A dialogue

A god-loving priest, an apathetic schoolteacher, and a cynical philosopher were all asked what they thought of the current condition of humanity and how it got to be that way. The priest answered comfortably: we are good people faced with difficult challenges, and we are that way by God's will. The teacher took a bit of time to reflect, answering that he believed ages of evolution had contributed to the biomolecular makeup of the species, and that that makeup has enabled us to develop individualistic mentalities by rationalizing our experiences. This, he said, makes some good and others not. The philosopher then said with a smug look on his face, "God is wicked." Infuriated at the atheist's remark, the priest took this as a mockery and began shouting. The schoolteacher was upset at what he presumed to be an attempt to dodge the question. "My dear fellows," said the philosopher, "you misunderstand. Whatever heavenly power may ever have existed has been long absent from this earth. It is me who is the god, and you as well." The priest looked at him coldly and scoffed at his ignorance. "How can you profess us to be gods? And even so, why say god is wicked?" The philosopher responded, "What else but a wicked god can destroy entire worlds and good souls?"

"Nothing, I suppose."

"These things, my friends, are what people do best," he said.

The priest appealed to all the good actions of which men are capable. He exclaimed over the virtues of sacrifice, honor, and integrity. "How can these things be universally thought good," he said, "if they are not good by their own natures? Surely you cannot contend that men made them so. How might they have come to be this way? What is it that makes them good? That is God. Though I cannot deny the meat of your claim (which is that people can at times be quite barbarous), I do say that these are sins and imperfections; that they, to the contrary of your more refined claim, are just what make us human."

The schoolteacher was disgusted at all the talk of deities and abstracts. "There is no such thing as goodness," he said, "and this world was made to be destroyed. We use it as a tool ought to be used; why assign such mystical import to such a thing? And what are souls other than a person's intangible self? Many destroy themselves rather than are destroyed by others. The world besides is a cruel place; you must either be very strong, very ignorant, or some combination thereof to get through. Must you two squabble over which or why is the case?"

As the three stood to leave, still they could not settle on what should be thought the case. They continued shouting at each other until they stepped into their cars and drove away. Not one of them had learned a thing.

Who can accurately place the pity where it is most due?

2007