Are you a pointless theist?

Not all that many weeks ago, columnist Josh Arriola wrote a piece in The Daily criticizing Christians for "not doing [their] job," citing specifically a lack of consorted effort on Christians' parts to reach those who have yet to hear "the truth."

Therein lies the issue that so many forget. Religion and god -- and by god I mean a generic deity, not specifically the Christian view -- are not matters of belief, matters of true and false. If a religion or god is false, belief does not change that fact -- and is potentially even harmful to self and others. The greatest and perhaps only virtue of belief occurs when the belief is in something true, yet the evangelism Arriola is proposing was not shown to support truth.

After the article was published, I queried Arriola on these matters. If he is to suggest subjecting the UW community to even more Christian evangelism, surely he must be able to make a decent case that his religion is true! But sadly, while Josh would like every Christian to call into question the beliefs of others, he refuses the same to be done to him. Is not what's good for the goose good for the gander?

Consider belief holistically. Children do not spring forth from the womb with belief in Jesus, Zoroaster, Allah, Sai Baba or any of the host of others. In time, all become aware of others' beliefs -- some accept one or some of them as true, while others do not. Seemingly, the base state of humanity is neither belief nor disbelief; either path is a choice to stray from the base state. But the validity of departure from this base state is based on only one thing: truth.

Backing up a moment, some may be wondering who I am to be speaking of truth and god. I am not a theist, deist or atheist; I find no sound evidence in these, only tremendously false claims. In my first year at the UW, I, for the first time, ran into Christian evangelists and was told of their joy and strength. I was offered companionship with their god and fellow believers (and occasionally reminded of the terrible things that happen to everyone else). I do not deny this to be a compelling message, but compelling messages do not necessarily make for truth.

In a culture in which everything is treated as a commodity, people forget two important words: due diligence. I have spoken and debated with theists and evangelists of many persuasions. I read Tanakh -- the Hebrew scriptures that include the Old Testament -- and the New Testament, along with many relevant side works both for and against these religions. What began as interesting became humorous, and lately, disgusting.

After becoming knowledgeable to some modest extent -- it is hard to be truly knowledgeable in such matters -- I went back to question those who had before made such bold claims. Many times, they admitted error or ignored my inquiry outright. But they insisted that just because their claims were shown to be false, such as the prophecy laid out in Matthew 1:22, the overarching religion was still quite true (and invulnerable).

Arriola himself provided two such examples of erroneous claims in his article: his call for a cessation of premarital sex and of getting drunk. The Tanakh does specify that the women of Israel shall be virgins, but to the best of my knowledge never makes such demands of non-Israeli women and men. In fact, Leviticus 18 quite nicely lays out who or what men should not have sex with -- everyone else is fair game. The New Testament criticizes sex altogether, though like most matters, isn't always consistent (see 1 Corinthians 7). As for those who like to get drunk (and naked), Noah is on your side (see Genesis 9).

Now I'll be the first to admit that a few thousand words will not change the minds of steadfast believers. A message of reason and exploration will never have the draw of easy answers and dubious but grand benefits.

I do have a more-pertinent point to raise today. Theists and evangelists, ask yourselves: Is there truly cause to post your Bible-study fliers everywhere? Can't we walk to and from class without being handed a Bible or being yelled at by some nuts in Red Square? Is it fair to pray upon the largely unstudied masses?

Please leave your idol necklaces at home and tell a Gideon to save a tree. I'm not asking you to give up your faith, merely keep it to yourself and encourage others to do the same. With any luck, theists will use the time saved by not bothering others to actually read the Bible.