Candice Bergen | 04/08/2009 11:00 pm

Did Candice Bergen Grow Out of Atheism?

Not to pick, but isn’t a question as mammoth as belief systems and God too vast a subject to wedge in among the others? It’s a good question. One which, oddly, we consistently avoid in life with close friends, family or distant acquaintances. We sidestep this neatly with obsessive celeb speculation (not wowOwow but everyone else) and every diversion we can invent to escape facing this one. Perhaps in part because few of us have any pithy, tidy answers. None have any certainty. I have never been able to buy the mythology. While the older I get, the harder it is to declare atheism — not out of superstition but because life appears increasingly miracle-filled, not in water-walking ways but the infinite wonder of the everyday. I believe in something but will never know what. But perhaps this is a touch of what scientists feel when they say they become more religious and come to believe in God. Because, however one defines it, how can we not?

Read more about: Belief, God, Religion, Spirituality

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I have always believed the mistake humans make is trying to express the inexpressable in words. What is is beyond what we little specks of dust can comprehend or express. Whenever what is is put down in words, then someone or other claims it as their personal province and uses it to separate out those who express it differently, and from that division, that claiming of power that does not belong to the claimant, that pretence of understanding the inexplicable, come wars, come burnings at the stake, come prejudice, and all manner of ungodly events. In the old testament, Moses is without equivocation told that this beyond expression has no name, should have no name, and should not be given names, physical forms, or otherwise confined to mere human (mis)understanding. And yet we continue. Ms. Bergen’s statement, "I believe in something but will never know what." is a deep and wise expression of that truth.

By Mugsy Peabody on 04/09/2009 1:19 am

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Mugsy,

Well said. Also, Lao Tzu agrees with you. :)

"The Tao that is unnameable is the Source of the Heaven and the Earth."

By Serena . on 04/09/2009 8:27 am

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Scientists, above all people, should believe in GOD (a massive intelligence we can’t understand) . They spend their lives trying to unravel what is.

By albert miller on 04/09/2009 1:24 am

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Well-said, Candice. Amen.

By Kryssi K on 04/09/2009 2:25 am

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Albert, Albert, Albert. I don’t think it’s up to us to tell scientists what to believe. In fact their job is to discover discernible information, and as has been discussed infra, the presence or absence of a "god" behind the universe is a matter of faith, not discernible information.

By Mugsy Peabody on 04/09/2009 4:51 am

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Stephen Jay Gould argued that there could be no conflict between science and religion, because science deals only with facts and religion only with values. Or as Galileo remarked in his famous letter to Grand Duchess Christina that "the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how to go to heaven, not how heaven goes." Most respected scientists today find religion incompatible although there are a few excellent scientists like Francis Collins and Charles Townes who have strong religious beliefs. The sticky wicket arises when religion wants to take over science as in the case in Kansas. What was once a serious issue in the early Church––whether the world was flat–––has today become a parody. The astrophysicist, Adrain Melott, of the U. of Kansas, in a fight with zealots who wanted equal time for creationism in the Kansas public schools, founded an organization called FLAT (Families for Learning Accurate Theories). His society parodies creationists by demanding equal time for flat earth geography , arguing that children should be exposed to both sides of the controversy over the shape of the earth. Such fun!

P.S. To Candice: The mysteries of nature, of humanity in all its guises, of all that makes up our worlds, is miracle enough and love––isn’t that enough to believe in? Then, of course, I think what Denny Crane said once about something that baffled him:

Denny: I just think it’s one heck of a slippery slerp!

Allen: That’s slope, Denny.

Denny: Well, in this case that slope is mighty slerpy.

And for Denny to be able to schtump Shirley’s very accurate replica Schmitto in his office closet is miracle enough!

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 04/09/2009 11:43 am

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I wouldn’t try to tell scientists there is a GOD, but their intensive investigations that reveal more and more comlexities might be convincing evidence to them. It’s too bad they won’t find a tag saying "made by GOD", but that might just be a practical joker.

By albert miller on 04/11/2009 1:49 am

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Interesting. Are you lumping all 46,000 scientists involved in physics and biological sciences into one pot, or …. I mean, you expect to be treated as a unique individual, yet scientists somehow are to move in lockstep as though all the same…

By Mugsy Peabody on 04/11/2009 2:58 am

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For as long as I can remember, I have thought of myself as a devout agnostic. I’m afraid that’s the best I can do.

By Barbara Cristiano on 04/09/2009 5:04 am

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Actually, WoW does seem to have fallen into the obsessive celeb speculation trap. This question, and Candace’s thoughtful answer, are a refreshing return to what WoW started out to be. Thanks.

By DL Simon on 04/09/2009 7:12 am

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I am the opposite of Candice, the older I get the more I believe there is no god. He’s a man made figure for people to idolize. I believe in myself to be a descent human being. I helped raise my four stepchildren and I never felt that god was there in our efforts, it was my husband and I battling the the elements of hormones and dna.

I try to send some good vibes toward my friends and family when they ask, but I never pray to god. I think life is full of luck and unluckiness and that’s it. I do not need someone on Sunday to tell me that I should not steal, not treat my fellow man badly and not kill. I was taught those things as I was growing up that there is a certain, acceptable, societal, human way to behave.

By jules verne on 04/09/2009 7:20 am

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I’m with you, Jules.

By Rita@ Goldivas on 04/09/2009 8:24 am

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And that’s probably why you and your namesake found such treasures in the deep––you believed in yourselves.

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 04/09/2009 11:47 am

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Select Lao Tzu Quotations:

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.

He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.

By Serena . on 04/09/2009 8:28 am

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Unfortunately for us, the billionaires who own everything we need for our lifestyles, don’t have an understanding of the concept of "enough". Do you think as spirits inside human bodies, that we can ever know who we really are? Isn’t it more that we know how we feel?

By albert miller on 04/11/2009 2:14 am