I respond to two correspondents (December 29) who commented on my letter in The Times of December 23.
... no one will ever prove conclusively that God does not exist...- John B. Pace, Victoria
It is clear from Ian J. Grech’s letter that one of his motivations in extolling atheism is his bias against religion in general and the Catholic Church in particular, basing his arguments mainly on historical human errors or excesses of some Church functionaries who, because of ignorance, inability, misunderstanding, misinterpretation or narrow mindedness, were not true followers of Christ.
He and Karl Consiglio unfairly fail to acknowledge the enormous good that genuine Christianity, properly practised, has achieved in human society worldwide. They should know that the Catholic Church, though wary about misguided or malevolent scientists, is not against or afraid of Science as such because it knows that behind all science is the Supreme Intelligence that created it.
Mr Grech mistakenly or deliberately misquoted me by suggesting that I believe in a chaotic universe; far from it, in fact I had stated that “modern atheists believe in a chaotic universe existing by sheer chance and aimlessly producing, through eons of progressive accidental mutation... intelligent humanity... without any particular purpose...” He then advised me to read a cosmology book in order to discover “a picture of organised complexity which, given ideal conditions, gives rise to life”.
If Mr Grech accepts this situation, he is not far from reasoning that there must be an intelligent force that conceives, organises and guides the order in nature for a purposeful outcome. How could matter, may I ask, organise itself by accidental physical and biochemical reactions to result in such a wonderful variety and profusion of self-perpetuating living organisms (including the human species masterpiece), each with a particular purpose for existing? This elementary theology strongly points to a creator and organiser – and there are several more reasons, unaided by revelation, than this for belief in the existence of a living God, but Mr Grech flatly writes “No god required”!
Everyone knows that science has already discovered the “Big Bang” at the start of the universe. When the famous scientist Stephen Hawking was asked what could have caused the Big Bang, he replied: “God... or something else”! Science should then ask what caused that “something else” and must eventually arrive at the primary cause, which is known to billions as God; but many sceptics and atheists would probably have found or met God personally, to their surprise and eternal consternation, much before that stage in scientific development is achieved.
Regarding Mr Consiglio’s comments, I do not suggest that we should continue to pretend that God exists but that we should in all seriousness have the good will to use our brains and educate ourselves to discover the truth, as has already been done by sheer reason. I can assure him that no one will ever prove conclusively that God does not exist, except in the imagination of fanatical atheists who, for lack of cogent arguments, end up calling those who do not share their delusion, fanatics – a good example of the pot calling the kettle black.
The three books I recommended to John Guillaumier (December 23) should make interesting reading for sceptics and atheists who really care about the truth.