Bad news, everyone

We unbelievers are "not fully human."

At least according to Cardinal Cormack Murphy-O'Connor.

No word yet on what what our "non-human" portion is made of. Presumably a gelatinous cartilage comprised of godless, subhuman anti-matter, or, as my own research on this subject suggests, a light marinara sauce.

But seriously, to answer the good Cardinal's statement, I have to ask: Why does the search for god specifically imbue seekers with some special right to humanhood? By this logic, the 19 hijackers were more fully human than Carl Sagan. Maybe the proper starting point is a definition of "search" and "god." If we widen the scope of these words to include the vaguely spiritual noises made by Einstein and other poetically-minded scientists, a favorite pastime of religious liberals, then virtually anyone asking big questions qualifies as a seeker of god - even if they deny "god" is what they're after.

The Cardinal, if I'm reading him right, seems to think only a quest for the truth about his god creates the conditions for a life fully lived. I would have to disagree, not only because of the provinciality of this argument but because religions tend to dull our transcendental ambitions, not sharpen them. Instead of wondering about the universe as it truly is, religion delimits our imaginations by focusing them on mythologies and dogma.

If you sense a Sam Harris video link coming right about now, your Joshdar is in good working order.

This is why I believe not only a sense of awe but actual answers about the universe can be had without resorting to fantasy.