Does Life Have Meaning Without God?
At the end of Unseen Bonds, the third book in the Deiform Fellowship series, I asked readers to come over to my site and answer two quick questions. I was interested in how they felt about two parts of the book.
If you haven’t read the Deiform Fellowship series, there are two main characters: Jillian, who is an atheist, and Sam, who is a Christian. They have to work together, and they sometimes talk about God and religion.
In Unseen Bonds, they have quite a meaty conversation about whether life has meaning without God. Jillian argues that it does. She acknowledges that it doesn’t have eternal meaning, but it does have meaning. Sam argues that without God, life doesn’t have meaning. I was curious about where readers stood on this question.
The other question I asked concerned what one of the characters did at the end of the book. I have to be vague because I don’t want to give away the end of a mystery. If you’ve read the book, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
The poll is still open and will remain open as long as Unseen Bonds is out there. If you’ve read the book and you haven’t answered the questions, consider doing so. The link to the poll is at the end of the book.
How have readers responded so far? I’ll cover the easy question first. The majority of readers (88%) agreed with what the character did at the end of the book.
Now for the tougher question: does life have meaning without God? The poll offers the following choices:
Jillian was right – without God, life has meaning.
Sam was right – without God, life doesn’t have meaning.
They both made good points, but I mainly agree with Jillian.
They both made good points, but I mainly agree with Sam.
I can see both sides. It will depend on what day you ask me.
They were both out to lunch.
For reporting purposes, I’ve combined answers 1 and 3, and answers 2 and 4. Here’s how it breaks down so far. Things could change as more readers answer the question.
45% agree with Sam.
33% agree with Jillian.
22% say it will depend on what day they’re asked.
Nobody thought they were out to lunch. That doesn’t surprise me. I’d only expect someone to choose that option if they’re hostile toward any discussion about God and the meaning of life, but anyone who would react that way wouldn’t read Unseen Bonds. If they tried the series by reading The Atheist, they would drop it like a hot potato and vow to never read another Deiform Fellowship book again.
Anyway, where do I stand on the question of whether life has meaning without God? I agree with Sam, though I can also sympathize with those who said, “It depends on what day you ask me”. I’d venture to say that only those wearing blinders, who never, ever question their own worldview on this, wouldn’t sympathize with the “it depends” answer.
At first blush, you might think that all theists would side with Sam, and all atheists would side with Jillian. That’s not the case. While I would expect most, maybe all, theists to side with Sam, there are atheists who would also side with her and agree that if there isn’t some type of interested creator, our lives don’t have meaning.
When I’m writing the Deiform Fellowship, I always have to be careful not to impose my worldview into any conversations, and I like things to be balanced. That doesn’t mean Jillian or Sam can never “win” a discussion, but over the course of the book and series, I’d like them to stay about even, and I wanted both of them to make good arguments in this particular conversation. Because of that, I held back when writing Sam’s dialogue. If I were to have that conversation with someone in person, I’d have a lot more to say on the subject, and I’m sure the other side would, too.
There is no right or wrong answer to this question. I think that regardless of where one stands, we should treat ourselves and each other well, learn as much as we can, enjoy our lives, and read lots of books!
You can check out the first book in the Deiform Fellowship series here.
Have a great weekend. 
Does Life Have Meaning Without God? is a post from: Sarah Ettritch
