UFOs and God

An acquaintance asked me the other day if I believed in UFOs. "What a strange question" I thought. Of course I believe in UFOs, or at least in what I mean by UFOs, which is simply "Unidentified Flying Objects". I see them regularly - things in the sky which I can't identify, and I'm sure there are lots of similar objects which even the experts can't identify. This does not, of course, mean that they are alien space craft, which is what my friend meant. So the lesson from his question is, be sure you know what you mean when you use an expression such as "UFO", as it apparently means different things to different people. Be sure you can explain what you mean. As we shall see, the same applies to "God".

In the 1940s and 50s there was a weekly Radio Programme called “The Brains Trust” which was broadcast on the BBC Home Service. Listeners sent in questions, some of which were answered by the distinguished panel, one of whom was a Professor CEM Joad. He became famous for his “catchphrase”, which was “It all depends what you mean by……….”.

Much later in life I began to understand what he was getting at. When discussing science or mathematics, for instance, it is nearly always quite apparent “what you mean by” a particular word or phrase, for scientific and mathematical terms are nearly always well-defined and understood by expert and student alike.

However, when it comes to other, less well-defined matters, the situation is very different. Take for example the current “war” in Iraq. Both in the United States and here in Great Britain we are regularly exhorted to “support our troops” – but what exactly does this mean ? Are we supposed to approve of them being there ? If we don’t approve, in what way are we required to support them ? Certainly no-one wants to see them killed or injured, but how is wanting this supporting them ? Moral support would no doubt help them but how should we do this ? Should we bake them a cake, knit them socks, send them money ? I can’t pray for them, I’m an atheist - and by the way there is some scientific evidence that prayer can be harmful if the "beneficiary" of the prayer is aware that he or she is being prayed for ! We can encourage our elected representatives to ensure that they are well-looked after and supplied with the necessities to do their job, but I suspect this is not quite what the opinion pollsters are getting at. I think they don’t really know, haven’t really thought about their question, and just used words without thinking about their meaning. It all depends what you mean by ‘support’ !

So then to religion. When asked “Do you believe in God ?” my response is “What do you mean by ‘God’ ?” Few can answer other than with some mumbo-jumbo about a supernatural being, and to date no-one has answered convincingly. There is also the question, of course, of what you mean by “believe” ! I have come to assume a definition of this word (in this context) as “to hold something to be true for which you have no firm evidence”.

However, it is the term “God” which is the more important of the two. So, if you are a believer, try to answer the question “What do you mean by God ?” Think about it. Try to come up with a definition that doesn’t use woolly language. Don’t be like George Bush or a southern Baptist preacher and waffle on using meaningless words and phrases. Make sure you know what the words in your definition mean. Write it down. Talk to someone about it. Don’t use words like “spiritual” unless you are quite clear as to their meaning, and can explain them clearly and unambiguously to others. In other words, make sense.

Enough for now - if you have any thoughts I'd be pleased to hear them ! As long, of course as you think about what you mean by.......