AC Grayling: The God Argument

In front of a packed and appreciative crowd, AC Grayling, the author of The God Argument, spent most of his time debunking the flimsy logic of religious beliefs. He was very amusing and self-possessed as he shot the long dead fish in the theological barrel. Familiar references to the Tooth Fairy and Father Christmas reminded us all how childish and manipulative the ideas of religion seem from a logical perspective.

I am not religious myself but am aware that certain psychological practicalities can be met by engaging a working relationship with the part of us that some call God. In a society where a tacit belief in materialism is so predominant, I wondered if Professor Grayling had any alternative suggestions for dealing with the dark insatiability of the human soul. I therefore sat up to listen carefully when, in a brief last section of the talk, he began to lay out the principals of Humanism as he saw them. They were (more or less): get on with it, be nice to people and think more(!).

Those of you familiar with Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure may recognise this outlook. Simply saying “be excellent to each other” at the right time will stop the world in its tracks, causing it to be confronted by its previous folly and settle down to lasting peace. I felt that, had he been asked to suggest a practical replacement for personal religious exploration, he would have simply played a trill on his air guitar.

Human beings will need more than consumerism to believe in. The new corporate cathedrals dominate the cityscape for the same reasons that the catholic ones did. Mr Grayling was adept at perceiving the ignorance of others but was himself either ignorant of, or neatly avoiding, the quiet desperation in which we all live.

Sam Hewitt