The final word on Christians vs. atheists?
Re: A Reply To My Atheist Critics: They Protest Too Much, Conrad Black, March 28; Christianity’s Critics Ignore Evidence, letters to the editor, March 31. It was G.K. Chesterton who perhaps said it best: “If there were no God, there would be no atheists.”
But to finally “settle” the endless debate on the National Post’s letters pages about atheism vs. God, let’s give Christopher Hitchens the last word and be done with it: “That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”
Edward Bopp, Tsawwassen, B.C.
Letter-writer Craig Montgomery’s insistence on the veracity of Christianity’s historicity flies in the face of modern scholarly research, no less than did those who insisted the Earth was flat. He may find some further enlightenment in such works as those of Bart D. Ehrman, chairman of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, once a devout Evangelical Christian, now a prolific writer on the New Testament (including The New York Times bestseller, Misquoting Jesus).
Not the least of Mr. Montgomery’s difficulties with those supposed eyewitness accounts in the time of Christ, whose existence is not disputed by most scholars, is that such accounts were written long after that life and by authors unknown.
R. Michaels, Burlington, Ont.
The strident discussion on organized religions filled with animus between Conrad Black and his atheist critics unfortunately misses discussion about the transcendental aspect of personal religion. This religion — spirituality if you will — focuses on deep meditation, and prayer in some instances, and is devoid of dogmas, sectarianism and ossified rituals that divide other religions, great and small. Mystics of all traditions speak of experiencing the Divine, the Transcendental Self, Nirvana in the Buddhist tradition or Moksha in the Hindu tradition.
In her book My Stroke of Insight, Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist from Harvard University, experienced this profound state of being during her stroke, when the left hemisphere of her brain shut down. She writes, “I believe the experience of Nirvana exists in the consciousness of our right hemisphere, and that at any moment, we can hook into that part of the brain.”
This is the goal of all spiritual seekers. From my perspective, organized religions with their countless and conflicting dogmas pervert that spirit of true belief and experience. Theists, atheists, agnostics can all practise deep meditation. Scientists can continue to expand our knowledge of the natural world without offending those who wish to practise their beliefs. The need for cacophonous debates about God can be halted since it appears it is an argument that is impossible to resolve.
Kanti Makan, Cambridge, Ont.