The Journey of Life from the Nonbeliever's Point of View
is a 20-minute documentary that provides the point of view of atheists during the various stages of life. We have distributed 2,000 copies. A DVD or VHS copy is available from www.evolvefish.com. The video is free and there is a $5 shipping and handling charge. If you have questions about Journeycontact us at cocore3@q.com
Script begins.
TITLE CRAWL: COCORE, the Colorado Coalition of Reason, supports logic, reason, and the separation of church and state. COCORE presents THE JOURNEY OF LIFE (From the Nonbeliever's Point of View).
AERIAL SCENE ZOOMS TO NARRATOR, A MAN IN HIKING CLOTHES STANDING ON A TRAIL AT THE FOOT OF MOUNTAINS.
NARRATOR: Hello, my name is Timothy Englert. Everyone makes a journey though life from birth to death. Although we may take different paths and make different life choices, our destination is always the same. I'd like to walk along that path with you and talk about life. Now, most of you believe that your path is controlled by a god or a supreme being. You're about to hear from some people with a different point of view. Now, these are folks you probably don't get a chance to talk with very often. They don't have a religion and they don't believe in god.
NARRATOR TURNS AND WALKS UP PATH. WE SEE A TRAIL SIGN: "Trailhead to the Journey of Life. Average life expectancy: 77.1 years."
NARRATOR: When you look at the big picture of the journey of life, there are three philosophical questions that have come up over the ages. We'll address them during our hike.
WE SEE A SERIES OF FIVE TODDLERS.
NARRATOR: The first one is related to birth. Where was I before I was born? From a nonbeliever's point of view, there's no such thing as reincarnation or life before birth. They believe that an evolutionary process involving countless generations over millions of years have shaped how we begin our journey. With that first quickening, that first cry of "I am," life begins.
WE SEE A YOUNG MOTHER SITTING ON A BENCH BY A PLAYGROUND.
MOTHER OFF-CAMERA TO SON: Be careful, Davie. NARRATOR: From the moment they can understand yes and no, children begin learning the lessons of life. The base of their ethics and morality usually comes from their parents.
NARRATOR TO MOTHER: I understand you're a mother and a nonbeliever. What are some of the ideas you want to instill in your own child?
MOTHER: Before my own journey ends, I want to teach him how to read life's maps and road signs, so he can make his own route. In the meantime I'll give him lots of love, because I know he will be making the journey on his own someday, making his own decisions, selecting his own path.
WE SEE NARRATOR WALKING TOWARD A CAMPUS BUILDING.
NARRATOR: Before we continue our hike, let's take a break and meet some nonbelievers.
WE SEE SEVERAL PEOPLE ENTERING A MEETING ROOM.
NARRATOR: These people get together for social reasons, to serve their community and to learn from each other.
WE SEE A QUICK INSERT OF A MAN GIVING BLOOD AND THEN OF A WOMAN PICKING UP TRASH.
WE SEE SEVERAL PEOPLE SITTING AT TABLES.
NARRATOR TO PEOPLE: Well, some of our viewers have never met anybody who doesn't believe in god or practice religion. Tell us about yourselves.
WOMAN 1: There are 30 million of us. We're your neighbors and your co- workers. We're nurses, truck drivers, teachers, pilots and waitresses. We're a cross section of the population that doesn't believe in god.
WE SEE A PIE CHART: "Christian, 219 million: 76.5%. Other religions, 8 million: 2.8%. Unknown, 21 million: 7.5%. Nonbelievers, 37 million: 13.2%. Source: U.S. Census."
WE SEE THE PEOPLE IN THE ROOM.
NARRATOR: If you're not part of an organized religion, where do you get your values?
MAN 1: Secular law, history, our own personal code of ethics. Now, I'm not saying we're so organized, we have a set of commandments, but here's a list that makes sense to many of us.
HE HANDS A PIECE OF PAPER TO NARRATOR.
NARRATOR (READING): Enjoy life and live it to the fullest. Accept responsibility for your actions. Take care of your body and your surroundings. Be kind and gentle to those around you. Live in accord with those who are not kind and gentle.
WOMAN 2: Of course, we need to follow the rules of society, but beyond that, it's up to us to determine how we go through life.
