I was telling my friend the atheist a story. As it turns out,
he didn’t like my story and I don’t know why. Maybe you
can help me figure it out. The story I told my friend the
the atheist went like this.
Once upon a time...
there was a good politician who got a great idea at the train platform on his way to work. Every day he would talk to a homeless man that would come to the platform to beg for change. He would give the man money and after finding out that the man was dying from an incurable liver disease caused from drinking and drug use he felt he had to do something for the people in the city who were homeless and suffering.
He would call it the Phoenix Initiative.
On this particular day the good politician was in the midst of a crisis. It had taken him five years to bring together, politicians, businessmen, educators, community leaders and public opinion to bring about the Phoenix Initiative. Tens of thousands of people would be helped and the entire city would be uplifted not just in the short term, but for generations. Many times, his dream to help the city looked like it would die but the good politician was always able to save the day with his skill as a negotiator and his ability to make people believe that we can help one another and create a better world to live in.
This time it looked like even the skills of the good politician could not save the day. The good politician would not give up though. After a week and a half of phone calls and impromptu meetings it looked like he might yet pull it out. One last person had to be brought back on board so, he changed into his suit on a Saturday afternoon with his phone to his ear and raced out of the door. He was not able to convince this last person over the phone, but he knew if he met with them in person, he could convince them to do the right thing. The good politician tied his tie as he ran the two blocks to the train which was the only way he could make it to this person before they left for Europe on business.
The good politician got to the train platform just in time.
The train would be there in two or three minutes. He could already see it in the distance. Then a horrible revelation invaded his brain. He had rushed out so quickly that when he changed clothes, he didn’t change his wallet into his suit pocket. It was at home in his jeans. He had no way of paying for the train. He would miss the last meeting and the Phoenix Initiative would be dead. All he could think was that tens of thousands of people would suffer because he was absent-minded.
Just then he saw the homeless man passed out in the gutter just off the platform and the sight of him sharpened the pain of his impending failure. Then a sudden idea gave him a sliver of hope. He shook the homeless man to ask him for his wine money. Not only did the homeless man say no, but he said he would be dead in a month or so, and he didn’t care what happened after he was gone. He also told the good politician to shut up and go away or he would cut him with his knife. The homeless man then rolled over in the gutter and passed out once more.
The good politician was undaunted. He took a large stone that was lying nearby and lifted it high above his head. The good politician paused for a second and then smashed the stone down on the homeless man’s head. While the homeless man’s legs where still twitching, he took his wine money from his pocket and it was just enough to pay for his train. The good politician made his train and his meeting. The Phoenix Initiative was resurrected, and tens of thousands of people where helped, and the city was uplifted for generations to come.
The End.
My atheist Friend thought that it was a horrible story. Apparently, he thought that the actions of the good politician were less than admirable to say the least. Our conversation went something like this.
My atheist friend: It is wrong to murder someone for any reason let alone train fare.
Confused me: But many more lives would be saved because of his actions.
My atheist Friend: You can’t arbitrarily take a human life just because you think it serves the greater good.
Confused me: Why not, if there is no God.
My atheist friend- Don’t be ridiculous. If we do not hold to a human standard of goodness, we are doomed. We don’t need a creator God to believe that.
Confused me- This is exactly my point. As humans we must choose for the greater good. If you believe life is an accidental combination of inert materials from a primordial soup, then the only value it has is what we assign to it. The homeless man was not ever going to contribute to the greater good. The homeless man had been chosen by evolution to perish because of his illness. There was no way to assign value to his life outside of every life being sacred because it is a gift from God. So, if there is no God, then the greater good was for him to die and for thousands of others to be helped.
My atheist friend: You are confused and obviously unable to understand the most basic tenants of a secular humanistic philosophy as it pertains to the good of mankind.
Confused me: That’s strange, your last statement sounded like what has been said by many people throughout history that destroyed human life for what they perceived as the greater good. Are you sure you don’t like my story?
My atheist friend then stormed off. He still couldn’t explain to me why he didn’t like my story, but I think I may have figured it out. I think it is simply this, what we
sometimes believe in theory is quite different when we see it in practice. What is scary to me is that we don’t usually discover this until it is too late.