Getting Stroppy
I sometimes get an uneasy feeling about people who say that they believe in life after death. They are it seems, sentencing me and people who think like me to some kind of eternal (conscious?) existence of salvation or damnation for which I certainly have no desire. As a 97% atheist (I leave 3% open for the unlikely possibility of gods, goblins etc.) I try to deal with the vicissitudes of life when they arise and give no thought to a fancied hereafter. After my death, what happens to the matter of which I am comprised? I really don’t mind. As to what happens to my mind? It doesn’t matter! Soul? Who knows? (Who cares?)
I suppose it must be comforting for those superstitious types who need to assuage the fact of bodily death with a kind of spiritual insurance policy. All will be well in heaven with God. I am content with living in the real world. Try getting odds on Pascal’s wager with Paddy Power!
We are dealing here with things beyond our understanding and control. For me, the only stance is an honest and open minded atheism.
Gods? Life after death? I made the mistake of thinking that Occam’s razor took care of those concepts. It must need honing. Fetch me the strop at once!
John Ward
Dublin Unitarian Church March 2009
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