As an atheist, I have always taken perverse pleasure in watching the slow encroachment of science on the realm of the spirit and the supernatural. Imagine my glee when two recent announcements chipped away further at the "unknowable."

First came the revelation that Christopher Reeve, paralyzed from the neck down in a horseback-riding accident seven years ago, had regained feeling in his body and some movement in his fingers and toes. Doctors aren't entirely sure what happened, but they theorize that his aggressive physical therapy, coupled recently with electrical stimulation, caused his brain to rewire itself to bypass the damaged spinal cord and create a new pathway to the nerves that control his body below the chin.

A miracle? Nope. Seven years of hard work, lots of money, groundbreaking medical techniques, perseverance, and a belief in himself that is unimaginable. (Reeve, for the record, is an agnostic.) In past years, when science wasn't as advanced as it is now, people of faith would have been all too happy to attribute his physical gains to some higher power. Now it looks like the only higher power involved is the amazing hunk of gray matter we all carry around between our ears (at least, all of us not involved in politics).

Following this news came a report in the science journal Nature that doctors in Geneva, performing delicate brain surgery on a woman who was conscious at the time, were able to create an "out of body" experience in the woman by electrically stimulating a portion of her brain responsible for maintaining a person's awareness of body position. It was repeated several times, and several times the woman said she had the sensation of floating over her own body, watching the proceedings. These out-of-body experiences have long fallen into the realm of the "supernatural" and were often offered as proof of the existence of the human soul. But this report offers the best proof yet that even the strangest, most seemingly supernatural experiences are probably combinations of electrical impulses processed by the brain.

Believers will say it was the higher power that ultimately created this wonderful gray matter in the first place, but then we find ourselves back in the insane evolution-versus-creation debate (which, unbelievably, still rages in Ohio and Georgia public schools). This argument is the last outpost for those who prefer a supernatural explanation for things. Because we're still not able to trace our origins -- definitively and scientifically -- a supernatural explanation cannot yet be dismissed out of hand.

Here we have the ultimate collision of faith and science. There are some big holes in the theory of evolution -- which creationists never fail to point out -- but they are pinpricks compared to the holes in creationism. And the holes in evolution are closing as scientific advances lead to new discoveries every day. Plus, the concept of creationism flies in the face of Ockham's razor -- a philosophical principle essentially stating that the simplest explanation is usually the right one. Which seems simplest: a) we are the result of billions of years of random mutations, or b) an unknowable force created the whole world and everything in it in seven days, including perfectly formed, modern homo sapiens?

Throughout recorded history, science has offered explanations for things that believers claimed was God's work -- proving believers wrong one phenomenon at a time. Why do they fight so hard? Why are scientific explanations so scary? Why not just admit that there are rational explanations for almost everything, and explanations forthcoming for what's still unaccounted for? Why are humans so intent on believing that something else is in control of our world, or that a unified force and mind created it?

I believe humans, our world, strange phenomena, and the paths of our lives are the result of random and scientific processes. And I find this far more comforting than believing in a deity who has any interest whatsoever in the outcome of the Super Bowl. (Judging by all the Patriots doing the finger-pointing-to-the-sky maneuver after their victory last January, they obviously thought he did.) I find it more comforting than believing we are at the mercy of an all-powerful god who lets millions die horrible deaths from illness, violence, and neglect.

People often ask me, "If you don't believe in a god, then what happens when you die?" I don't know, and no one else does, either. The difference between me and them is that I don't care. Even if this is all we get, I'd still rather live here on earth with the knowledge that it's humanity, physics, and chance that chart our course -- not some bearded guy sitting on a fluffy cloud watching football while people burn.

Kris Frieswick's columns will
appear in More Mirth of a Nation (HarperCollins), a collection of essays by some of America's best humorists, due out November 12. Kris can be reached at k.frieswick@verizon.net.

Issue Date: November 8 - 14, 2002