Human need to believe in supreme power

Mike Shuter’s joyful proclamation of the meaning of Easter ( “A question of faith”,5th April) contains, perhaps unwittingly, a sentence which will probably resonate with the agnostic’s perception of the nature and role of God in Christianity and, indeed, other religions.

He states that he “realises that Christians are simply people who know that trying to do life on their own is pretty much impossible, and that they need the help of the God that made them”.

Some 250 years earlier Voltaire, the French-born philosopher and writer of the period of enlightenment, had expressed a similar view when he declared that “if God did not exist then it would be necessary to invent him”. Although probably choosing his words carefully to steer clear of the heresy laws of the day, he was recognising the psychological need in humans for a belief in some form of supreme power or authority to make sense of the vagaries and tribulations of life.

This need is evidently both historical and universal, as demonstrated by the wide range of ancient deities and diverse religions in every corner of the world, which perceive God variously as warlike, vengeful, demanding, authoritarian, loving, paternal, compassionate or forgiving according to the culture, times and mores of the peoples and societies concerned.

This is not to deny the existence of Jesus or the recorded information about his life and teachings. We in UK and many parts of the western world can count ourselves fortunate indeed to live in a society governed by laws and a code of morality largely incorporating Christ’s teachings of compassion, charity, fairness, inclusiveness and love for our fellow men. However, many would claim that these are humanitarian aspirations and none of the above virtues in any way prove or even require the existence of an “almighty” or “supreme being” to validate them.

Either way, to those who have it, “faith” clearly transcends “evidence” or “reason”, every time.