The God Desire

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Rather, God’s absence outside our vivid imagination is just a “deeply depressing” fact for anyone who doesn’t much care for dying. “Death is necessary and makes more sense than – whatever the Bee Gees might say – staying alive,” he laments. Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life. This book was not what I entirely expected. I mean that in both positive and negative ways. It is nice to get mature confirmation from a fellow atheist that it is OK to like many of the trappings of religion. Religiously inspired art is still art. Religiously inspired architecture is still another form of art and hard work that should be appreciated. In some ways perhaps myself and the author are atheist religious tourists! One thing is for sure I have come to a stage in life where I don’t want to question people’s good nature when I don’t need to. Sometimes appreciating people and their different journeys next to your own has a certain whimsical comfort to it. All of this leaves me scratching my head, wondering what led David Baddiel to become such a staunch atheist. It seems that Christianity could be the perfect fit for him, even if he hasn’t realised it yet!

Instead, I found a masturbatory rant, filled with name-dropping of his noteworthy friends, and self-congratulation of his intelligence. There’s a section dedicated where he complains about social media that, while has some fair points, comes across very much as “old man yells at cloud”. At one point he says he’s afraid to criticise Islam for fear of being killed. And throughout the book, he seems to be trying desperately to be funny, but frequently missed the mark. I really think it’s a great book … the real triumph is its tone, its straightforwardness, and its spectacular tact and wit” - Adam Phillips, author of MonogamyIn the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Christianity is the story of the divine entering into concrete truth that makes sense of the universe in the centrality of existence. Which is why the Church is so utterly wrong to present the Christian message in the irrational fringes of understanding, for the God of the Bible does not claim to be the god of the gaps but the God of reality – in Christ, He has flesh like ours. I'm about a quarter of the way into this thus far and it's very well argued and written. It's a book you know the author HAD to write, and those are the best books’JON RONSON - Thank goodness for David Baddiel. He is neither a theologian nor a boxer, but he can certainly deliver a religious punch. We cannot pretend anymore that Jewish atheists (or agnostics) do not exist or that they have no place in the Jewish community. Baddiel has opened the lid and the reality has come tumbling out.

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At the tender age of thirteen the nation welcomed Euro ’96 and with it Baddiel and Skinner’s anthem “Three Lions on a Shirt.” I will never forget returning from a school trip to Alton Towers listening on the radio to England beating Spain 4:2 on penalties. We were parked outside the school gates, our parents waiting, but we refused to get off the coach until the game finished. At the moment of jubilation we sang the entire song, word for word in unison with my class, teachers, the bus driver and all waiting for us outside before departing. A pseudo religious experience, the hymn of our generation. Like Baddiel, they would like to believe but cannot do so. They know it can be very comforting to feel someone is in charge of this vast space, and is also looking after you personally. There’s plenty to ponder whenever this wise and witty mortal whips out his chisel and tablets of stone Baddiel sidesteps the questions such as "what would happen to our morality without religion", since his point is that God doesn't exist, period. And even if everyone admitting this would lead to a global catastrophe, that wouldn't change that basic fact. Even if to avoid this hypothetical catastrophe we will all have to pretend that there is God, God would still continue not to exist. In The God Desire, Baddiel argues that it is the very intensity of his, and everyone else’s, desire for God to exist that proves his non-existence. Anything so deeply wished-for we will make real, considers Baddiel.