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In the Ireland that I grew up in the idea of questioning the existence of God would have been regarded as being something just short of madness. All civilized people knew that God existed. We may have disagreed about who had the monopoly of truth about God but that he did exist and was male was almost beyond question. God was in his heaven all was well with the world; all we had to do was to follow the rules, and if we behaved well enough we would spend eternity in heaven; failure to meet the standard would mean eternity in hell. Hell was certainly to be avoided, but even as a child I must admit that heaven sounded boring – eternity in the presence of the Beatific Vision still sounds boring. The teenage years of questioning what I had been taught brought me to the conclusion that Jesus was human. My God became less intimidating more inclusive and I felt would be more accepting of my honestly drawn conclusions. Someone asked me what I would do when/ if I got to heaven and found Jesus sitting on the Judgement seat? I was quite confident that my honestly drawn conclusions would have been accepted; God would have to take some of the responsibility for not giving me the gift of faith. I think that my experience may be common to many of you. As is usual with the big questions Religious belief is never a matter of settling the case once and for all. Maturing years and life’s experiences means that we usually revisit the big questions and we may indeed come to a different conclusion. The book In God we Doubt: Confessions of a Failed Atheist is John Humphreys’ attempts to settle the matter of whether or not God exists once and for all. Humphreys was brought up a Christian, and like many Unitarians he ceased to practice his faith but has not altogether been able dismiss the belief in God – he calls himself “A failed atheist – someone reviled by all sides in the argument”. Humphreys is a radio presenter and to help him to clarify his beliefs, he invited leaders of three of the world’s main religious traditions to come on his radio programme to try to convince him that God exists, and to explain why if a “merciful God” does exist, God allows suffering in the world, in particular how can a loving God allow children to suffer. He also queried whether God responds to our prayers. These questions are the same old chestnuts we asked our religion teachers; the same questions we lined up for our retreat leaders when we were difficult bolshie teenagers. I bet you remember doing the same and wondering if you dared ask the one about sex! Ask a silly question and you will get a silly answer……..The answers given to John Humphreys were not just uninspiring, and inadequate, I thought that they were downright silly. For example The Jewish Rabbi felt that God listened to Jewish prayers more directly than to Christian prayers because Christians made their prayers via Jesus Christ while Jews went directly to God. Rabbi Jonathan Sachs agreed that “Jews cut out the middleman” (Page 162). When asked why if God listened to the prayers He did not respond to them, his reply was: “we do not live in the age of God the strategic intervener” Archbishop Rowan Williams’ reply to the question “Does God respond to our prayers i.e. directly intervene in the world” was somewhat puzzling: God set up the universe in such a way that when certain causes come together, certain circumstances come together, more is possible than those immediately involved imagine, as if there's something that breaks through ... because God has set up the conditions in which, in this situation rather than that, it happens. As I've sometimes put it, the membrane is thinner, his action is nearer the surface. And that may be because of human prayer, because of human holiness. Something more thorough than you might otherwise expect. The Muslim cleric gave the most honest answer; he believed that when God sends suffering, that humans must accept it as a test of some sort. All that they are required by their faith to do is to attempt to alleviate the suffering whenever they encounter it. God is God, and it is not for humans to question His ways. I felt that the responses given to John Humphreys by leading clerics and theologians were more likely to change Mr Humphreys from someone who had doubts about the existence of God to him becoming another Richard Dawking - a confirmed Atheist; but something unexpected occurred that changed his mind. The radio programmes evoked a huge response from listeners and in these responses John Humphreys saw evidence, not of the existence of God, but of people’s spiritual experiences. The letters came in to the BBC in their thousands. The writers couldn’t offer any proof of the existence of God, but the spiritual journeys of the writers of these letters were really inspiring. The truth is of course that no one can offer conclusive proof of the existence or otherwise of God, and our experience of the world is that, no matter how sincerely we pray, God often remains remarkably silent and does not come dashing to our