Thoughts on
TRINITY
“Strength may be able to move mountains, but faith can move civilizations.”
Originally, the story that was supposed to take this spot in the collection was called Triskelion, and it was a novella. However, it became too much novella, so much that I could no longer fit it in the collection. In its stead, I chose to write a shorter story set in the same planetary alien invasion, thus Trinity was born.
I’m glad it worked out that way. The new story was more faith-centric, and it would have felt wrong to have a collection focused on existentialist themes without having one of those stories centered around the power of faith. According to the Global Religion Survey in 2023, approximately 61% of the world believes in a higher power. Of those, 76% claim their belief gives their life meaning. Based on that data, religious faith is undeniably the greatest source of purpose and hope for the majority of the world.
“God is a metaphor for a mystery that absolutely transcends all human categories of thought.”
I do not believe in any form of higher being. That is because I have seen no evidence of such. However, I am still pro-faith and I consider myself a rabid defender of religious freedom (how anyone could have taken the side of the Imperials in Skyrim is beyond me).
I tend to enjoy conversations about whether religion has been a net positive on the world or a net negative. In my liberal circles, the conversation tends to skew toward the latter, but I think those people refuse to grasp how perfectly lost humanity would be without belief in something greater. In fact, I would say for early humans not to believe in god was evolutionary impossibility. In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins famously theorized that, since humans and everything we do are products of Darwinian evolution, the belief in gods provided our species an evolutionary advantage (or at least were the by-product of an evolutionary advantage) for our species. He offers many suggestions as to what those advantages might be, then later argues why modern humans should move away from religion.
Would the world be better if everyone’s beliefs were governed by the scientific method? I don’t know - again, I have no evidence. However, I think for one to expect the rest of the world to just stop believing in god is impractical at this point in our civilization.
The truth of the matter is, religion has saved many individuals’ lives. It gives people a reason to keep going. While I might earn fulfillment from learning the truth of the natural world, who am I to claim any other human’s method for finding purpose is any less valid? So long as one’s faith helps them: (A) find happiness in the face of impending death (B) respect others, and (C) make the world a better place, then isn’t that a win?