A Matter of Faith

"Stephen Whitaker: I guess my first question for you, Professor Kaman, and the most important one I can think of is: how do you explain away God? Professor Kaman: Explain away? Stephen Whitaker: Yes, what about God? Professor Kaman: Simply put, man created God. Stephen Whitaker: Man created God? Professor Kaman: I am 100% with Freud on this one, sir. Stephen Whitaker: That man created God? Professor Kaman: Dr. Sigmund Freud brilliantly observed many years ago that man is riddled with deep seated fears living as he does in a world of disease and famine and disaster with very little control over his circumstance. So yes, he created God. He postulated a being who could deliver him. Kind of life a supernatural sky hook that could pull him out of trouble. Man also believed that he was getting a raw deal from just about everybody so he wanted a cosmic umpire, to blow the big whistle and halt the game until everybody got what they deserved. But most of all, man fears death and extinction, and so he needed a heavenly father, who could take him at the end to some heavenly place that he decided to call heaven, all because he couldn't face the fact that eventually he was going to vanish from existence. Stephen Whitaker: So, what's the purpose of life, Professor Kaman? Professor Kaman: We live, and then we die and go back in the earth. That's it, there's no afterlife. Face the music, Mr. Whitaker. Elvis is dead, he's left the building. In this life, we get a chance to make a mark. If we do that, maybe the next generation will remember us, maybe we'll even teach them something but there is no afterlife. Stephen Whitaker: I believe there is much more than that. Professor Kaman: Yeah, you believe, Mr. Whitaker but do you have any proof of an afterlife? Stephen Whitaker: Proof? Professor Kaman: Proof. Scientific proof. Any kind of proof? Stephen Whitaker: The Bible says we believe by faith. Professor Kaman: Faith in what? In a God we can't see and a book we can't rely on? I'd like a little scientific proof. Stephen Whitaker: I can't offer scientific proof. Professor Kaman: Well, the words in this book that you hold so sacred, how do you even know they're true? Stephen Whitaker: The Bible is very trustworthy. Professor Kaman: I didn't ask if it was trustworthy. I asked if it was true. Stephen Whitaker: The Bible is the word of God. Professor Kaman: Wasn't the Bible written by men? Stephen Whitaker: Yes, it was. Professor Kaman: Then how does that make it the word of God? Stephen Whitaker: Look, I can't explain it. Professor Kaman: So, you're betting your afterlife on a book you can't explain about a God you can't prove. I am sticking with Freud on this one, Mr. Whitaker. I am definitely sticking with Freud."