try to live a day denying that you have free will.
Try it in the burrito line at Chipotle. Notice when convincing a friend to watch a TV show or come to a party. Consider when you criticize the president for what he did or didn't do.
You're assuming that you, your friend, and the president have a choice. If it was determined, why argue anything? It's already determined.
My personal favorite is when someone tries to convince someone else that free will is not real (cue Alanis Morissette).
Is this an accurate description of the world and our experience?
In the philosophy room, it's easy to dismiss God. But real life is stubborn. It grabs us by the collar and forces us to believe in things like free will. We can't function without it.
But for free will we need a worldview that includes God. When we make a choice, when we argue or protest someone's actions, we are believing that free will is real.
We live like God exists.
Morality
There is no morality in a universe without God. Matter is all that is... and it just is. Arguments over morality are like arguments over which color is the best - one person's feelings against another's.
But try living a day without morality.
Read about the latest murder. Remember armed jihadists taking over a plane of terrified travelers and crashing it into a skyscraper. Let the reality of millions of little boys and girls on the trains to Auschwitz (and those bringing them there) sink in.
Think too about the social workers, policeman, and teachers working to make our world a better place. Think about the firefighters climbing up World Trade Center stairs, saving lives and giving their own. Think about families across Europe risking their lives to harbor their Jewish neighbors.
Is the firefighters' bravery the same morally as the Jihadists' murder? Are Adolf Hitler and Josef Mengele the same morally as Mother Theresa?
They are in a universe without God.
In a world without God, might is what makes right. Without God, survival of the fittest is our ethic and there's a strong case to be made that the Nazis were performing a moral good.
Is this an accurate description of the world and our experience?
If God exists, there is a transcendent moral code that exists across space and time - and we know it. If God exists, we can condemn slavery or the Holocaust even though those in power believed it was right at the time. If God does not exist, we can't.
When we condemn war, child abuse or genocide, we are saying that morality is real.
We live like God exists.
Human Rights
There are no human rights without God. A person has the same instrinsic value as a puddle of mud. A child is as valuable as a lawn ornament.
But try living a day without believing in human rights.
"Black Lives Matter". "Blue Lives Matter". Without God, the only lawn sign that makes sense is one that says "No Lives Matter".
Gay rights, civil rights, women's rights - all fiction.
What are "rights" in a material universe? When did they come into existence? How do you know they are there? Why should we abide by them?
In a world without God, a society that wanted to get rid of a people group, could simply decide that it brings utility to the rest and get rid of them - without argument. It would be the right thing to do.
Is this an accurate description of the world and our experience?
If there is a God, humans do have rights. Justice is something we are supposed to work for because black lives, blue lives, young, old, democrat, republican, gay straight, Muslim, Buddhist, all have tremendous value. They matter.
So when we condemn slavery and genocide, when we stand up for people's rights, when we protect the vulnerable, we are saying that humans have inherent value and rights (which only make sense if we're made in the image of God).
We live like God exists.
Meaning
Life has no meaning if God does not exist. We will die and so will humanity. Our achievements and our wars, our art, technology, and progress will be forgotten without witness as our sun burns down alongside the wider universe.
But try living a day like life has no meaning.
Why do you get out of bed? Why pour yourselves into work? Or kids? Or a cause?
We can delude ourselves with ideas like "subjective meaning" but subjective meaning is no meaning at all.
Albert Camus, the 20th century authority on meaning without God, summed up his life's work well - “There is only one really serious philosophical question, and that is suicide.”
Without God, nothing matters.
Is this an accurate description of the world and our experience?
With God, everything matters.
Our work, our parenting, our struggle for a better world are all of utmost importance. We are partnering with God on things that will last into eternity for people who will last into eternity. Even our incomplete, imperfect work awaits the day where God will complete what he's started in us.
In 1974, Ernest Becker won a Pulitzer prize for his book "The Denial of Death". Its core thesis: it is impossible for humans - religious or otherwise - to live as if life has no lasting meaning. We simply can't do it.
Does your life matter? My bet is that you live like it does - we can't help it. When we wake up, go to work, raise our kids, fight to make our world a better place we are saying that life has meaning.
We live like God exists.
Conclusion
Few non-theists work out the implications of their worldview. Fewer still have grappled with the incompatibility of those implications with real life.
If our boots have leaks, we need different boots. If our worldview can't account for reality, we need a different worldview.
A worldview without God has no room for fundamental aspects of our lives - and our humanity. Furthermore, it doesn't provide helpful guidance for living a good life. If anything, the opposite is true.
Back in the thick of my doubt, there were days where I was sure that God didn't exist. But I noticed something. Even on the days that I dismissed religion as a silly, inherited set of beliefs, I saw that it didn't really matter what theoretical conclusions I had reached about the existence or non-existence of God. I couldn't escape living as though God was real. It's just part of being human.
We live like God exists.
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