Well, that about wraps it up for Gd
Sep. 23rd, 2003 03:11 pmFrom last night's Enough Rope, and the interview with Sir David Attenborough:
Andrew Denton: When you see this sort of stuff, do you ever get a sense of God's pattern?
Sir David Attenborough: Well, if you ask...about that, then you see remarkable things like that earwig and you also see all very beautiful things like hummingbirds, orchids, and so on. But you also ought to think of the other, less attractive things. You ought to think of tapeworms. You ought to think of... well, think of a parasitic worm that lives only in the eyeballs of human beings, boring its way through them, in West Africa, for example, where it's common, turning people blind. So if you say, "I believe that God designed and created and brought into existence every single species that exists," then you've also got to say, "Well, he, at some stage, decided to bring into existence a worm that's going to turn people blind." Now, I find that very difficult to reconcile with notions about a merciful God. And I certainly find it difficult to believe that a God -- superhuman, supreme power -- would actually do that.
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I used to believe in God. For about six months, when I was eighteen. I felt His presence, a benign and all-powerful being, watching over me with His love.
Then the feeling went away. And I was left to think about what it all meant.
And I concluded that vague feelings of cosmic love did not constitute empirical proof. So... until God gives us something solid and verifiable to go on, I refuse to believe in him.
And even if he turned up tomorrow for a DNA test and tour of the chat shows, that doesn't mean I'd worship him.
The whole parasitical worm thing is one of the reasons.
Andrew Denton: When you see this sort of stuff, do you ever get a sense of God's pattern?
Sir David Attenborough: Well, if you ask...about that, then you see remarkable things like that earwig and you also see all very beautiful things like hummingbirds, orchids, and so on. But you also ought to think of the other, less attractive things. You ought to think of tapeworms. You ought to think of... well, think of a parasitic worm that lives only in the eyeballs of human beings, boring its way through them, in West Africa, for example, where it's common, turning people blind. So if you say, "I believe that God designed and created and brought into existence every single species that exists," then you've also got to say, "Well, he, at some stage, decided to bring into existence a worm that's going to turn people blind." Now, I find that very difficult to reconcile with notions about a merciful God. And I certainly find it difficult to believe that a God -- superhuman, supreme power -- would actually do that.
---
I used to believe in God. For about six months, when I was eighteen. I felt His presence, a benign and all-powerful being, watching over me with His love.
Then the feeling went away. And I was left to think about what it all meant.
And I concluded that vague feelings of cosmic love did not constitute empirical proof. So... until God gives us something solid and verifiable to go on, I refuse to believe in him.
And even if he turned up tomorrow for a DNA test and tour of the chat shows, that doesn't mean I'd worship him.
The whole parasitical worm thing is one of the reasons.