Nothing But a Man

Since I do not believe in God, I could hardly believe that he has a son. Nor do I believe in the Holy Ghost.

As a matter of fact, the doctrine of the Trinity, drummed into my head on a daily basis in Roman Catholic parochial schools, never made sense to me and had a good deal to do with turning me into a religious skeptic at a very young age.

I remember, as if no time had elapsed, the day when I posed a question in catechism class about how there could possibly be three independent persons in one God. The nun held up a construction paper cutout of a shamrock and explained that although there were three leaves, they made up only one plant.

I said the first thing that came into my head, "Why aren't there four persons in one God, since there are four-leaf clovers too? The nun sent home a letter to my mother, saying that I was disrupting the class by asking embarrassing and nonsensical questions.

I was a good deal older when I learned that the Trinity had also proved too much to swallow for the freethinkers of the Enlightenment. In fairness to my sixth-grade teacher, the "shamrock theory" of the Trinity, which must have been part of the Dominican nuns' teacher training curriculum, was about as convincing--which is to say not at all--as the arguments of the most revered theologians.

Unlike some atheists--whose dislike of religion has overwhelmed what ought to be every rationalist's commitment to unbiased inquiry--I think that there is ample evidence suggesting that Jesus was a historical figure.

Take away all of the supernatural tales in the Gospels, and what you have is a complicated man--undoubtedly a charismatic speaker--whose ideas about how human beings ought to treat one another, like those of his contemporary, Rabbi Hillel, provide a basis for a decent life and an ethical society.

When you think about all of the bad ethical prescriptions human beings have come up with throughout the ages, it is much more remarkable that Jesus's and Hillel's Golden Rules should have been formulated by men than by gods. I am a good deal more impressed by a man cautioning a mob against casting the first stone than I would be if God had spoken the same words out of a whirlwind.

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Susan Jacoby

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Nothing But a Man