MAN 1: That's exactly right. We consider ourselves moral and ethical. We love our kids, we pay our taxes and we obey the law. In many ways, we nonbelievers are the same; in others, we're different.
NARRATOR: Such as?
MAN 1: Sometimes it's in something as simple as what we call ourselves. People who believe in a god or many gods are called "theist." Me, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in gods or supreme beings of any kind.
WOMAN 2: I'm an agnostic. I don't think the existence or nonexistence of a god can be proved. That means, I'm not convinced either way. You might say, I'm a fence sitter.
MAN 2: Or you might say you're an atheist who's frightened of having your house burned down.
GROUP LAUGHS AT COMMENT.
MAN 2: You can put me in a group called "freethinkers." We believe in rational thinking, and we reject religious dogma. To me, the word "atheist" is an in-your-face term, and I'm not an aggressive guy. And here's our philosopher.
MAN 3: Yeah. I'm a humanist. We believe in a philosophy based on human capabilities. A few humanists are theists, but most of us are atheists.
MAN 2: Or you could say a humanist is an atheist with a college education.
GROUP LAUGHS AT COMMENT. NARRATOR: Well, these definitions all sound pretty much the same to me.
WOMAN 1: They are. No matter what moniker we go by, we don't believe in gods or devils or heaven or hell. I guess a good catchall term is "nonbeliever."
NARRATOR: Well, now that we've met some nonbelievers, let's continue our hike.
NARRATOR LEAVES, AND THE GROUP FOLLOWS.
WE SEE A TRAIL SIGN: "Midway Point, 38.5 years to End of Trail."
NARRATOR WALKS UP THE TRAIL.
NARRATOR: Middle age. A good time to talk about the second question. The point in life when there is less of the trail in front than there is behind.
WE SEE ROCK CLIMBERS ON A SHEER FACE. CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON ONE CLIMBER.
ROCK CLIMBER: Meaning of life? I don't think there is an inherent meaning of life. You give importance to your life by the things that you do. Right now, I'd like to climb the 50 highest peaks.
WE SEE A SMALL SPORTY AIRPLANE BEING PUSHED BACK INTO A HANGAR. TWO EXPENSIVE SPORTS CARS ARE PARKED AT THE SIDE OF THE HANGAR.
WOMAN PILOT: Meaning of life? Not in my world. Oh, I'm willing to work my butt off, because I enjoy babies like this (PATTING THE AIRPLANE), but I do it because that's the path I've chosen.
WE SEE A MAN PICKING UP A CHILD'S TOY FROM THE FRONT YARD.
FAMILY MAN: Meaning of life? Like a spiritual thing? My family is important to me, not religion. I love my wife, my kids, my grandkids and my folks. That's what life is all about.
WE SEE NARRATOR ON THE TRAIL.
NARRATOR: Most religious people feel that their paths are directed by a high power or by spiritual obligations. Lacking any scientific evidence to the contrary, nonbelievers don't think there is a predetermined purpose in life nor a coordinated master plan.
NARRATOR MEETS A HIKER ON THE TRAIL. HIKER: The most important point is that we're the ones making our own decisions. We don't count on a supreme being to come and correct our bad choices.
HIKER LEAVES.
NARRATOR: Before we finish our hike, let's take another break. There's a fair down there, and some nonbelievers are staffing a booth. Why don't we join them? They tell me, they always get interesting questions.
WE SEE A FAIR WITH LOTS OF TENTS, PEOPLE AND NOISE
WOMAN WITH QUESTIONS: You guys are atheists? Does that mean you're like Satan worshipers or something?
MAN 1 IN BOOTH: No way. We don't believe in gods, we don't believe in devils. Satanism is a religion just as is Catholicism or Buddhism. We respect logic and reason. We admire double-blind scientific experiments, but we don't worship anything or anybody.
WOMAN WITH QUESTIONS: I've heard there's a scientific theory called "Intelligent Design" or "ID" that proves that God exists. The world is so complex, so ordered, that it works like a watch. There must be a God.
MAN 1 IN BOOTH: We think that the ID theory is merely wishful thinking.
WOMAN WITH QUESTIONS: But isn't ID proven with scientific tests?
MAN 2 IN BOOTH TURNS THE KNOB ON A TELEVISION SET.
MAN 2 IN BOOTH: We'd like a scientist to answer your question.