aid on a shining charger. This is because we humans have made a fundamental mistake about what we mean by God. The God we believe in or dismiss is the work of human design; this God of the Jewish or Christian scriptures is a human construction. Its constructors who lived a few thousand years ago have given an account of their perception of Divinity; they are giving us their account of the Mystery of life. Reading these scriptures shows us that God is not a fixed truth. In the known history of God in the Judeo/ Christian tradition, God has changed from God the Law Giver and Contract maker to God as Loving Father. The God of the Jewish nation required that the correct dues be paid to him by his people. The Christian God is regarded as an indulgent parent, someone to look after us, someone we can cajole. This evolving God is what I regard as the “God of Religions” This God of organised religions comes with attributes and a list of things we are required to believe on pain of everlasting torture. God is one but three !!!! This is a “Mystery” we are to take this on faith. Jesus is 100% human and at the same time 100% Divine. In view of this system of required beliefs it is not surprising that people opt for Atheism and live long and happy lives; some people are like me; we can dismiss the “God of Religions” but are still left with the feeling that there is as we put it “Something else”. Rev.Art Lester calls it a ‘hunch’. Becoming aware of this hunch is when we often begin our spiritual journey. I believe that a spiritual journey requires that we each find our own direct experience of God. Throw away the old perceptions, beliefs and prejudices and see where your journey brings you. The big advantage of belonging to the Unitarian Band of Spiritual Travellers is that there are no expectations set for us. We set our own agenda, we make the journey at our own pace; there is nothing of the snob about us; we are willing to accept help from any quarter, we do not have a preset destination; we are given the liberty to change our minds at any time. A disadvantage of this position is that we cannot offer certainty of salvation, or any other certainty for that matter. The reason that the luminaries of the three great monotheistic religions failed to convince John Humphreys of the existence of God is that God is not something that can be understood by reason. God is not a scientific experiment that can be performed and repeated; produced with a consistent result. Meha Baba, an Indian mystic said that asking to understand God with our minds was like asking for the privilege of “seeing with your ears”. This ‘prove or disprove’ approach to God probably was part of our childhood, and this is where it should remain. Living with a “hunch about God” or “an inner voice” or believing that there is “something else” is not something negative; it is in fact positive. On the road to Damascus St. Paul found his God when he was thrown from his horse, and made temporarily blind; God asked Paul why he was persecuting him. If this did actually happen it would be fairly dramatic evidence as to the existence of God. If it were to happen to me I too would believe. It is extremely unlikely to happen to us; we are more likely to come to a gradual recognition of a truth we may call God. We will discover God when we allow God to find us. All the spiritual traditions give the same advice to seekers of God. God will be found when we forget our own petty egos. God and Ego are incompatible. When we lay aside our own selfish interests, do good to others, give our souls time simply to be; this is when we will become aware of the Mystery of Life. We are more likely to find God in Nature rather than in Church. Some of the hymns in our hymnbook put it beautifully. Hymn 90 (in the old hymn book) says: ‘God speaks to us in bird and song In winds that drift the clouds along…… In peace of home and friends most dear… by kiss of child and touch of hand…. ‘Someone said something to me that made total sense; for me it was a eureka moment. His advice was not to look at God as being “there” and me “here” but to think of them as a unity. God is not out there, hidden in some nook in the sky; God is within each one of us. An Indian sage described it as when you dissolve salt in water, the salt and the water are one/ indivisible. The Buddhists say that when the pupil is ready a teacher will appear. When we are ready to pursue a spiritual quest rest assured that a teacher will appear. We may stay with that teacher for a while, or we may experiment with many different teachers; hopefully we will learn something from each of them. Our spiritual journey is exactly that - a journey; it is never possible to say that now we have all the answers. How will we know when we have found God? We will recognise God by feeling truly happy. If the God you find does not make you feel happy; then you have found a false God. Those who have found God radiate an inner happiness. Good luck in your searching and may your God go with you. Amen
Rev.Bridget Spain
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