the Centrist

This is the day that America sets aside to honor our war dead. We call it appropriately “Memorial Day”. If you are able to read this it is due to those who have gone before and unselfishly gave their lives so that we could live in freedom. This is a day when I feel theists, those who believe in God, and atheists, those who do not, set aside their differences and come together to honor the war dead. Both theists and atheists agree that life is precious, and neither side knows for certain what happens after death. It takes faith to believe in God and in my opinion one’s faith, or lack of faith, is the most important factor in shaping his/her personality and values. Since death is inevitable and we will be dead much longer than we are alive, I feel that the great mathmatician Blaze Pascal had the most pragmatic solution. He felt that only a fool would not ‘hedge his/her bet’ on the hereafter, rather than the fleeting moment. He reasoned that by believing in God he has lost nothing. Moreover, his faith had directed him to live an exemplary life trying to follow the precepts of Christianity (Pascal was a Christian). On the other hand, those who refuse to believe in God risk losing everything, as the judgment they denied during their life, will come to haunt them for eternity. Since faith is the belief in something not verifiable, and since the creation screams order and design, I feel it takes more faith not to believe than it does to believe. But the ultimate historic proof for the theists would if only somebody had died and came back to tell us. It would have to be a public display of death, and a public display of restoration. But, nobody has ever come back and told us what is on the other side … have they?

In America it boils down to a battle of bumper stickers, the Post Modern Atheists proudly display: “He who dies with the most toys wins.” While the theists (Christians in this case) ask: “What would Jesus do?” Many theistic philosophers, including Emmanuel Kant, have concluded that if the atheists are correct then altruism is a fool’s mission. Why support charities, help the sick, or care about other people’s tragedies and maladies, because if there is no God, there is no standard, no right or wrong, so why bother?
But most importantly on this day, all Americans ‘bother’. It does not matter if they are atheists or theists they respect and appreciate the sacrifice made by our war dead. In a similar manner, it matters not if these heroes had great faith or not, it matters only that they willingly risked all certainty to preserve the freedom of others. Make no mistake; there are no better human beings than those who would give their lives that others may live. Theists take time this weekend to pray a prayer of thanksgiving for those who died so that you may be free, atheists consider a moment of silence for respect of those who died for your freedom. And if you see a veteran or active military personal, shake their hand and thank them for their selfless effort.