God Is.: My Search for Faith in a Secular World

by David Adams Richards

In this invaluable contribution to the continuing debate about religious belief, David Adams Richards offers an exhilaratingly fresh perspective and a voice more impassioned, heartfelt, and sometimes furious, than anything written about God by an atheist.

David Adams Richards, one of Canada’s most beloved and celebrated authors, has been wrestling with questions of morality, faith, and religion ever since he was a child. They have always informed his fiction. Now he examines their role in his own life and spells out his own belief, in what is his most self-revealing work to date. With characteristic honesty, Richards charts his rocky relationship with his cradle Catholicism, his battles with personal demons, his encounters with men who were proud to be murderers, and the many times in his life when he has been witness to what he unapologetically calls miracles. In this subtly argued, highly personal polemic, David Adams Richards insists that the presence of God cannot be denied, and that many of those who espouse atheism also know that presence, though they would not admit it to anyone — including themselves. Every follower of today’s battle between faith and atheism, and every lover of David Adams Richards’ superb fiction, will find God Is revelatory.

“I believe that all of us, even those who are atheists, seek God — or at the very least not one of us would be unhappy if God appeared and told us that the universe was actually His creation. Oh, we might put Him on trial for making it so hard, and get angry at Him, too, but we would be very happy that He is here. Well, He is.”

Questions of faith, morality, the role of unseen forces in our destinies, have been central to the fiction of David Adams Richards. Now he directly addresses what these questions have meant to him in his own life, and what he has come firmly to believe. He has always been a courageous and uncompromisingly honest writer — but never more so than here.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christianity, Religion, Canada, Spirituality, Christian

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

David Adams Richards (born 17 October 1950) is a Canadian novelist, essayist, screenwriter and poet.

Born in Newcastle, New Brunswick, Richards left St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, one course shy of completing a B.A. Richards has been a writer-in-residence at various universities and colleges across Canada, including the University of New Brunswick.

Richards has received numerous awards including 2 Gemini Awards for scriptwriting for Small Gifts and "For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down", the Alden Nowlan Award for Excellence in the Arts, and the Canadian Authors Association Award for his novel Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace. Richards is one of only three writers to have won in both the fiction and non-fiction categories of the Governor General's Award. He won the 1988 fiction award for Nights Below Station Street and the 1998 non-fiction award for Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi. He was also a co-winner of the 2000 Giller Prize for Mercy Among the Children.

In 1971, he married the former Peggy MacIntyre. They have two sons, John Thomas and Anton Richards, and currently reside in Toronto.

John Thomas was born in 1989 in Saint John, New Brunswick.

The Writers' Federation of New Brunswick administers an annual David Adams Richards Award for Fiction.

Richards' papers are currently housed at the University of New Brunswick.

Reviews

[Rod Horncastle · Rating 3 out of 5]

David is a fun philosopher - and a horrible theologian. (He might even agree with me) But he is a somewhat famous author. He wrote Lost Highway, and a few other award winning stories. So this gives him a smidgen of credibility in some circles. (not mine of course, he'd have to race NASCAR professionally for that...or play on a Rolling Stones album).

Here we are shown the insanity that must be dealt with while looking for faith in a Secular World. This book explains very uniquely why Richards and I will never be atheists - simply because of atheists themselves.

Title: God Is.
Is What? Never mind, He just IS. Get used to it. The problem is US. The Us actually proves a God.

Many people confuse Faith with Belief. Belief is somewhat boring, even Satan believes. Churches are filled with believing folks... most little kids will easily believe in God (or the toothfairy). So what the heck is this Faith stuff the author goes on and on about? I'll just go to the Biblical source on this one:

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Two terms that atheists insist we should never use: Substance and Evidence. But Biblical faith does some fascinating things - and it's not simply us getting our hopes up. Faith is a gift from God himself.

Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Hmmm, it appears God's word has some kind of magic power. YES, but it's even more brutal than that. Sadly, David's book doesn't go that far. He stops at the faith wall. (too bad - some Calvinism and Election would have thickened this book some, EVEN helped him approach theology)
____________________

So this is the account of a guy bumbling about looking for faith and meaning. He even mostly finds it. He says, "It is a book that simply states God is present, and always was and will be whether we say we have faith or not, whether we observe His presence or scorn His presence...faith is an inherently essential part of our existence, and it cannot be eradicated from our being. That even those who decry it and mock it, in some ways, embrace it totally...set free because of it."

