THERE’S PROBABLY NO GOD. NOW STOP WORRYING AND ENJOY YOUR LIFE

he above slogan was featured in a bus advertising campaign funded by the British Humanist Association. This is a philosophy and attitude to life that I would have very happily subscribed to before I became a Christian aged 19 whilst studying at university. Although, my attitudes to Christianity and religion were even more aggressive and antagonistic. When I was asked by a Christian believer what I thought happened to people when they died, I said; ‘You die, you rot, you are eaten by worms. Can you not just accept this?’

For me, life was rational and scientific and there was no need to look to a spiritual realm, or a deity to find meaning in life. When I was an atheist, I would also probably have subscribed to a humanist attitude towards morality and meaning in life. Humanism is being promoted more and more in British Society which is becoming increasingly secularised. Many people in Britain would be happier having a humanist funeral or wedding than a Christian service. Humanism is becoming a popular alternative to religious beliefs on morality and the meaning of life.

But what is humanism and what do humanists believe? Here is an excerpt from the website of the British Humanist Association:
Historically, humanists have ‘been non-religious people who have believed that this life is the only life we have, that the universe is a natural phenomenon with no supernatural side, and that we can live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. Today, people who share these beliefs and values are called humanists and this combination of attitudes is called Humanism. Roughly speaking, the word humanist has come to mean someone who: trusts to the scientific method when it comes to understanding how the universe works and rejects the idea of the supernatural (and is therefore an atheist or agnostic) makes their ethical decisions based on reason, empathy, and a concern for human beings and other sentient animals believes that, in the absence of an afterlife and any discernible purpose to the universe, human beings can act to give their own lives meaning by seeking happiness in this life and helping others to do the same.

As someone who is now a Christian, and looking back on my life when I was an atheist I can see the appeal of this set of beliefs. However, I have some key objections to this philosophy and approach to life and I will go on now to describe them.

Firstly, humanists believe that this life is the only one we have. According to the bus campaign that they promoted, we should simply accept that there is probably no God, stop worrying and enjoy our lives.

I think this belief that we only have one life, and that there is no eternal life can seem appealing if you live in the Western world; have a comfortable life, live in material comfort, and experience healthy and happy relationships in your family and community. It is relatively easy to accept that this life is all that there is, when this life is pleasant and enjoyable. It is quite easy to focus on this life for now, enjoy it and accept that there is no afterlife or chance of heaven if life is good and you are relatively content in life. This is the view of life that I took before I was a Christian.

There are key problems with this worldview however. I want you to imagine for a moment, that a poster by the British Humanist Association is displayed in a refugee camp inhabited by despairing migrants. People there are struggling to survive on a daily basis and living in conditions that are not fit for human beings. Imagine a person in that situation seeing a sign which reads, ‘There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.’ This message would offer no hope to someone whose life on this earth was actually ravaged by suffering and hardship. If there is no afterlife, and no loving God, what does this mean for people whose entire lives consist of suffering?.

Imagine this humanist atheist sign being displayed in a hospice for people dying of cancer. It would seem insensitive and hopeless. So, in this respect, the humanist approach to life of believing that this life is the only one there is actually only works for those whose lives who are actually comfortable and free of intense suffering. It offers no hope to someone who has lost a loved one, is confronted by suffering or illness, or facing imminent death.

Humanists believe that the universe is a natural phenomenon and that there is no supernatural aspect to life whatsoever. They would hold to the view that the world was formed during the big bang, and that human life as we know it has simply evolved. However, I have to say that in my lifetime I have had many experiences of a supernatural nature that I cannot explain through science or rational reasoning. One example from my life was that I was going permanently deaf, and was told that I would be totally deaf in at least one ear by the age of 30. I also had constant tinnitus in both ears. One night I received prayer for healing of my damaged hearing and tinnitus. As I was prayed for, I felt a physical sensation inside my ears, and the tinnitus (constant ringing in my ears) began to fade. By the next day, my hearing was much clearer and the ringing in my ears had stopped. I am now 34 years old, and I have perfect hearing. I have known other people who have experienced amazing physical healing through prayer and I know this cannot be explained away through science. This is just one example of a supernatural experience that I have had but I have also had many more.

