Why Do the Faithful Need Proof?

It's been awhile, and I still haven't written any sort of intro, but I'll get to it one day. I was going to write a blog about politics, but today I've decided to switch it up. Don't worry though, I'll be getting back to that soon enough.

I was dicking around on youtube a few minutes ago, and I came across this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM17EQiZZd4

If you don't want to waste precious time watching the video, allow me to summarize:

Recently, Ben Stein (Bueller! Bueller!) decided to abandon his intellect and become a creationist, or rather, a believer of Intelligent Design (ID). He came out with a documentary called "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." I haven't watched the documentary, as I've wasted enough of my life watching pointless crap already. You may wonder how I can be objective, having never seen the movie, to which I respond that I have no interest in being objective. Anyway, Stein is pitching his movie to Rush's more annoying half-brother*, Glenn Beck.

For those of you who are unaware, creationism is the belief that the Christian God created the universe in 6 days, 6000 or so years ago. That particular sect are better known as "Young Earthers." They believe that dinosaurs and homo sapiens were contemporaries, and go so far to say that there were even dinosaurs on Noah's Ark. No, I'm not kidding. Young Earthers are usually associated with Evangelical Christians of the Red State variety. Those are the people who believe that the King James Bible is the literal Truth, with no contractictions and no errors.

The Young Earthers aren't the only sect of creationists. There are also Old Earthers, who will concede that the Earth is far older than 6000 years, given the irrefutable evidence, but still contend that it is a creation of God.

The third sect is far more dangerous. The ID'ers are wolves in sheep's clothing. The ID'ers want to use science to prove the existence of God. I cannot respect the ID community. Not only are they intellectually dishonest, but they're faithless. Yes, faithless.

Listen, I'm an agnostic, but these days many would call me an atheist. I don't believe in a supernatural deity. No burning bushes, resurrections, angels, whatever. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that a being described by the Abrahamic religions does not exist. At the same time, I realize that I'm just a man with finite capabilities and understanding. I recognize the fact that I could and might be 100% wrong. I do not believe that I am wrong, and I am willing to bet my eternal soul on it.

That being said, I am faithless. If I can't see it, or if there is no logic to support something that I can't see, then it's not real. I need proof, evidence, or a convincing argument. Reason is my religion, evidence and proof are the wine and the wafers, and logic is the prayer. Because I am faithless, I can recognize faithlessness in others. But for now, let's get back to the video.

About halfway into the video, Beck shows a clip of Stein talking to Richard Dawkins, high priest of militant Atheism. During the clip, Dawkins tells Beck that if we as humans do have an intelligent designer, it could possibly be an extra-terrestrial intelligence. When the clip is done, Beck and Stein have a good laugh. Beck is incredulous. "...or a space alien! Who created the space alien?"

There are two problems with Glenn Beck's incredulity. Firstly and simply, if God exists as the Christians, Jews, and Muslims believe, then by the necessity of basic logic, God is a space alien. Do I really have to explain it? Okay. If God created the Earth, then logically, God cannot be from Earth, making him/she/it an alien by default. Got it? Good.

Secondly, Beck wants to know who created the "space aliens." That's a fair question. An even fairer question is "Who created God?" Now, the devout will tell you that God has always existed. That's an article of faith. I can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God, nor do I care to try. If you believe that God exists, then that should be good enough for you. My belief is good enough for me.

Unfortunately, what I've been seeing lately is a big push by the believers. They're pushing into government and education. The Intelligent Design movement has been trying to sneak into public school curriculum as regular science. They say that it's not religion, as they don't say who the intelligent designer is. At the same time, ask anyone of those ID'ers who they think the designer is, and the ones who don't dodge will say "God." It's stealth creationism, and these people want to teach it along side evolution.

According to the ID crowd, Intelligent Design is a scientific theory, and should be taught in public schools as an alternative to Evolution. By changing "God" to "Intelligent Agent," they hope to bypass the establishment clause in the Constitution. Fortunately, the courts have ruled against them, at least for the time being.

They're still out there, launching an assault against science and reason. What's more, they're making youtube videos that purport to prove the existence of God. I've watched many of these videos, and they make me wonder:

If you claim to be a person of faith, then why do you need to prove the existence of your god? Doesn't that miss the point of faith?

As I wrote earlier, as a faithless person, I need evidence. A lot of it. Not anecdotal crap about how you prayed for money and the next day you got a promotion. Not a piece of toast with a burn pattern that kind of looks like Jesus if you look at it the right way. Shit, Elvis got one of those. Show me half of the homosexual population instantaneously turn into pillars of salt. Show me half of feminists growing Moses beards overnight. Even better, let's see God do something positive and cure little children of cancer, AIDS, diabetes, and/or autism.

But if you're faithful, then why do you need evidence? Why do you need to fake footprints to prove that dinosaurs walked with man? Why do you need to bore me with a fallacious philosophical treatise about chocolate bars and infinity? Why is Kirk Cameron your best known spokesman? And why can't you teach your children about your god at your home and your church?