Atheism - a Dialogue

Zoc and Didi discuss Atheism

 

Zoc and his friend Didi have just bought some coffee and are on the pier at Humewood, Port Elizabeth. The  pier is where the two love to chat and solve the problems of the world. It's a great morning. A few dolphins are jumping beyond the waves. To their right the glorious beach stretches towards Cape Recife.

 

Zoc: So Didi what have you been up to?

Didi: Not much. But, I have been doing quite a bit of reading.

Zoc: And?

Didi: And ....... I have become an atheist.

Zoc: What! (Zoc stops to put his empty coffee cup in a trash bin.) Why have you decided to become an atheist? And anyway. What do mean by "atheist.?

Didi: An atheist is a person who believes that God does not exist.. That is me now Zoc. I have thought a lot about it. I have decided there is absolutely no evidence that God exists. I have finally decided to be honest with myself.

Zoc: Well! It's good to hear you say that honesty is so important. Are you saying that you have decided to go where ever the evidence leads? Like Socrates?

Didi: (Pleased with the association.) Exactly.

Zoc: Good for you Didi, but I have a problem.

Didi: What is it?

 

Zoc moves across to the pier’s hand rail and points to the beach stretching towards Summerstrand.

 

Zoc: Tell me Didi. Is there a gold plated needle somewhere under the sand on that beach?

Didi What a silly question! How could I possibly know?

Zoc: (Zoc laughs.) Well then Didi, how could you know for sure?

Didi: (Gets impatient.) I would have to look at the area around every grain of sand before I could say for certain that your ridiculous gold plated needle was not there. An absolutely impossible search!

Zoc: So Didi, should not your honest answer to the golden needle question be "I don't know and it is impossible for me to know?" Shouldn't you say "When it comes to knowing if there is a gold plated needle on the beach, I am agnostic"?

Didi: Maybe. What are you getting at?

Zoc: What I am getting at is this. Just now you told me that you had become an atheist. You told me you had become an atheist because you decided there is no evidence that God exists. But Didi,  when you searched for God did you not bang into almost the same problem you faced when thinking about the golden needle? For you to say there is no God you must have looked in every nook and cranny of the physical and metaphysical universe! Did you do that Didi? Or, is that a totally impossible search? Much more impossible than the search for the gold needle?

Didi: Maybe?

Zoc: So, Didi, when it comes to making statements about the existence of God, would it not be more honest for you to say you are agnostic? (Zoc winks at Didi.)

Didi: And you Zoc? Are you an agnostic?

Zoc: (Zoc laughs.) That's another discussion. For another time.

:

The two friends leave the pier to get more coffee.

 

John Bartels

Mill Park

Port Elizabeth

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