In Britain, and in other Western nations, God has been written out of school education, and we are being conditioned to believe that life has evolved and that everything can be explained through science. We are being taught the theory of evolution (which is a theory that has yet to be proven) as if it is scientific fact. Yet, many scientists (some of whom are not in any way religious) are coming forward to say that they believe that there must be an intelligent designer behind the complexities that are discovered throughout the natural world. So, there is much debate about how the world came into existence, and how human beings came to exist on the earth. But we are being indoctrinated into the view that everything can be explained through rational scientific thought and the theory of evolution. Humanists support this kind of education in schools and believe that faith and spiritual beliefs should be outruled from state education.

I think that to believe that the world is purposeless, and that humans simply evolved from earlier life forms offers no real hope, or sense of meaning in our lives. If the universe is a natural phenomenon and humans evolved from primates, then there is no real meaning to our existence. We are just a random collection of biological matter. And, if we are just a random collection of biological matter, then what is the basis for morality or a sense of the dignity of human life? In fact, if we are just a more evolved species, then why do humans have any more value than a spider, or a fly or a mushroom for that matter?

Christians believe that human beings are made in the image of God with the capacity to know Him and connect to Him in a spiritual sense. If human beings are created by God; then they have a special value and a greater value than other creatures on the earth.

The humanist viewpoint that ‘ we can live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity’ seems very flawed. I wonder where we can get our ethics from if we have no moral compass that can be derived from a knowledge of God’s will and His view of the value of human life. How can we know what is ethical simply based on reason? For example, in different cultures of the world, people can use reason to justify all sorts of immoral behaviour. What if people’s view of what is reasonable and reasoned is completely flawed and therefore leads to behaviour that is cruel or hurtful?

Reason and our understanding of the world around us plus our views on what is moral or immoral can be influenced by what country we live in and what the views of our society might tell us. For example, people reasoned through a framework of belief in Darwinian evolution that black African people were less evolved than whites and this was something that was used to justify the slave trade before it was abolished. Here, reason was employed to justify cruelty to other human beings. Humanists believe that we should get our framework for ethics and fulfilment in life from simply being a human and valuing human life. However, if we believe that life on earth and human life is simply the result of evolution and that the universe has no real meaning or purpose, then why should we believe that humans have any special value at all? Why do humans have any more value than a banana or a tree if they are just a part of a pointless universe that came into existence through a massive explosion of particles?

Humanists take the standpoint that they have ‘trusted to the scientific method, evidence, and reason to discover truths about the universe and have placed human welfare and happiness at the centre of their ethical decision making.’ Essentially science has replaced religion, and human welfare and happiness has become the primary goal of a humanist.

Humanists reject the idea of a supernatural realm and trust to the scientific method when it comes to understanding how the universe works. In this way, humanism could not easily be embraced in countries and cultures where experiences of the supernatural world are commonplace. Humanism is a worldview that lends itself well to people with an atheist or agnostic view on God. They say that they trust to the scientific method when it comes to understanding how the universe works and how it got here. The problem with this is that science and scientific understanding is constantly changing and transforming all the time as new discoveries are made. There are different schools of thought even within science itself. For example, there are many scientists who are creationists and believe that there is a strong evidence for a creator or designer of the universe in which we live. So which scientific method do humanists embrace, and what happens to their understanding of the universe when science makes new discoveries that are contrary to previous frameworks? I don’t believe that scientific reasoning is something to build your life and worldview around, because science is always changing and evolving and it is not timeless.

Humanists say that they make ‘their ethical decisions based on reason, empathy, and a concern for human beings and other sentient animals’. But each person’s view of reason is different and some people are more empathetic and compassionate than others. Humanists seek to find meaning for life through seeing the value of human life and the value of animal life. However, if they also perceive the world through a purely rational and scientific view then there is no reason to believe that humans or animals have any special value at all.

Humanists also believes that ‘in the absence of an afterlife and any discernible purpose to the universe, human beings can act to give their own lives meaning by seeking happiness in this life and helping others to do the same.

But I want to consider if this view of the world could actually bring any comfort or hope to someone who is suffering terribly in this life and has no hope of having a happy existence any time in the near future. Imagine for a moment the life of a child imprisoned in the sex industry after having been trafficked and entrapped in this world. Imagine saying to this child ‘try to seek happiness in this life, and help others to do the same.’ This would really not offer any comfort to this individual child who has no hope for happiness and no ability to help other children in their position seek happiness either. Imagine then telling this child that there is no future chance of heaven or any other existence than the one they have known.

I believe that humanism is a worldview that works well in the Western world where science has been invested in, and people have relatively happy and privileged lives. However, it is a worldview that falls flat on its face in so many situations, and offers no concrete guidance for how to live.

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