In this world there is a great deal of religious conflict between people of differing religious beliefs and between believers and nonbelievers. But these groups can all come together as one and express the same sentiment concerning their (lack of) belief in the Goddess N’da.

The Creed

Our creed concerning the Goddess N’Da is as follows:

There is no rational basis to believe in the Goddess N’Da.

We claim that everyone, no matter what their other beliefs may be, can agree with this creed.

Background

We will now outline some support for the above creed.

Evidence & Statistics

When we look at the usual pillars of faith, we can see little reason for belief in N’Da.

• Sacred texts: None known.
• Relevant historical events: None known.
• Churches: None known.
• Followers: None known.
• Scientific evidence: None known.

Based on this evidence, there appears to be no reasonable basis for anyone to believe in the Goddess N’Da. She is mentioned in no historic records, and appears to have had no followers at any time in the past. No miracles have been ascribed to her, no one is seen to pray to her, and no one has claimed to have performed any acts under her influence.

Newness Argument

Some people might argue that new religions arise over time, new gods appear and old ones appear to lose followers and die. According to such an argument, the lack of any past support for the Goddess N’Da may only be a sign that the earth was not yet ready for any revelation at all about her existence. In such a worldview, other religions may be seen as preparing the way for her.

A skeptic might wonder “Why Now?” and “Why N’Da?”. Before anyone can reasonably believe in the Goddess N’Da, it seems sensible to wait until there is some more concrete basis for belief (e.g., sacred texts, known followers, miracles or other supernatural occurrences attributed to the Goddess N’Da, claimed consequences for nonbelief, rewards for belief).

Faith

Some people say that to believe without any evidence whatsoever is a test of faith, and on that basis belief in the Goddess N’da would appear to be an act of profound faith. But similar or greater faith would be required to believe that crows are really aliens or that cushions are imbued with the spirits of the dead. There appears to be no good reason to choose to believe in the Goddess N’da compared to any other supernatural force or entity.

Direct Personal Revelation

Some people would claim that although external evidence is not required for faith, they have internal evidence to support their beliefs. They might say that one way to know the reality of the Goddess N’Da is simply to enter a contemplative state and seek revelation. For example, after you have read this paragraph and before reading the next one, close your eyes, relax, breathe slowly and deeply, focus, and take a few minutes to seek enlightenment about the Goddess N’Da. Ask her to reveal herself to you. This feeling of enlightenment can arrive as tingle that slowly builds across your body, a presence or eerie sensation, or simply a feeling of being loved. (Feel free to take a moment now and seek that sensation.)

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Most people will feel something when they try the above exercise if they focus properly, given an appropriate open frame of mind, but we should not assume that they have actually felt the love of the Goddess N’Da. There are other, more rational, explanations, involving suggestion. No matter how profound the feeling appears to be (and for some people, the results can be dramatic), we can almost always explain those results as simply the result of suggestion.

Conspiracy Theories

Of course, one might ask why anyone would take the time to refute the existence of a nonexistent God with no known followers, and that doing so is clearly suspicious. “Why,” they might ask, “do they want us not to believe?”. A typical conspiracy explanation would be that followers of the Goddess N’Da have as a tenet of their faith the requirement that they only argue against the existence of the Goddess N’Da, in which case, vast numbers of people (including self-professed atheists!) could secretly be followers of the Goddess N’Da. Similarly, as Donald Rumsfeld said, “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” so the fact that there are no public records of N’Da showing her power and no public sacred texts does not mean that these things do not exist.

Like most conspiracy theories, this theory cannot easily be refuted, but Occam’s Razor suggests that given multiple explanations, we should prefer the simplest one. Thus, rather than suppose that there are lots of people who believe in the Goddess N’Da but do not admit it, which is somewhat paranoid, it is simpler to suppose that most people do not believe in the Goddess N’Da.

Gnostic vs Agnostic Views

In the creed, it merely states that there is no rational basis to believe in the Goddess N’Da. Some people might be willing to go further and explicitly state that the Goddess N’Da does not exist (gnostic viewpoint). Our suggested creed is more inclusive since it is accessible to agnostics who might be skeptical about the Goddess N’Da, but who, nevertheless, cannot completely rule out the possibility of her existence.

Unresolved Questions

One last unresolved question that remains is one we raised in the conspiracy section: If there is no Goddess N’Da, why talk about her at all? We might also note that the entire tone of this document is careful to avoid making an outright statement on the existence of the Goddess N’Da, which allows the possibility that its author(s) actually (secretly) believe.

In this case, Occam’s Razor would still lead us to prefer the explanation that this page is an elaborate joke or thought experiment written by one individual than that the Goddess N’Da is the one true god who demands that most patience and faith, whose love is received in private contemplation, and whose existence must never be acknowledged except to oneself.

Reposted from: http://nda.jottit.com/