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Leprechauns, Unicorns, and God
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Recently I attended a world religionpanel at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. I have always been interested in hearing what other religions had to say for themselves. How do they explain what they believe and
why they believe it? The religions that were represented were: B’hai, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Atheism. It is interesting to note that on a world religions panel atheism was included. The Atheist was added, I think, to spice things up a little and to show the other end of the spectrum.
The Atheist said in one of his answers that he did not feel the need to disprove G-d. According to him, “If someone were to tell us that unicorns and leprechauns existed would we feel any need to come up with proofs against this person’s belief?” The crowd of course laughed. We would think it absurd that we should pay any attention to such a person. The only way that we would take them seriously is if they could show us a unicorn or leprechaun so that we could examine it. Most people do not believe in unicorns or leprechauns and therefore, we say they do not exist. In this way we see that something that is either believed or disbelieved by many people has its reality based on general human consensus. Whether it truly exists or not is another question, or perhaps the second part of the question.
I thought the Atheist’s analogy was very good, but I also thought that he used it wrongly. It is true that the majority of people do not believe in unicorns and leprechauns, however, the majority of people do believe in G-d (in one form or another). In fact, it is the atheist whose beliefs can be equated to fantasies such as leprechauns and unicorns. Gd, however, is a reality to the majority of people on thisplanet. The position the Atheist was attempting to take was that “the burden of proof is on you and not me.” Meaning, he felt that the existence of G-d was so laughable that the burden of His existence rests on the shoulders of those who believe in Him. In truth this is not the case; as we said above we ask those who hold to a minority position in belief to offer proofs, not those who hold the majority position.
The situation would be like someone who claimed that gravity did not exist. Gravity is a force that although we do not see we can observe its effects. If someone were to suddenly claim that gravity did not exist then we would find their position completely untenable until they could provide proof of their position. Until that happens we can all say with complete confidence that gravity is real, we have no reason to doubt its existence. Just as gravity’s existence is sure, so too is the existence of G-d. It is the Atheist’s burden to bring proof to the contrary; until they do, they are no better than those who claim to see unicorns and leprechauns flying about in a gravity free world.
why they believe it? The religions that were represented were: B’hai, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Atheism. It is interesting to note that on a world religions panel atheism was included. The Atheist was added, I think, to spice things up a little and to show the other end of the spectrum.
The Atheist said in one of his answers that he did not feel the need to disprove G-d. According to him, “If someone were to tell us that unicorns and leprechauns existed would we feel any need to come up with proofs against this person’s belief?” The crowd of course laughed. We would think it absurd that we should pay any attention to such a person. The only way that we would take them seriously is if they could show us a unicorn or leprechaun so that we could examine it. Most people do not believe in unicorns or leprechauns and therefore, we say they do not exist. In this way we see that something that is either believed or disbelieved by many people has its reality based on general human consensus. Whether it truly exists or not is another question, or perhaps the second part of the question.
I thought the Atheist’s analogy was very good, but I also thought that he used it wrongly. It is true that the majority of people do not believe in unicorns and leprechauns, however, the majority of people do believe in G-d (in one form or another). In fact, it is the atheist whose beliefs can be equated to fantasies such as leprechauns and unicorns. Gd, however, is a reality to the majority of people on thisplanet. The position the Atheist was attempting to take was that “the burden of proof is on you and not me.” Meaning, he felt that the existence of G-d was so laughable that the burden of His existence rests on the shoulders of those who believe in Him. In truth this is not the case; as we said above we ask those who hold to a minority position in belief to offer proofs, not those who hold the majority position.
The situation would be like someone who claimed that gravity did not exist. Gravity is a force that although we do not see we can observe its effects. If someone were to suddenly claim that gravity did not exist then we would find their position completely untenable until they could provide proof of their position. Until that happens we can all say with complete confidence that gravity is real, we have no reason to doubt its existence. Just as gravity’s existence is sure, so too is the existence of G-d. It is the Atheist’s burden to bring proof to the contrary; until they do, they are no better than those who claim to see unicorns and leprechauns flying about in a gravity free world.