By
Israel Drazin

 

I dislike and reject the notion of “faith,” which is the acceptance that an idea
is true even though the idea is clearly shown to be false by science, the use
of our five senses, or reasoning. I accept as true only facts that are
rational. I am not an atheist by any means, but I recognize that there is no
proof that God exists. Rebecca N. Goldstein described several dozen “proofs”
that people offer to show that God exists in her 2010 book 36 Arguments for the Existence of God. Goldstein revealed that each of the arguments has been refuted. The philosopher Maimonides (1138-1204) used
four arguments in his Guide of the Perplexed to prove God’s existence, but all are outdated and shown to be
wrong by modern science.

 

Since all possible “proofs” for God’s existence are disproved, people who want to accept the
existence of God, must rely on blind faith, be an atheist, or an agnostic and
say “Perhaps God exists. I don’t know for sure and I can’t prove it.” I take a
fourth approach. Although I can’t prove God’s existence and I see no evidence
that he is involved in what is transpiring in the world, this is not important
for me. I focus on behavior. I think that one benefit of religion is that it
suggests that we perform certain acts, which Maimonides says lead to the
understanding of some truths, to self improvement, and the improvement of
society.

 

If God exists, there are two possibilities. The first is that
God wants people to sit back, relax, and depend on him. He knows what he is
doing. He will take care of humanity. He will feed the poor and clothe the
naked. He will ensure that war, pestilence, ignorance, and spoiling the
environment don’t destroy the world.

 

The second possibility, my approach, is to think that even if God
exists, he wants people to do these things, to act as if there is no God. Whenever
there is a need for something to be done – to help people, society, or the
world in general – people should behave as if there is no God and nothing will
be done to resolve the problem at hand unless they themselves do what must be
done.

 

Even if I am wrong and God is ready, willing, and able to resolve
world and personal problems, since he is good and knows that people who act in his
place are doing so for a good reason, he will be pleased with everyone who
assumes his role. I think that if God reacts to such things, he would be
displeased with people who contend that they should sit back, pray, read
religious texts, think and act as if they are pious, and passively perform
irrelevant devotional deeds, expecting God to remedy human and societal needs
when God expects them to work to improve themselves and the world.