by Rob Drew

Created on: May 28, 2008

Trust in people or trust in God? This should be an easy decision for a non-believer, but it isn't. In fact it quickly becomes very complicated. Which people? Which God? Let's start with people. There are evil people, selfish people, and greedy people, all not to be trusted. Then there are nice people who are simply unreliable or forgetful. There are people too busy to be bothered, and well-meaning people who are totally incompetent. Finally there are those precious few friends whom one can trust totally. These are the people who will do what's needed whenever the situation requires it. In my experience many of the most trustworthy people have been those who no longer believe in a God. They've taken it upon themselves to fill in whenever the Almighty is missing in action. Their personal code is one of honor and service.

Thus I could say that I place the most trust in people. And yet, God does find a place. Oh, don't get me wrong. God is not to be trusted on His own merits. First of all, He doesn't exist. Second, He's been a dreadful no-show at many important events where people were depending on him. Consider the Myanmar floods, Chinese earthquake, and Indonesian tsunami. Clearly if there were a God, He was away on holiday for those episodes. When the chips are down, if you need someone to throw you a rope, dig you out of the rubble, or pull you into a boat, you're better off trusting people. You could be treading water for a long time if you're trusting God to provide the life raft.

So why do I say God deserves some consideration? It's because of some of the wonderful people who believe in Him - or Her - or Them. It can't be denied that a number of believers are complete hypocrites or very lax. Many others are splendid people. In fact, belief in their deities leads them to many virtues, including honesty and generosity. Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Christian and Jewish cultures all espouse the existence of some God or Gods. Their religions also embody the very virtues that can inspire trust. Their faith in God encourages them to behave in the way we'd like to think God Himself, or Herself, might behave if we needed someone to rely on.

I'm confident that I do trust people far more than I trust God, but I've come to recognize that I also trust some Godly people. The absent deity is well represented by men and women who embrace the idea of a God requiring honorable behavior and love of one's fellow men. That's an idea I can trust.

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