Now I see what you're saying, "Yawwwnnn! Another book about faith THIS and THAT, blah blah blah". I agree. But this story is a little more sneaky. Did you notice that bit about "Those who decry and mock it EMBRACE it..."? Now that's where the fun comes in.

(pg. 7)
"Stalin's war was fought against the very presence of God. Goebbels might have said that Hitler was too great a man to be compared to Christ, but we think of Stalin as the man who needed to obliterate him. It was a lonely war -- against GOD... They (Stalin's people) had made a choice and it was deliberate. At the last moment they knew they had killed easily and humorously for the man about to kill them easily and humorously. Suddenly they knew how intricately hell worked."

This book is mostly about how mankind deals with God. And often drives themselves insane while attempting to dismiss said God. I too have experienced the crazy desperation of atheists fighting and hating something they boast of NOT believing in. (nobody see's me fighting rainbow Unicorns or hiding molars from the Toothfairy).

(pg. 10)
"I mention this at the start of this little book because nothing proves the existence of God more. And in a way it provides a few answers. One, how easy man slides when he wishes to deny God. And two, how close Stalin and Beria are to us. They are archetypal figures for our recent global history. And evil, if evil can ever be fully described. Yet when you read their can't and posture, their sniggering, they are our neighbors and our selves at our lowest moments."

There's some very interesting things in this book.

(pg. 155)
"Where do we find God? Where do we look for Him?
The atheist will say that we cannot, that history has doomed our search. But then I have never really trusted an atheist to tell me the truth about what I should believe; for, by his very nature, he is in constant denial of the wonder found in himself, of the very transmutation of God inside himself."

Indeed, Atheists claim there is no magic or supernatural or meaning: yet here we are - a species that didn't exist BUT THEN divided itself into male and female, with a consciousness that logically and rationally defines good and evil, in a world that is being explored and developed for altruistic hope. It is rather funny when I meet an atheist who is proud to boast that his ancestor was indeed an APE.

But why am I not an atheist?
Because I live in a world of religion. Even the atheists are constantly pushing and pulling and twisting religion for their own desperate desires and rebellion. There's a whole LOT OF GOD to sort through to get to atheism. Similar to complaining there are no good books whilst standing in a HUGE library.

"Everything is a LIE, honestly, IT'S the truth!" Hmmm.

[Mary Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A stunning argument for the difference made when a life is lived with faith. No cozy sentimental hearts and flowers Christian, Richards draws on a wide variety of literary and historical sources as he narrates his own circuitous journey to faith. Excellent on the challenges of believing in God in a secular world, he shows us all the pitfalls that await those who would believe, making a great case that love and kindness can be a part of our everyday lives, if we are honest and up for the fight of our lives.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

As another Goodreads reviewer remarked, this reads very much like a long, free-associating rant on the author's irritations with the modern secular world. I sort of agree with most of it, but if I didn't, I probably wouldn't be swayed by his remarks. Much of it seems so hurried that it dispenses with grammar altogether. Here is a sample of how the whole book goes: "It is Milton's contention that politics was invented in hell through Satan's need to control those around him--to state a case for himself and have others agree with the assessment he has of himself. Politics is the one human endeavour that counts upon us knowing that a falsehood is being established as a truth, and relying upon the fact that the majority will have no qualms about this. That is, lying to please the mob involves the mob, in politics and everywhere else. The trait that Tolstoy expressed about the falsehoods of Prince Vasili in War and Peace--that the prince lived in a world where falsehood was so common no one cared that what they said was false. If we live long enough, we see that not only is this true but that many expect us to be false, and believe it is politcally virtuous to be so. And this is how politics enters day-to-day life." My own reaction to this is "Huh?" Did Milton really "contend" that? Did Satan's minions know they were being lied to and acquiesce anyway? Is this really what we all do? The bit about Tolstoy isn't a complete sentence and doesn't really support his point. The author is a (somewhat) lapsed Catholic trying to come to terms with the frustratingly smug assumptions of the humanistic intellectuals who surround him. I share some of his irritation, but his apparently ad lib wanderings get tiresome.

[Paige Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated David letting me watch him consider faith and why he wont turn his back on it. The genuiness was familiar because I've seen it with my own Catholic family. The details...the truths of God, will come. In the mean time his commitment to faith and his understanding of its value is a beautiful thing.

I loved his stories of miracles. I can respect a man who notices the quite moments in his life, the ones were God is trying to get his attention. I can respect a man who ponders those moments.

