The Practicality of Belief in God

In his June 1749 letter to Voltaire, the French Atheist Denis Diderot famously ruled that is is “very important not to mistake the hemlock for parsley; but to believe or not believe in God, is not important at all…[God has taken his place among] “ces très sublimes et trés inutiles vérités” (those very sublime and very useless truths).

But one does not have to become an atheist to lose a feel for God’s importance. Many people simply immerse themselves in the practical affairs of life, in pleasure seeking or in maintaining an illusory identity. They do not defy God or attempt to use God…