Hitchens addresses Intelligent Design (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, October 21, 2012, 12:14 (4418 days ago) @ David Turell

Dhw: ...that does not mean one has to take a decision. Neither my life nor my happiness nor my future nor my present nor the people I love nor the people I know nor the people I don't know are in any way dependent on my making a decision. I cannot force myself to believe something I don't believe. So why NOT wait to make a decision?-DAVID: The last stop on the road of life is either an afterlife or nothing, and we all find out. But we all have to wait, because no one really knows until he gets to that final station. I'm more comfortable having chosen.-An admirable summary, and I have nothing but respect for your choice. However it would be interesting to know exactly what you have chosen. Some religions offer a pretty terrifying concept of the afterlife (see below), but since you are comfortable with your choice, I can only assume you visualize peace and love. And so despite your often repeated warnings about attributing qualities to the Universal Intelligence, this suggests that you do have particular qualities in mind.
 
If there is no afterlife, we shan't "find out". We shall simply never know the truth about life's origin, evolutionary teleology, the nature of consciousness, NDEs etc. And if there is no afterlife, the existence or non-existence of God will have been a vast irrelevance, except for all the good and the bad that has resulted from human speculation on the subject. Even if there is a conscious afterlife, we may still not find out those truths, as your God may continue to remain hidden.-Yes indeed, we all have to wait "because no one really knows", and there is nothing wrong with that. If death is the end, so be it. We shan't feel anything. If it's not, maybe there are exciting times ahead! Either way, there is nothing to fear. (I really can't think of "hell" as anything but the invention of power-hungry humans to scare their flocks into obedience ... but I could be wrong!) What I do fear is suffering in this life ... my own and that of others. But that must be endured whether there is an afterlife or not. And so while you are more comfortable having chosen, I am very comfortable with my choice not to choose. After all, it's not knowing that makes the subject so endlessly fascinating.