Loved the "mob" revelations. Valuable to consider. I'm far removed from the secular world, and appreciate the glimpse in since I assume my own children will experience it. I pray they are well equipped to react to the mob with an eye roll haha

[John Martindale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richards writing was rich with pathos, it rung an emotional chord within me--my soul felt like it was wrapped in a hug. Richards eloquently voiced certain things I've observed and felt and yet still struggle to find words for, it was affirming to hear another express it.

Sometimes, in times of doubt, I feel like I am in a boat that is sinking, surrounded by shark infested water. Now there is a secularist ship full of dogmatic, extremely certain and arrogant atheist who delight in pointing at; mocking, and ridiculing us in the boat of faith. So many of them however, are completely oblivious to massive rip in the hull of their ship. Their blatant hypocrisy and unthinking faith in the plethora of unfalsifiable claims from secular intellectuals, does not prove attractive. This is part of the reason we remain, despite all our questions and despite the crazies with whom we share the boat of faith. At least within the Christian worldview there is a basis for hope, meaning and value. A grounding for morality and a reason why we have an obligation to pursue Truth. Sure there is no way to "prove" theism, but there is no way to "prove" naturalism either, both worldviews offer explanations and both have seemingly fatal problems. Nevertheless, many Christians maintain an unjustified certainty, because their complete confidence in their interpretation of the 'inerrent' bible. Many atheist maintain an unjustified certainty, because their total faith in the infallibility of Science; which is the way, the truth and the life. No man can know reality except through it.

[John Hanson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Vapid and contradictory, and I'm being kind. He understands neither logic nor evidence, never discusses other religions, only atheism and agnosticism which he treats as religions (some offshoot of conventionalism, I think; a humorous oxymoron at best), yet in the end pushes the Catholic Jesus alone as the savior. There's no point arguing against all his drivel as all his arguments seem based on fiction, not scripture, not true evidence (though he does talk much in anecdote), and no clear writing. One might argue the only people capable of reading and absorbing his ramblings have already made up their minds, so why bother? At least it offers insight into the mind one of the best character writers of our time, sadly, a mind that obviously cannot discern real life from story.

I have to wonder if there was an editor. Goosecap? And DAR talks of disingenuousness. Come on!

[Danny Druid · Rating 1 out of 5]

