Subtopian Issue Seventeen

Jesus says, “You’re wondering why people invented religion at all. If we assume, for the moment, that God does not exist, then why is it that people even dreamed him up?”

“Well, yeah,” I say, “I guess so. I mean, yeah, that’s it.”

Moses tilts back on a beer and replies, “Have you ever considered the possibility that the search for God is the driving force behind human accomplishment?”

“What do you mean? I mean, how is that an answer to the question? Science has advanced radically in recent decades and it has done it without religious ideology.”

“Has it?” Elijah asks.

Jesus breathes in a rolled scrap of Ecclesiastes and his voice comes out like a croak, “Yeah, is it really possible to avoid religious ideology? The majority of secular thinkers are approaching the universe through an attempt to debunk the God Theory. Can’t you see that whether you’re proving or disproving a theory that you are still motivated by it?”

“So you’re saying that by trying to abolish God we still participate in the myth of him?”

“Yes,” Elijah replies, “Like Bob Dylan says, ‘Everybody’s gotta serve someone.’ You can’t abolish religion. You only convert to a new faith. In my day it was Yahweh versus Baal idol worship.

Today it’s faith versus science. Science is the new religion.”

“But how does that answer my question?” I ask, “I mean, you know, I asked why we have God to begin with, not anything to do with the fact that he is inescapable no matter your motivation. You can do better than that, guys.”

Jesus shrugs, “You might as well ask why people gaze at the stars or created mathematics or sailed the high seas. It’s in your nature to explore, chart and conquer. God was early man’s answer to the forces he perceived as mysterious or inexplicable.”

“Right,” I reply, “but why? Why do we automatically jump to magical thinking?”

“It’s natural, kid,” Elijah says, “it’s what you do from the moment you can talk, you have to learn how to reason practically, but you naturally create far fetched, fantastic explanations for the world around you. Like kids thinking clouds are marshmallows or the moon is cheese.”

“Or God is up above us throwing down lightning,” I add, “I get it.”

Moses stands up and paces around for a second, grunting through his beard, “The question is not ‘God or No God,’ it’s ‘What is God?’ Is he really this vengeful judge people have used for thousands of years as a form of crowd control and manipulation or is he something else?”

Elijah says, “Hey man, consider that the most radical advances in early science were made by men who moonlighted as theologians. Newton, Bacon, Cornelius, Galileo, Pascal, even Einstein said the more he studied the universe the more he believed in a higher power. These were all men 14