Who Knows?: A Study of Religious Consciousness

Wherefore the Whys

Wherefore the Whys For just as it is always possible to ask the why of every why so it is possible to ask the wherefore of every wherefore. —Miguel de Unamuno I Wherefore the Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener? Martin Gardner has left us a host of thought-provoking thoughts on religion (as well as other topics) in his book The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, and I would like to share some of my own thoughts that his have provoked. This will be far more than a mere review, since I will ramble freely back and forth as my fancy carries me, exploring many byways and side paths, but hopefully returning to the main path from time to time. After all, Gardner himself somewhere in his book describes it as “rambling” (which fortunately it is, in a very delightful and instructive way), so why shouldn’t I follow suit? In a conversation about religion that I once had with a mathematician and an ex-Catholic, he said, “Suppose someone proved to my satisfaction that there is a God. I would reply, ‘So what?’” How very different Gardner’s attitude is, as expressed toward the beginning of chapter 10, in which he says, “It has been said that all philosophers can be divided into two categories: those who divide philosophers into two categories and those who don’t. I belong to the first. I believe that the dichotomy between those who believe in a creator God and those who do not is the deepest, most fundamental of all divisions among the attitudes one can take toward the mystery of being” (Gardner 1983, p. 168). Now for my first ramble: I agree that the difference between belief in God and nonbelief may be of some importance, but I can think of far more important differences. For one thing, I have always felt that the gap between atheism and belief in God is extremely small compared with the difference between a mere belief that there is a God and the belief that God wrote any of the existing holy books!Amere belief in a creator God, without postulating any properties to this God, would hardly have much effect on how one would conduct one’s life, whereas any of the orthodox religions are chock full of moral regulations. Stated otherwise, the gap between atheism and natural religion is small compared to that between natural religion and revealed religion. (Curiously enough, though, with many of the eighteenth-century English and Continental deists, their concept of God was highly influenced by many ideas of the Judeo-Christian tradition.) Let me put the matter another way: I would say that whether or not one believes in God is less important—far less important—than the kind of God in whom one believes. As a drastic example (and I can’t think of a more drastic one), just compare a Christian Universalist , or equally, an orthodox Buddhist or Hindu, who believes that all souls ultimately obtain salvation, with a Christian or Moslem who believes that some (if not most) souls are destined for eternal torment in hell. (Incidentally, in a letter to Martin Gardner, I asked him whether, despite his belief in God, he doesn’t feel closer to the atheist than to the one who believes both in God and in eternal punishment. He assured me that of the two, he prefers the atheist. Gardner shares my utter abhorrence of the doctrine of eternal punishment , thank God!) Indeed, I might well go so far as to say that I regard the most important difference of all to be between those who believe in and condone eternal punishment and those who do not. (Please note carefully that I added “and condone.” It is one thing to believe in eternal punishment out of fear that if one doesn’t, one will be eternally punished, and quite another thing to approve of it! But then again, one might out of fear hypnotize oneself into approving of it, so perhaps the two are not so different after all! But more of this in Part II of this book.) Many readers of Gardner’s book who regard the existence of God and the afterlife to be sheer superstitions of the same caliber as beliefs in astrology, witchcraft, clairvoyance, extrasensory perception , and other occultisms have been quite shocked that Martin Gardner—a lifelong crusader against paranormal science—should actually...