A dad is always proud when his son or daughter quote him.  I feel that way now.  Stephen had an insight I hadn’t thought of, which is that many people will not let go of the bar, will hold on tight no matter how many times they ride the roller coaster. 

Unlike the real roller coaster though, we don’t have a choice of whether we get on or not.  We get on when we are born, and it’s the ride of our life from then on.  I often tell Stephen to “Let go and let God.”  As I read his last entry into our blog, I realized he saw something in the analogy something I’d missed, which is to let go, throw our hands in the air, and let God do the rest.

I love atheists because God loves atheists.  But I wonder what it is that holds them to the earth and to their roller coaster.  Stephen and I both read about Nic Sheff.  The one thing he fought hard against was praying to God for help.  There’s a little pride in that.  And like I used to always say to Stephen and Jennifer, “Pride comes before the fall.”  Nic doesn’t pour his heart out over his new belief in God.  He doesn’t preach. but he writes that he prayed and then something positive happened.  He tried to fight it, but prayer paid off.

I think that atheists can live very happy and productive lives, but there will always be a small emptiness inside.  After all, how can you deny something you don’t  believe in?  Not believing in a Power Greater Than Ourselves, is a form of pride.  It assumes that we are complete unto ourselves and ignores John Donne’s statement “That no man is an island complete unto himself.” 

Nic’s dad was an athiest.  He brought Nic up without a belief in God.  I disagree only in that a parent has a responsibility to ground their children in some kind of belief rather than a belief in nothing.  The child can make their own choices later on.

We’ve covered this before in this blog, but those who blame God for all the problems in this world are full of pride themselves.  They refuse to take any responsibility for the problem in the world.  When the price of health care goes up because Obama can’t get health care passed, they’ll all be blaming someone else other than themselves for voting for Republicans instead of Democrats.  They’ll always be blaming someone else and always be voting for people who lie and cheat them because they appeal to their worst instincts.   Se lavee.  That’s life.