Shaking my fist at God - Part 1 - The Loch Ness Monster

In his blog entry 'A meaningless Atheist Conference' Ken Ham accuses atheists of 'shaking their fist at god' and even asks 'but why?' I thought I would have a go at explaining.

Each year my boys and I try to plan and take a trip to explore part of the UK. We have a lot of fun planning, budgeting, saving up, finding bargains, and learning about the history, geology, mythology, folklore, wildlife and architecture of the place before we go. This year we have decided to 'do' Scotland. We will be taking in the Edinburgh Festival and visiting Loch Ness. We have been watching documentaries and reading about the legend of the Loch Ness Monster and we are very excited about taking a boat trip on the loch and visiting the Exhibition Centre. While we are there we will be thinking, talking and learning about the history of the legend, the people who have lived around Loch Ness, the geography of the loch, the scientific studies that have been done, the photos that have been taken of 'nessie' and how science has debunked them, the wildlife in the loch, the tricks of waves and light and psychology that have contributed to sightings and how the legend of the monster has benefitted the local economy. We will read stories and gaze in wonder across the loch, and just a little bit of us will probably long for nessie to rise up out of the water and reveal herself to us. Perhaps we will be lucky and a log or a wave or a parade of water birds will momentarily give us a glimpse of magic.

What we wont do is look over the loch and decide that as it is such a magical place and as there are so many who believe they have seen a monster there, that the monster must definitely be real and that we will believe in it forever, regardless of any evidence to the contrary, and live our lives according to great truths she has unveiled for us. Neither will we stand at the bank and shake our fists in the direction of the monster (how will we know where to shake them, it's a big loch?). Why would we, there is not a shred of evidence it exists.

Another part of our Scotland trip will involve the Orkney Isles where we will spend time observing the diverse and exciting wildlife, marvelling at the amazing geology and beautiful landscape and where we will visit Skara Brae, the 5,000 year old neolithic village where evidence of lives involving community, hunting, fishing, producing items of beauty and technology have been found. As always when visiting historical sites, I know I will get a real feeling for the people who lived there and feel a deep connection with these ancestors and our shared humanity. I will think about how they might have cared for their children, mourned their dead, cooked and laughed and argued and how they might have thought about the world. I know the whole trip will be an uplifting, exciting and inspirational experience. I know we will sometimes drive each other nuts and we will argue and we will share amazing experiences and learn a little more tolerance towards each other. Can't wait!