Ask and you’ll find the answer

Written by Joe Pisani
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 09:42

At the entrance to the bookstore, larger than life, was a display for a new book by celebrity atheist Richard Dawkins — the Jerry Seinfeld of nonbelievers and author of such controversial works as “The God Delusion.”

You can’t buy a caramel macchiato these days without bumping into an atheist, trying to convert you to the cause of Godlessness.

“The time for polite debate is over,” an Associated Press story proclaimed. “Militant atheist writers are making an all-out assault on religious faith,” publishing books like “Good Without God” and “God Is Not Great.”

The worldwide atheists’ convention is next year and to whip up the hoopla, they’ve launched ad campaigns from Great Britain to West Virginia, from Texas to Indiana and most recently Manhattan subway stations, where posters coyly ask, “A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?”

Paid for with an anonymous donation of $25,000, the campaign was developed by a collection of atheistic groups called the Big Apple Coalition of Reason.

To my feeble thinking — and I have nowhere near the brain power of Dawkins, which is why I still believe in God — the New York subway system probably should be submitted as one of the proofs there IS a God, along with Thomas Aquinas’ other five.

Judging from the headlines, God’s approval ratings must be down. A recent poll suggests people are moving away from organized religion. The number of respondents who checked “None” when asked about their affiliation went from 8 percent in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008, which means “no religion” is the fastest growing category.

There are a lot of angry atheists out there, along with a lot of lazy believers. Everyone has a different excuse for not believing — the theory of evolution, the existence of suffering or the bad practice of religion — but just because Sister Immaculata whacked you across the knuckles with her 16-inch ruler in 1969 doesn’t mean there’s no God.

Or as someone once said, “For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.”

The thing about God is that he does what he wants. He reveals himself when he wants, and he conceals himself when he wants.

You don’t need to study ancient tomes in dimly lit library cubicles, as I did, pondering the cosmological proofs and ontological proofs of his existence.

After my philosophical quest failed, I got advice from a recovering alcoholic who believed his “Higher Power” saved him from a death by booze. “If you want to find God,” he assured me, “all you have to do is ask.”

That was too simple to be true. What would Kierkegaard say, or Camus for that matter? Intellectuals would surely scoff at the idea. Nevertheless, my friend insisted God only reveals himself to the people who ask with a sincere heart, not to the proud and arrogant.

In the end, you don’t have to rely on Richard Dawkins or even Aquinas for answers — all you have to do is ask.

Joe Pisani can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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