WE SEE A MAN IN A CHAIR. CAPTION AT BOTTOM SAYS "Dr. Vic Stenger, Professor and Author of "Has Science Found God?"
DR. STENGER: To our knowledge, no studies or experiments have been done on Intelligent Design. It's an example of someone coming up with the answer to a question before any scientific research is done. ID is an assumption, an unproven statement. ID is Creationism dressed up in an academic sheepskin.
WE SEE THE FAIR. WOMAN WITH QUESTIONS: Then how do you explain the fact that belief in God and religion started independently in all civilizations around the world?
MAN 2 IN BOOTH: We've got a videotape of an anthropologist that will answer that.
MAN 2 IN BOOTH TURNS THE KNOB ON THE TELEVISION SET.
WE SEE A MAN IN A CHAIR. CAPTION AT BOTTOM SAYS "Dr. David Eller, Author of "From Culture to Ethnicity to Conflict."
DR. ELLER: First of all, it's not true that all cultures believed in deities. In fact, most did not believe in anything like a single all-powerful, all-good god. Anthropologists have discovered that one factor was the fear of natural disasters, disease or the unknown. People attributed the mysterious events to an invisible force or being. That unseen hand later became a god with the power to cause terrible things to happen. Maybe they thought the god could be placated with gifts or worship. Anthropologists think the second reason people believed in deities was the identification of plants, animals and even natural objects as spirits. The people believed in spirit friends the way a child believes that a stuffed animal or a doll is alive, is a person. The symbols were given personalities with the capability of protecting the owner.
WE SEE THE FAIR.
WOMAN WITH QUESTIONS: Why are you nonbelievers at this event?
MAN 1 IN TENT: That's a good question, because we're certainly not driven by the faith or devotion of religious people. Generally, we're concerned when people try to force their dogmas on others. Especially when they do so with a self-righteousness that ignores conflicting views. There's no nice way to say this, but too many religions are racist, arrogant and denigrate women. Just think of the religious battles taking place in America and around the world. The recent successes of the Christian Right in slowly dismantling the wall that separates church and state have begun to pull many of us secularists into activism. We're committed to freedom and to individual rights. Most of us believe that religion should be a private thing. When you see it forced on the public, you'll be seeing more of us.
NARRATOR: It's getting late. Let's get back on the trail to finish our hike. NARRATOR WALKS FROM THE FAIR.
WE SEE AN ELDERLY COUPLE ON THE TRAIL STOPPING AT A BENCH.
NARRATOR: Our hike is almost over.
ELDERLY WOMAN: Let's take a break.
ELDERLY MAN: Thank you. I'm not sure I could have made it another step.
NARRATOR: That brings us to the last of the three questions about the journey of life. It's the big question and the one that humankind has asked for centuries.
ELDERLY WOMAN POINTS TO HER RIGHT. WE SEE A TRAIL SIGN: "End of Trail, .25 Years, Life Ends."
ELDERLY WOMAN WITHDRAWS A FLASK AND TWO CUPS FROM HER PACK.
NARRATOR: What happens after we die? The nonbelievers answer, "When your body and brain no longer function, life ends." That's a scary answer for many. It's a question that has given religion a powerful tool. If a prophet tells his followers that they will not die, but live forever in paradise, their fears are calmed. But nonbelievers say it simply means they must make the most of the one life that they have.
ELDERLY WOMAN POURS LIQUID FROM FLASK INTO THE CUPS, AND THEY DRINK A TOAST.
CAMERA APPROACHES THE COUPLE.
NARRATOR: Well?
ELDERLY MAN: Eloquently put.
NARRATOR: I see your journey is almost over. Some people have trouble talking about death.
COUPLE (TOGETHER): Doesn't bother us at all.
NARRATOR: What's it like, approaching the end, knowing it's probably only a short distance away?
ELDERLY MAN: First of all, growing old is not for sissies. When you're older than dirt, your body begins to fail you, and your energy desserts you. We're lucky that we're in this together. The bad part for some is the loneliness and the pain.
ELDERLY WOMAN: The good news is, all of the songs about life are true. We've enjoyed it, we've made mistakes and we've had our successes. Bottom line: We did it our way.
NARRATOR: And you don't expect an afterlife?
ELDERLY MAN: Oh not at all. For us, that's just wishful thinking. It would be arrogant to believe that humans are so special that they don't die like every living thing.
