One equals one (1 = 1).  Any competent mathematician can tell you that.  But, like a lot of things, no one can prove it.  (I’ll wait while you try.) 

Mathematicians will tell you that it cannot be done.  The identity axiom says that any number equals itself, but axioms are inherently beyond proof.  

Nevertheless, we believe that such axioms are true, for two reasons.  First, they are obvious, and second, because if we ignore them, catastrophe results.  For example, try balancing your checkbook based on the assumption that numbers do not equal themselves.  More dangerously, try calculating your taxes that way. 

There is no proof of God—at least, not by the rules of mathematics, nor by the rules of logic.  In the realm of science, it has been said that there is no indisputable proof of anything at all; there is only the preponderance of evidence, but never a final proof.  

Therefore, don't expect any scientific proof of God. 

We can, however, accept God’s existence as axiomatic.  We can take Him as obvious, which some will dispute—but more than that, we can try living as if there were no God.  In fact, to a large extent, society has already embarked upon that experiment.  Unfolding events will prove or disprove the axiom. 

It has been said by Voltaire, no less, that if there were no God, it would be necessary to invent Him.  

Another way of saying this is that, what is important is not so much whether we believe in God, but more so, whether we live as if we believe He exists.  What does that mean?   

It means to live according to principles of right and wrong.  It means to live as if one were accountable for his deeds, and even for his omissions.  Accountability implies standards by which one may be judged, and that, of course, implies a judge, one who sets those standards.  Living otherwise invites disaster. 

Our Constitution is secular.  It never mentions the Creator.  Despite that, we should not confuse secular society with atheist societies.  Secularization does not exclude God.  Quite to the contrary, the Constitution asserts our freedom of religion.  Secularization simply recognizes that there are honest differences of opinion regarding which particular sect should be believed.  A secular society accepts the God axiom, and then does its imperfect best to work from there.  An atheist society rejects God entirely, with all that that implies. 

Without God, there is neither right nor wrong, unless one considers one's personal opinion of those things to be infallible.  Absent God, there is neither good nor evil.  Without God, there are no inalienable human rights.  Without God, there is no empirical reason to regard humans as anything but objects, to be used when needed, discarded when not, and destroyed when they become a liability.  Raw nature is the ultimate sociopath. 

None of this, of course, proves the existence or nonexistence of God.  It simply maps out for us our future course, depending on which path we choose to follow—faith in God, or atheism.  We have come to a fork in the road.  One path will lead to the top of the mountain, the other, off the edge of a cliff. 

Our Founders accepted the God axiom, and founded our nation on the basis of its self-evident truths.  The nation then stumbled forward, never fully obedient to its founding principles, but however unsteadily, moving in the right direction. 

Now, there are those who aver that we have never been a good nation, that we have always been on the wrong path.  They offer a different way, one that rejects many of the Commandments, and would replace them with man-made principles that distort the structure of family, of truth, of justice.  It is the path of no God, or worse yet, a false God, an impostor who demands worship. 

We can never prove to the political Left that they are wrong, but as they bring about the ruin of our social order, and replace it with one that recognizes no eternal verities, denies absolute morality, and attacks respect for life, they will prove it for us. 

Will we survive their proof?  Have faith that we will. 

Image: Pixabay (edited) / Pixabay License