The letter 3/18/07 “Get God out of our lives,” by Sam Harris special to Los Angeles Times, says the beliefs of Christians and Muslims “divide our world and subvert our national discourse”, “hobble science, inflame human conflict and squander scarce resources.” He goes on to say, “Compassion is deeper than religion…It is time that we acknowledge that human beings can be profoundly ethical—and even spiritual—without pretending to know things they do not know. …”Every one of the world’s “great” religions trivializes the immensity and beauty of the cosmos.”…Everything of value that people get from religion can be had more honestly, without presuming anything on insufficient evidence. The rest is self-deception, set to music.”

      Striving to find meaning outside of God obviously did not begin with present-day humanists. It has been going on from time-immemorial, across cultures, and it has never proved satisfactory. The ancient Greeks, with their marvelous art, philosophy, city-state, Greek gods and goddesses, the Roman Empire with its enormous size, great military strength, elitist republic, deification of emperors—both failed because they couldn’t give satisfying answers to the basic problems and questions that all humanity faces. All their gods, art, philosophy and military might put together could not give the people a sufficient base for life, morals, and values. Barbarian invasion completed the destruction, but Rome was already crumbling from within because it had no sufficient inward base. The classical world was both cruel and decadent, and that was the logical conclusion of that world view. Plato understood that regardless how lofty one’s thoughts, noble one’s actions, or grandiose ones achievements, if there are no absolutes in terms of morals and meaning—no universals like an omniscient, providential God—even those good things have no meaning. They provide no meaning to the individual life, and no ultimate value in life itself.

      Millennia later, myriad talents and accomplishments embodied Renaissance men like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Classic Renaissance humanists had such faith in man, they were sure that man starting from himself, as the center of all things, could autonomously solve every problem and answer every philosophical, scientific, and spiritual question. At the end of their lives, Michelangelo and da Vinci both recognized humanism’s limitations—that pessimism and emptiness were its natural conclusion. Centuries later, the philosophers of the Enlightenment believed man and society were perfectible, and they romantically held to this view in France in the midst of the bloodbath of the Reign of Terror. In the next two centuries, the theory of atheistic Communism with its materialistic base progressively gained power and always by dramatic repression. Materialism, the philosophic base for Marxist-Leninism, gives no basis for the dignity or rights of man. With no base for the dignity of the individual, expediency can twist and turn at the whim and will of those in power with no basis for saying that all manner of abuses are wrong.

      As arbitrary absolutes characterize communistic and other authoritative regimes, so to our detriment, has our culture gone this direction. We are bred, raised and educated with the concept of no absolutes. All is relative, based on individual experience and point of view. What is considered right or acceptable is arbitrary. The only absolute allowed is the absolute insistence that there is no absolute. Much of modern law is not based on precedent, does not carry continuity with the legal decisions of the past and previous consensus of centuries. Based on the arbitrary absolutes of the Supreme Court, the Constitution of the US can be made to say what the current courts want to say and what they consider sociologically useful at the moment. Law and morals are determined by what is popular, and what is popular is based on averages derived from what is pushed in the media. Humanity takes a further nose-dive when we combine this moral relativism with the popular concept that humans are totally a product of psychological, sociological or chemical conditioning and nothing more than physical properties that make up the DNA template.

      Ignoring the lessons of the past, secular humanists continue to try to extract meaning for existence and morals from a hopeless belief system. For humanists, the goal is for humans to make themselves increasingly independent and autonomous, and with this comes increasing loss of anything which gave meaning, either to the individual things in the world or to humankind. The dilemma of humanism is that viewing individual things as autonomous means there is nothing to which to relate them or to give them meaning. The ironic fact is that humanism, which begins with humans being central, ultimately removes any real meaning for that humanity that it intended to exalt. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) knew the despair of modern man with its humanist base. He said that God is dead, and he understood well where that places us. With no personal God, all is dead, and then everything for which God gives an answer and meaning is dead. Yet humans cry out for a meaning that can only be found in the existence of the infinite-personal providential God and in the continuity of personal life into eternity. Thus, Nietzsche’s words are profound: “But all pleasure seeks eternity—a deep and profound eternity.”

      The Bible, in contrast to humanistic writings, unites universal meaning with each individual human life. Contrary to the words of Sam Harris, the Bible profoundly elevates the “beauty of the cosmos” and the value and capacity of the human species more than any other book possibly could. Why? For one thing, it tells us that God created the cosmos and created us. For another, the Bible reveals that a personal and providential God thought we were important enough to share the truth about His character as He revealed Himself. Furthermore, through His Word God shared with us knowledge about the universe and humankind and gave us absolute, universal values and morals by which to live, and by which to judge other systems of belief, culture and politics. It laid the basis for equality and democracy, with its teaching of the priesthood of all believers. It encourages the common man or woman to stand up, and on the basis of biblical teaching, speak against an individual despot or the despotism of the majority. It gives a basis for law and for freedom without chaos brought by consensus based upon the absolute values and morals given in the Bible. That freedom included inalienable rights from arbitrary governmental power and absolutist political options that was the basis for the beginning of this nation.

      Sam Harris is incorrect when he says that Christianity “hobbles science.” Scientists that believe in a world created by a reasonable God expect to make discoveries about nature and the universe by observation, experimentation and reason because of their trust in the reasonableness of the created order. Science and art are thereby set free. Man, in contrast to other species, is creative. Creative stirrings in science (art, architecture, etc) are rooted in the fact that humans are made in the image of the Great Creator, whether or not the creative individual knows or acknowledges it.

      The Bible gives a reason for the individual being to strive for moral greatness, for self sacrifice. It gives an explanation for both our greatness and our cruelty. The Bible lays the basis for the immense dignity and value of every human as sons and daughters of the most high God, made in His image and loved by Him in a manner that is beyond comprehension. Those with the most simple vocations and the most feeble physically, cognitively and mentally are of equal dignity as the most accomplished and gifted. The meaning and value of each person’s life transcends income, intellect, education, possessions, physical abilities and would remain intact if those capacities or possessions were removed by illness or other mishap. This absolute value of the individual gives unity and meaning to the whole. The ultimate validation of the human species lies in the life, teachings, and death of Jesus Christ. For our sake, Jesus left His place beside our Father in heaven, and “emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). This answers the dilemma facing us as we look at ourselves and understand both our greatness and our guilt, and the reason why we needed Our Savior’s blood sacrifice.

      For the reasons outlined above, secular humanists must step outside their belief system to find meaning. Because Plato, da Vinci, and Nietzsche weren’t able to ascribe meaning and value to their lives and to morals without God, it would be a waste of time to challenge Sam Harris or Flathead Valley’s local secular humanists to do it. Instead, I encourage them to explore God’s Word, the Bible, for meaning and purpose of their lives, the answers to their most pressing questions, and the beauty and order of the universe created by God Who loves them. Yes Sam, the atheist can be ethical, do good deeds, and feel compassion and happiness. But they are not coming by it more honestly than those religious, because they are ignoring historical and scientific evidence that validates belief in God in general and in the Bible in particular. They are hiding from the ultimate truths about humanity and about their innermost needs, and are disavowing the Creator of their capacity for those good qualities and deeds. Truly, they are the ones deceived.

Annie Bukacek MD