I was making some mac ‘n cheese tonight, watching the pot of water heat up just before the point of boiling.  All along the bottom of the pot, small bubbles of air formed and held steady spots while even smaller bubbles danced between them.  Then, as often occurs, the larger pockets released and rose to the surface of the water where they then swirled and joined with other similar pockets.

As I observed all of this, I thought about the complexity of everything I had just witnessed and realized that, in some ways, my atheism is just as “faith” based as most people’s belief in a higher power.

Some believe that God must exist because our world is so incredibly complex.  They can’t conceive of any of this happening on its own without guidance from one infinitely powerful.  I, however, can’t believe that any being could be so infinitely powerful as to conceive of the rules required to govern the behavior of heated water.  That is, I can’t conceive of any being capable of building systems of such complexity.

Speaking of religion, I was reading an article today about a local man who recently sold a rather extensive collection of Nazi correspondence relating to the Holocaust.  One of the reasons he started his collection was that he wanted tangible evidence in order to refute those who claim the Holocaust never happened.  This is “speaking of religion” because I thought it bizarre that people would rather believe in the divinity of Christ, who has no direct descendents that we’re aware of and whose existence is no more corporeal than, say, Harry Potter’s, yet they would sooner believe that than believe a Holocaust survivor standing in their presence.

Damn, this better be some good mac ‘n cheese.