(From a letter from the Rebbe)
I do not accept your claim that you are not a believer. For if you truly had no concept of a Supreme Being who creates the world with a purpose, then why are you so outraged by injustice in life? The substance of the universe is not moral, nor are plants and animals. Why should it surprise you that the greater and more powerful devour their living neighbor?
It is only through an inner conviction in our hearts, shared by every human being, that there is a Judge, that right and wrong exist. Therefore, when we see wrongdoing, we demand an explanation: why isn't it the way it should be?
This is faith in God.
I am outraged by injustice in life, especially by injustice in society.
I agree that human beings have the capacity to distinguish between good and evil, but that does not imply the existence of a superior being.
When I see something wrong, I demand an explanation, but I demand it from man, from society, from humanity.
Natural events, such as death, do not require explanation.
Belief in a higher power is merely a way of avoiding the responsibility we have to change the exploitative capitalist society into a just and equitable one.
Hi Alan,
The Rebbe's letter does not say that having a sense of right and wrong compels the existence of a higher being. What it says is that the feeling of outrage at the injustice one witnesses is what compels the existence of a higher being.
The Rebbe bases this idea on the fact that the matter of the universe is neither just nor unjust. Even humankind, with its conception of good and bad, has no idea what is truly good and what is truly bad. That is where God comes in, with the Torah, to tell us what is good and what is bad.
One example: the Holocaust. Those who conceived and carried it out were neither insane nor foolish. On the contrary, they were advanced thinkers in the natural sciences and philosophy. The problem is that they relied purely on their intellect, on what their rationally conceived notions dictated: there is a superior race that must survive in the world by eliminating the inferior: Jews, Black people, Roma, etc. This is rational, purely intellectual, and from a purely rational perspective, it makes sense!
But God says in the Torah "Thou shalt not kill," there is no such thing, like what the Nazis thought and carried out, in God's rules.
Here, then, is a very simple and clear proof of how it is not enough to ask for justice from man, society, or humanity.
One more point that is fundamental: belief in a higher being is the OPPOSITE of what you are proposing: if God is everywhere and observes and knows you, etc., in all your actions, words and thoughts, you must behave with Him in command in all these aspects throughout your entire life, in all circumstances, etc.
In other words, belief in God is a responsibility in the face of non-belief. If you don't believe in God, you can do whatever you want, or whatever your intellect (limited, like that of any human being on Earth) dictates. It's highly susceptible to self-indulgence, to seeking your own benefit, to setting aside your own rational decisions for your own convenience—we are human beings, after all...
On the contrary, if you believe in God (honestly speaking, I'm not talking about those who say one thing and do another; that's their individual (or institutional) problem, let's not confuse things), you are subject to a supreme justice, to a mission you must fulfill at all times, to a responsibility toward your neighbor and the entire world. You can't escape it, so to speak. You were created by God, and He gave you a series of rules you must follow, and He is watching, at every moment, whether you fulfill them or not!
Just the opposite of what you're suggesting... Believing in God and being religious is not an escape from anything, quite the contrary, it's a way of taking responsibility.
In turn, the believer has no problem with injustice in the world: the world is as God intends it to be, whether the religious person understands it or not. The religious person has no inner conflict: God clearly states in the Torah how one should behave before God and toward one's neighbors, Jewish or not. The religious person has no problem with science or philosophy. After all, they are nothing more than models devised by humankind to describe a reality we observe. In some cases, these models are useful; in others, they are not. The Torah presents an absolute reality seen from the perspective of the Creator of all things, not models devised by humankind, but Divine Realities. Based on these realities, humankind is given free will to choose what to do with their life, whether to follow what God says or the opposite, with its advantages and disadvantages, and so on.
In short, I think the matter is complex, worthy of a thorough analysis that goes somewhat beyond what one can explain with written words...
Greetings!