If this Lent Season had me sharing about forty-five self proclaimed atheists influencers, I wonder how narrow my perspective would be. So I will open up this season of Authentic Lent by highlighting an amazing scientist who doesn't willingly claim "Atheist" as his identity. Listen to the following Youtube video of an interview with Neil Degrasse Tyson where he talks about "Why he doesn't believe in God."
Neil Degrasse Tyson on Why he doesn't believe in God: Which God? There's 18,000. (Part 4)
I am enamoured by what I have listened to so far by Neil Degrasse Tyson. He is a new discovery for me, but he's been around for a long time. He is an Astro-Physicist He is a lover of the cosmos. He knows things I wish I had access to. He understands the stars, where as I can only gaze up at them with my eyes and wonder. He has glanced at galaxies close up, where as I have never looked through a telescope in my life.
With such an extensive understanding of the Universe, I can understand why "God" isn't something he sees through his telescope. He doesn't need to reduce the amazing vastness of the cosmos to an ancient mythology. It's so much more magnificent for him.
What drives me to learn more is that I've learned that the stars are my ancestors. I want to learn more about them and my place in the cosmos.
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff” Carl Sagan
I've said before that believing in science requires as much a stretch for me as believing in a creator. I personally don't have access to the evidence that would convince me to enough certainty. It makes sense that the universe is a whole lot older than the Bible says it is. I am okay to understand most of the Bible as mythology and all of it man written. I would vote for the scientist before I'd vote for the theologian, but I still would be voting on faith, and not knowledge. I'm not saying the knowledge is not accessible to humanity, I just haven't ventured far enough away from my ant hill to discover it first hand.
This is why Neil Degrasse Tyson is a great voice to listen to. The evidence mattered to him, so he went after it. He did the digging required to discover what really is out in the Cosmos. He climbed out of his ant hill and went in search of ... dare I say it... truth.
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This early morning I had a dream. My mother and I were at a funeral in a big Lutheran church. We were cuddling up in a pew in a quilt to keep warm. (must have been cold). There was a little girl who sang a song I have become very fond of, but I would never expect to hear it in a Lutheran funeral service. The song was written by Tim Minchin. I felt for a moment in that church service a little less like an outsider because of Tim's song. I even found myself singing along with it. I will end this post with the song and Day 2 blog posts which I found timely and encouraging this morning.
The Aeroplane: Tim Minchin and Asmara Feik
(Stay tuned to hear about more about Tim Minchin later during 2024's Authentic Lent journey)
