* GODLESSNESS, A WORLD WITHOUT FAITH

I was recently reading my friend Tim's Blog. Tim was taking issue with the Catholic Establishment (notice i didn't call it church) and more particularly there seemingly asinine attitude towards everything scientific. What got me to thinking wasn't so much anything Tim said about the ''establishments'' policies, practices (or lack there of) because i agree with him 100% on that issue. What got me to thinking was what he mentioned about Douglas Adam’s treatise on God and faith, which basically states that if God proved his existence, then faith would be destroyed as people would know it is a fact. Since faith is destroyed God ceases to exist as his “power” is derived from the faith people have. Thus, God has proven himself to not exist.. That premise got me to thinking and as most of you know that isn't a very good thing for me to do.

Hence, as the hamsters started to ramp up and the engine started to churn this question started to develop in my mind and it went like this. If we knew (us Humans) that there was truly no God, if we had absolute proof (some say we already have it)that there was no GOD. What would happen? By what would happen i mean, would the world come unravelled at the seams? Would archbishops be jumping from cathedral roofs? Would Jews everywhere feel a sense of relief? Would the Koran quoting extremists become mellow? Would we see a guy who looks allot like the Pope standing on a street corner in Italy with a card board sign reading, ''business closed down, out of work, hungry, please help...GOD BLESS!''. I'm perplexed by the question of what a Godless world might look like, no wait we already know that answer, we live in one. Ok, ok, i regress, but seriously my friend Tim with his Douglas quote has raised a serious question.

It goes something like this. I'm going to call the day after it was proven that no God existed, ''FAITH DAY''. So after ''Faith day'' would everything we value and cherish go out the window, would anarchy rein, would rape, pillaging and plundering become the standard? I'm curious, aren't you? Do you believe that some aspect of our belief system in God helps maintain social order? Its an interesting question no? I mean lets face it there is a large portion of the population who believes in a God (there are to numerous versions to mention here), and a large portion of them are ''GOD FEARING''. God fearing means they generally tow the line out of fear of being BBQ'd in Hell for something like, FOREVER! What would happen to these aimless souls after ''Faith Day''? Another question. What would happen to all the collar, hat, cloak, scarf head, ambassadors of God. More importantly what would happen to all the televangelists. No more importantly then that. What would happen to their overly polished, tit inflated, make up wearing, nympho leather in the back alley parlor wives? My God people it would be anarchy.

According to http://www.usccb.org/comm/backgrounders/caradata.shtml there are 1,114,966,000 Catholics worldwide. The ''establishment'' is worth anywhere from 90 to 150 Billion dollars (its secret you see, its not a publicly traded company, its kind of like Bernie Madoffs trading firm)no true figure is known so it depends on who you talk to. So you can appreciate that ''Faith Day'' might have a slight impact on the net value of the ''Establishment''. So having said this, in your mind who's best interest is it in to never allow or do everything you can to stop ''Faith Day'' from ever happening. All of this still doesn't answer the BIG question though. What would happen to our world the day after ''Faith day''? Do you believe that moral fiber (whats left of it) would disintegrate? Would our moral compass go south? What would hold us in check? Our laws? What would be the frame work for right and wrong. If no God existed, if there was no such thing as good and evil. No hell to burn in. Would the tap be turned wide open to total disintegration of our social structure? It is a perplexing question isn't it?

One arguing on the side of ''normality would rein'' might simply argue that our consciousness, our own derived compass would hold the course. That centuries upon centuries of values would not simply cease to exist just because of ''Faith Day''. They might argue that the values we cherish and apply in our every day life would remain constant, that no matter the lack or existence of a God people everywhere would simply continue to be driven by our pre-established notion of right and wrong, good and Bad. By our system of laws. That nothing would change because the systems in place would remain regardless of what is real and what is not. That the laws however created where what was important, for they are black and white, on paper, relevant, you can touch them. In essence what they would argue is that it doesn't really matter if there was a God because our world and the things we value and stay true to, are in simple fact, irrelevant of God. Strange point to make if your a believer.

I on the other hand am torn about what ''Faith Day'' would mean. I am on the record as saying i am not sure what God is. I don't go to church other then to go to a funeral or a marriage (same thing in essence). I do pray, every time I'm in a bar and looking at the really pretty girl sitting across from me i Pray...''oh God please don't let me get shot down''. Seriously though i do pray..to who I'm not sure but i do it anyways. I do not come from an overly religious family. But i do believe in something. So based on this i ask myself if there was no God would men (and women) be more likely to do just about anything without the ''fear of God''. If i apply it to my own life i ask myself would i have been more or less likely to lie, cheat, steal etc..if there was no God. I did those things anyways knowing, well believing that there was potentially a God. So if there was no God would i be likely to want to do more of the same. Now that i have recognized my mistakes and admitted my wrongs, and am trying to fix them would i be more in tuned to say, ''ah F*7% IT! There is no God so what''. In my case i have to say no. I would be just as likely to continue to be repentant in my wrongs and dedicated to being better regardless of a God.

The question is. What would you do? Would anything change for you? Would your moral compass dive southwards? Would you be lost? Would you drop the notions of what you believe to be right and wrong and start off on a path of destruction? Are the laws which govern us the actual sole parameters by which we conduct ourselves? By which you conduct yourself?. Are our laws based on the foundation of right and wrong on the notion of a God. A good and evil. Or are they simply natural conclusion which we would have reached regardless of the presumed existence of God. Its not an easy question. The 10 commandments are the frame work by which our society is now structured wether you believe in God or Not. Here are just a few; 6. not to commit murder; 7. not to commit adultery; 8. not to commit theft; 9. not to give false evidence; and 10. not to be covetous – do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns. So all of them except the donkey part (thats just sick man) do constitute the foundation for which the premise of our morality, our laws, beliefs and most importantly our society is built. Hence the issue of what our society would look like with the knowledge that these commandments were nothing but man made. Would our world change?

I can't answer that question, but one thing is for sure, it sure is interesting isn't it; and wouldn't it be quite the experiment to see what would happen the day after ''Faith day''. Well don't count on that ever happening friends cause the ''establishment'' has about 150 billion riding on it not ever happening.