If you’ve read my debut sci-fi novel The Lightning in the Collied Night or its sequel The Loss of What Is Past, you know that the protagonist Lai Shen was an atheist. And perhaps you wondered why I made that choice. She was, after all, the child of devout Buddhists, and had also been exposed to other religions during her life, including Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
One reason I made Lai an atheist was because I thought it would be interesting if her transformation from a bitter, angry person to the leader of the worldwide Love One Another movement was accompanied by her uncertainty about whether there’s a God, and if so, what God is. Also, it’s not uncommon for people devoted to science to be atheists (although many believe in God, of course). And I thought her being an atheist offered a contrast to characters who do believe in God, including Daniel, Katherine, Meira, Anong and Minwaadizi, Kapono, Yinuo (did you catch that in Loss?), and of course Pope Francis II.
But the primary reason I chose to make Lai an atheist is best explained by a Hasidic tale attributed to Martin Buber:
A Rabbi is teaching his student the Talmud and explains God created everything in this world to be appreciated, since everything is here to teach us a lesson.
The clever student asks, “What lesson can we learn from atheists? Why did God create them?”
The Rabbi responds, “God created atheists to teach us the most important lesson of them all – the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone who is in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that God commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his acts are based on an inner sense of morality. And look at the kindness he can bestow upon others simply because he feels it to be right.”
“This means,” the Rabbi continued, “that when someone reaches out to you for help, you should never just say ‘I pray that God will help you.’ Instead, for the moment, you should become an atheist, imagine that there is no God who can help, and say, ‘I will help you.’”
For the conclusion of Lai’s faith journey, see the Flash Fiction story Timeless.
(Photo courtesy Wikipedia)
