No Faith

A guest post by James Withers from A Nerd's Place

Today on The Corpus Callosum Chronicles—a guest post from A Nerd's Place, written by my friend James Withers, who happens to be my favorite nerd, or fellow nerd, since I proudly claim the label. In my eyes, nerds are cool because they are totally into things! Nerds are not blasé, striking poses and pretending they don’t know everything about their favorite subjects. They tell you because they are so enthusiastic they just have to share. There is no one I’d rather drink coffee and talk about books all day more than James, preferably in a New Orleans café before cell phones and wifi. (Actually, I think our time together in NOLA was before the internet!)

The word nerd doesn’t exactly call to mind erudition. Don’t let it fool you. James is erudite, but he keeps it light. Enjoy this piece on faith written by James, subscribe to A Nerd's Place, don’t miss the video of Sister Rosetta Tharpe at the bottom, drink numerous cups of coffee, preferably with a nerdy friend who wants to talk about books all day!

Oh—and burn some incense for Athena, Duke Ellington, or Billie Holiday.

James may have titled this piece “No Faith,” but nerds are the people who keep the faith!

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No Faith

by James Withers

It was summer. Not too hot but warm enough to want a cool place. Looked a block ahead and saw them. White dress shirts. Short sleeves. Black pants. Shoes and ties. Two Latter-day Saints. Mormons in everyday talk but that term is no longer approved by the community.

Looked over their heads (a classic NYC trick) but as we got closer noticed the one who was off the charts cute got my attention. Biceps snug around the shirt. Sweat highlighted his chest. He wouldn’t win a height contest but the buzz cut, and horned rim glasses, made him a perfect background actor for any film about old school NASA. He headed for me, offering a smile. If I were younger, and less nasty, would have giggled.

“Hey there,” he said. “Would you like to go to church?”

Two responses came to mind. “Sure. If you’re leading the sermon” or “You’re going to let me sit on your pew, Mr. Elder Man?” Kept those answers in check. Went polite but definitive. Home training, baby! “No thank you. I’m an atheist.”

“That’s ok,” he responded. “Come anyway.”

His pluckiness made me want to test his faith. “Sure, Mr. Latter-day Saints Man. I’ll attend a service. What are you prepared to do for me?”

Decided that talk would better serve a person with confidence. Thanked him and wished him a good day. He did the same. Told a minister friend this story. Confessed I thought the atheist line would have ended the conversation.

“James,” she laughed. “You can’t be that naive. That’s just a start. They don’t care you’re an atheist. They want to make you a believer.”

She had a point. I’m too old to think declaring non-belief ends a back and forth with believers. Whenever I tell the religious I’m not it either brings up more talk (“Why are you like that?”) or earnest attempts to get me to fall for their god. Faith/no-faith debates make me yawn. If people want to follow Athena, good for them. If the Greek goddess is too butch that’s cool too. Burn incense for Cupid. The only time religion becomes an issue is when followers of a god demand the public square is only theirs. They can share it with us heathens but if a religious project is one god, one public voice, I’m your proud enemy.

Outside of that you’re not going to hear me talk about faith. I treat it like I do hockey. Don’t care for the sport. Only see it when ESPN highlights it. When people celebrate a hockey win, I have no opinion because it’s not my sport. I know a few of the more famous players. They say Wayne Gretzky was good with a puck. That’s the limit of my hockey knowledge or interest.

If I’m going to type all of this it would be dishonest not to confess I’m a sucker for Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts. Slight detour: there isn’t a more important American composer than the Duke. That has to be said at least once a day. Find the most hardcore heathen in your family and he, or she, will be tapping their toes when Sister Rosetta Tharpe rocks the guitar. Great art can be centered in a tradition but it speaks to those who are not members of the tribe.

I have to be careful because I’m close to yammering about culture, from basketball, baseball, books, and Billie. These are the things I want to ruminate over (with some good coffee and cherry pie). The “which god is great” talk I’ll step around. Unless Athena is the topic.

Kō aloha lā ea

Concentrate on love by way of the light