Blind Agnosticism

“I don't really believe in God,” William said. He braced for the inevitable reaction and was not disappointed. Ursula stopped her digging. The bewildered gaze she gave him was a familiar one.

“What?” she asked. "Have you not actually met the guy? Or the girl? I mean, there are at least three of them on record.”

They really were pressed for time here, so William returned to his digging, resenting that Ursula had left her shovel dangling. It's not like she was saying anything he hadn't heard before. “It's not about that,” he said. “It's more that I don't believe in the idea of God, you know what I mean?”

“No,” Ursula replied. “I really, really don't. I mean what's to believe? There is at least one God, possibly more if you're not into the trilocation theory. They created the universe. They've even proven it. Shown us how it's done. There are scientific papers on it.”

“Look, can we just go back to digging?” William said. “I don't mind if your belief system thinks praying will help us out here. It doesn't bother me. Just don't expect me to join in.”

Ursula started prying away at the clay again, though it was obvious her heart wasn't in it. “It's fine if you don't pray or anything. Lots of people don't. I just don't get your belief being in direct contradiction of the facts.”

William sighed. This discussion really did get old. “I just don't see that there's any reason to believe he/she/they are God in any useful sense. Even if they made the universe, answer prayers, all that. It just means they're a powerful being. Doesn't mean they're God.”

Ursula shook her head but finally bent her shoulder to the work again. “I think your standards for God might be entirely too high.”