How can you question God’s existence and still observe the Sabbath and perform other Jewish rituals? I get that question frequently and always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. Nonetheless the resulting discussions range from awkward to time consuming to downright pointless. In my experience, religious people (in the conventional sense of the word “religious”) don’t need proof of God’s existence, and they certainly don’t appreciate rational, thoughtful arguments to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They say things like “it’s true to me” and “it’s faith.” Of course I’m not suggesting that faith doesn’t exist. I know faith exists. I consider myself faithful. But I know believing in something doesn’t make it true. Hoping that something is true doesn’t make it true. So I preach the gospel of “I Don’t Know”. I’m neither intelligent nor arrogant enough to deny God’s existence, but I am troubled by the lack of real scientific evidence to support it. God-fearing folks find this offensive. Which seems particularly unfair. Science seeks the truth and does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence that is constantly updated. My point being, you can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts. It astounds me that people can accuse me of being insulting for questioning God’s existence without first asking themselves why they believe in God. Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. When I was a kid, I told everyone in my class that my dad drove a car just like Kitt from Knight Rider. When my classmates justifiably demanded proof, I quickly realized I was fucked. Just because I’m dubious about God’s existence doesn’t mean I think believing in him does any harm. If it helps people in any way, that’s fine with me. It’s when that belief starts infringing on other people’s rights that worries me. I would rather that religious leaders didn’t advocate ideas like killing people because their rulebook says certain sexualities are immoral. It’s strange that anyone who believes that an all-knowing, omniscient power responsible for everything that happens, would also want to judge and punish people for what they are. Perhaps that's why I'm so baffled when people take offense to my perspective on God, after all that’s how he created me.
So what does the question “How can you question God’s existence and still observe the Sabbath…?” really mean. I think when someone asks that they are really questioning their own belief. In a way they are asking “How come you’re not brainwashed like the rest of us?” Let’s be honest, if one person believed in God he would be considered pretty strange. But because it’s a very popular view it’s accepted. And why is it such a popular view? That’s obvious. It’s an attractive proposition. Believe in me and you’ll be comforted. If some horrible shit goes down in your life, don’t worry, there’s a master plan. You’ll have a renewed sense of direction and purpose. Add the threat of punishment (in this life and the “next”) for failing to adhere to religious doctrines, and you’ve got a pretty compelling argument.
My point is, while religion promotes plenty of wonderful virtues like “Do unto others…”, honoring your parents, forgiveness, and taking time out to relax, reflect and appreciate your friends and family without the distraction of weekday responsibilities, those are virtues in their own right. Not just Christian virtues or Jewish virtues or any other religions’ for that matter. Nobody owns them. So just because I don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for these “in the world to come” doesn’t mean they’re not worth pursuing anyway. My reward is here and now, and that’s good enough for me.