ELDERLY WOMAN: He's my great thinker, and he's right. When you reach this point, you know you're going to die, and that's the end of it. I'm no more afraid of dying than lying down to go to sleep. Of course, no one looks forward to it. Almost everyone thinks (PAUSING), not yet. I'd like just one more delicious pastrami on rye with a dill pickle.
ELDERLY WOMAN: Well, let's be on our way.
THE COUPLE RISE AND WALK AWAY DOWN THE TRAIL. CAMERA SHOWS THE ORNATE FLASK THEY LEFT ON THE BENCH WHICH SAYS, "PARIS, 1947".
NARRATOR: Hey, you forgot your flask.
THE COUPLE CHUCKLE.
ELDERLY WOMAN: We don't need that anymore.
WE SEE NARRATOR SITTING DOWN AT A PARK PICNIC TABLE WITH A STREAM BEHIND HIM. ON THE TABLE ARE THE FLASK AND A GOLD POCKET WATCH.
NARRATOR: Well, that's a short introduction to the journey of life from the nonbeliever's point of view. Some philosophers say that the journey and the destination are equally important. That may be true if you're going to a vacation spot or moving to a new home. But the destination of this journey is death. (PICKING UP WATCH AND LOOKING AT IT) Of course, we set goals in life and we try to achieve them, but there's a difference between our goals in life and the end of life. Hopefully, a wise traveler will leave behind a trail marked with good deeds and laudable memories. After all, there are worse things than having people who knew you say you left the world a better place than you found it. I'm Timothy Englert. Enjoy your journey. CREDITS:
If you are interested in learning more about the separation of church and state, here is contact information for several organizations:
American Atheists
PO Box 5733
Parsippany, NJ 07054
908-276-7300
www.atheists.org
American Humanist Assoc.
1777 T Street NW
Washington, DC 20009-7125
800-873-7125
www.americanhumanist.org
Atheist Alliance International
4773 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
866-HERETIC
www.atheistalliance.org
Boulder International Humanist Institute
6609 Baseline Rd.
Boulder, CO 80303
303-543-9166
mindread@mindspring.com
Council for Secular Humanism
PO Box 664
Amherst, NY 14226
717-636-7571
www.secularhumanism.org
Freedom From Religion Foundation
PO Box 750
Madison, WI 53701
602-256-5800
www.ffrf.org
Produced and Directed by Marvin Straus
Narrator Timothy Englert
Editor Marty Mapes
Written by:
David Eller, Ph.D.
Louis Guzman, Ph.D.
Steve Mahone
Vic Stenger, Ph.D.
Marvin Straus
Camera:
Marty Mapes
Marvin Straus
Cast:
Agnostic Debbie Lane
Atheist Marvin Straus
Elderly Man Frank Gibb Oram
Elderly Woman Dr. Lonny Myers
Freethinker Larry Bauman
Grandfather Robert Giannandrea
Humanist John Frazer
Man 2 in Tent Jeff Zerr
Man on Trail Dave Taubler
Mother in Park Wendy Martin
Nonbeliever Jill Maxwell
Pilot Jeanne Gray
Rock Climber Chris Pearce
Toddler 1 Julian Haynes
Toddler 2 Cheynnan Frito
Toddler 3 Sarah Latham-Timmons
Toddler 4 Ben Stedman
Toddler 5 Anni McLean
Woman Asking Questions Leah Stein
Our appreciation to Vic Stenger, Ph.D., for his comments on Intelligent Design.
Our appreciation to David Eller, Ph.D., for his comments on the early history of religion.
COCORE (The Colorado Coalition of Reason) is an umbrella group consisting of the following organizations:
Atheists and Freethinkers of Denver
Boulder Atheists
Boulder Heretics
Denver Chapter, Freedom From Religion Foundation
Freethinkers of Colorado Springs
Freethinkers of Northern Colorado
Humanists Actions League
Secular Students of Boulder
THE JOURNEY OF LIFE (From the Nonbeliever's Point of View) video documentary is copyrighted by Marvin Straus (cocore3@q.com) and Marty Mapes. It is intended for use by, and permission is granted for use to, atheist, freethinker and secular humanist groups. Unauthorized reproduction, exhibition or distribution of this copyrighted video documentary is prohibited.