They see the crescent,
we see the whole of the Moon.
Have you ever seen the whole of the Moon? Not a full moon, not the
darkside of the Moon, the rest of the Moon. When there is a clear crescent
showing you can sometimes see the rest of the Moon dimly. This is one
of the most beautiful sights in the world, because it proves what kind
of a Universe we live in. It is not the Universe of man at the centre,
watched over by his man-shaped God.
The whole of the Moon is brought to you by the most amazing effect; the
combination of starlight and EARTHSHINE. Light from stars hundreds of
light-years away combines with light reflected from the Earth to gently
illuminate the surface of the Moon, just enough for you to pick out the
full circle clear against the black of infinity. I can never see it without
producing a tear. Light from the sun has taken over eight minutes to reach
us at the Earth, it is reflected off our continents, clouds and oceans
to cross another quarter of a million miles of void to faintly illuminate
the barren dust of our nearest neighbour, and then it retraces its path
back another quarter of a million miles to our eyes. And it doesn't do
it for us, it happened for billions of years before we ever saw it.
Where in all the Bibles and good books of the world is there a single
concept to compare with that?
The theists' Universe is small and full of the stench of man. We atheists
know that we are not the reason for the existence of the Universe. Our
Universe has been there for many billions of years before we ever banged
a couple of rocks together or talked to a man in the sky.
The Earth is less than a third of the age of the Universe. Man is much
less than a thousandth of the age of the Earth.
Everywhere I look I see a
greater Universe than any man-created God could ever conceive of.
A Universe full of wonders.
God made it. That claim is not an answer to anything.
It is an insult to the Universe.
“I am against religion because it teaches
us
to
be satisfied with not understanding the world.”
Richard Dawkins
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