“God Is” Book Review
David Adam Richard’s book is, at first glance, another contribution to the ongoing battle between religious world views, such as Catholicism, and scientific-materialist world views as represented by people such as Bertrand Russel or Richard Dawkins. God Is, of course, does argue on the side of the the former worldview, but in a very unique way. It’s criticisms of the opposing worldview are unique, and it is the first to mention common flaws in religion.
David Adam Richard’s thesis is that God is simply present, regardless of rather or not we say we have faith, and that faith is an inherently essential part of being a human being.
Now, one should be clear on what kind of book one is getting into before one starts reading it. This is not a long, philosophical treatise or meditation. It is more of a deeply impassioned rant. It feels like, if you were sitting with Mr. Richards over coffee and you brought up the topic of religion, and you just let him talk and talk and talk for hours while you were just nodding your head, this is what he would say. Part of the reason why is because his argument is all over the place. A rant is an explosion of thought and emotion that while powerful leaves arguments scattered everywhere instead of neatly ordered as they are in a treatise. For example, he quotes Albert Einstein (“Christianity will never be dismissed by a witty remark”) at least five times (and this quote isn’t cited, which is something else characteristic of rants).
The rant-like quality of this work isn’t necessarily bad, even if it results in it being often disjointed. Richards wouldn’t want it to be any other way, I’m sure. The anecdotes that he fills his story with are genuinely touching and provocative - because they are so real, and nothing is as touching and as provocative as real life. Plus, to write a treatise or a very long essay would be to conform to the intellectuals that Richards is not so fond of.
Why is Richards not so fond of intellectuals and think they are hypocrites? He says that people who attack religion think they are being cutting-edge and rebellious (of whom are they rebelling against?) when in reality they are just conforming. They look down on the religious for conforming, but they themselves are conformists. He goes as far as to quote a theologian who said that “Anti-Catholicism is the Anti-Semitism of the intellect”, which is perhaps taking it a little too far, but it drives home a great problem that Richards is not unjustified in having. Religious people, and Catholics especially, are dismissed before they can even speak in intellectual circles. And how can one dismiss an argument that one is unwilling to listen to? It recalls Richard Dawkins’s infamous statement that he has no desire to read theology because he knows from the get-go that he fully disagrees with all of its principles - it would be the same as studying “Leprauchanology”. I’m sure this is the kind of snobbery that Richards is addressing . If Richards is trying to argue for the existence of God, he pulls out essentially every card a theologian or a priest would play to argue for God’s existence. The argument that the universe is “just so” and too perfect to be a coincidence is made (and, of course, this argument is quoted from a physicist!) at the very beginning. He also argues that justice being an ideal that is cherished by the human being must mean there is a judge, especially if the world around is so unjust - people would have to get the punishment or reward they deserve not in this life but in the next, thanks to God. Of the familiar arguments it is the anecdotes he relates about miracles that are the most moving. A good example is when he tells us of synchronistic moments like his friends deciding to name an adopted child Luke only to have heard months later that the mother they adopted the child from wanted her kid to be named Luke. Coincidence? Asks Richards.
It is when Richards stops veering to all of these tried-and-true arguments, even when he does put them in eloquent or touching ways, that we get the real strength of his book and what makes it unique.
God is an unavoidable existential reality for Richards, and even our most virulent attempts to deny his existence only confirms that he does. His argument for faith is especially compelling. He defines faith, though never explicitly, as a basic trust in humanity’s longing for righteousness and truth as well as a trust in the goodness of the universe and “anything beyond ourselves”. To believe these things is often audacious, hence the need for faith. But we all have, for Richards, a childlike desire for miracles and for things to go our way. For Richards any hope at all - hope that the scientific method is actually describing reality, hope that we can get what we want - are all evidences of the biggest hope of all: the hope that this life means something, that there is a God who created the universe and that he has a plan. To have this hope confirmed, says Richards, would give all of us incredible joy.
But whom is this God whom Richards wants us to have faith? This is the problem I have with many texts such as God Is, in that one can refer to a great many abstract things and arbitrarily call them “God” without getting into the specifics. This wouldn’t be a problem if the word “God” weren’t already applied to so many beings and abstract things! There is an element of Fate in Richards’s interpretation of what exactly “God is” God can, apparently, decide on people’s births and deaths as well as most of the major things that happen in there lives, such as whose parents adopt you.
The biggest problem this book has is that it is only preaching to the converted. Of course those who believe in God will find God to be self-evident, but people like Dawkins are convinced that there is no God because of a lack of evidence. When Richards makes the argument that everyone feels bad after having committed a Sin he fails to take into account that not everyone has internalized the Catholic system of ethics as strongly as Richards has (even if he did have to fight against himself and re-affirm it, as he tells us). 
This books contribution to the clash of cultures will be twofold. It will give religious intellectuals and writers in Canada and especially in the maritimes some solidarity, and it will strengthen their faith. As for the atheists, I do not think they will be convinced. And I am saying that as a former atheist who has had a change of heart. I do not think if my younger, intellectual snob self read this book that he would be converted. “So what if people inherently long for justice, etc? That still doesn’t mean it’s true” he would cynically say. And on a strictly logical basis, that does refute a large part of Richards’s argument.
Richards himself says in the third part of the book that debate is pointless, and that those with Faith shouldn’t debate with atheists but should instead just demonstrate that they have faith with their actions in the daily lives they lead. If this is true, why is Richards writing this book? The truth is that he is writing it for himself, for the sake of venting.
Rating: 1.5/5 (Meh).

[Evelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I do appreciate what the author was trying to accomplish here, I found this rambling and convoluted. It was very hard to follow,and filled with anecdotes that did not seem in any way related to the search for faith in a secular world.

However, I did mark this passage, and have spent some time ruminating upon it. "Faith is important simply because all of mankind's other concerns are actually unsolvable without faith - and great faith."

[Dianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a discussion of trying to have a life of faith in a secular world......not an easy or quick read...found it to be rambling and convoluted at times. At times, the author seemed to be ' just thinking out loud or musing abut the subject'.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that needs to be read more than once - thought provoking.

[Aggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about faith and our relationship with it, whether we accept it or not. He makes some really good points. It was a good light read.

[Helen Hillis]

I think I will read this again later.

[Lindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Award-winning New Brunswick author David Adams Richards has been asked if he is a Christian. This book (he describes it as a polemic) is his answer. "Faith is important because all of mankind's other concerns are actually unsolvable without faith - and great faith." He insists that faith is part of our make-up and that even atheists know the presence of God, even though they won't admit it. I wasn't convinced about the atheists, but I agreed with other things that he said, like: "Goodness, simplicity and truth are what everyone seeks in others and wars against in themselves." I, too, believe in God - although my idea of God is not the same as that described by Christians.

I've rejected the traditional notions of sin and the devil along with my Catholic upbringing, but when Richards calls them 'wrongdoing' and a 'condition,' then I can go along with his arguments. "To commit a crime or even murder because so-and-so has harmed you is in some way to rationalize one wrongdoing as sin and the other as justified." When he was younger, his circle of drinking acquaintances included murderers. "Murder is the sublime anti-miracle. The taking of life is, in a way, the miracle of people who refuse to believe life is a miracle, or at least have registered their superiority to people who believe such foolish things."

He writes openly about experiences that have confirmed his faith in God. He decries self-righteousness, mob behaviour, misplaced moral outrage, and people who ridicule what they secretly fear. He quotes Einstein, who said "Christianity will never be explained away by a smart remark." Richards has written a thought-provoking look at ethics and morality.

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I heard David Adams Richards talk about this book at a church in Hamilton; a fellow member had invited our book club there as we'd just read his 'Mercy Among the Children' (now there's a depressing book, if ever I've read one). Anyway, he was a really good speaker, warm, affable, real. When asked about it, he said he wrote 'God Is' as a response to the mean atheists like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, who were crapping all over Christianity. He'd never written this sort of thing before, but they made him so ticked off that he did. So I bought the book, and it sat on my shelf until this spring.

Now, I came at the book expecting it to be simple to read, convincing, heartfelt. To my disappointment, I didn't really find it to be any of those things. I suppose I owe it another try--it's a pretty slim book, but it's amazing how quickly it can make me fall asleep. So I was disappointed, but I'm giving it a two because I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt, hoping that I'll like it better on the second go-through.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not so much a story but a stream of conscientiousness. I feel as though David Adams Richards was not trying to convince us that God exists. Rather he was telling us why God exists for him in spite of all the things that happened in his life. For me the book was very revealing. It showed me a little of how Richards thinks and that helped me understand why he writes the way he does. He talks about how people can be happy in spite of everything that happens around them. I now think I see that his books are not about extreme sadness. They are more about how people can rise above it all. They are books about love and hope. For that reason I give this book a 4. It has taken me to a new level of understanding about a great New Brunswick author and I like that.

[Daniel Moholia · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the sincerity of a non-conformist with nothing to lose, David Adams Richards tackles the topic of faith in a secular world from personal experience, both as one who grew up in the faith yet also as one with the clarity of insight into the human soul of every great author. A recommended read if you enjoy the narrative voice.

"[T]here is something else that I think allows us to dismiss faith. Convention. And why do I say this? Because those who succumbed to popular afflictions, alcohol and drugs, often were very early set on the road to self-destruction by being told they were doing what had to be done to shake away convention... and they did so only to belong - so others would have faith in them." (pp. 30)

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there was a half-star here because I'd go to 3 1/2. As a Christian and a New Brunswicker I really wanted to love this book but I have to admit it was at times rambling and self-indulgent. If Richards wasn't already famous, he wouldn't have been able to write this book. That said, there are some incredible sections and deep thoughts that require second and third readings. Richards uses examples from his own life, some of which are incredible, others easy to relate to, to argue that we all really believe in God deep down, even those who try to argue against His existence.

[Jon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would recommend skipping the first 1/3 of this book since it's the most difficult and can easily put you off for the remainder. However, the last 2/3rds have a few thought-provoking nuggets and it's always interesting to read other people's opinions and conclusions based on their experiences. It's pretty tough to recommend this book, however.

[Linda Tiessen-Wiebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very moral and humble. Makes me want to read his fiction. I love how he sees God's presence in being confronted by a chance encounter in a mall. That God's love includes God's saving judgement that desires to free us from our bondage to selfishness.

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept waiting for something cohesive to emerge. Honestly, there were moving and well-written passages throughout this book, but it just didn't know what it wanted to be. I expect people who are familiar with his other work would get a lot more out of it.

[James B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a lot expectation for this book, it is in fact something i am still learning (half eagerly). It really could be organized better in a more systematic way, though I know this is an autobiography. Had some good points but overall didn't make too much impact.

[Ted Dettweiler · Rating 3 out of 5]

God Is!

[Wanda]

Richards knows a lot about life, he has discernment of human character and of faith that most people miss. This book moved me profoundly. It is a gift to the world.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non- fiction, philosophy and religiously based. Very thought provoking. I read it as almost of a self-discovery piece and found myself highlighting and tagging a lot of passages.

[Lisa Yu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it