I don’t want to live in a world where those with power impose their evil intent on the masses and not face any type of consequence. Without God people can easily escape human justice. I can’t buy into that. You realise pedophiles are immoral, but there are pedophiles who escape from human justice, and therefore it’s good to know that God’s justice is eventually gonna get them.

These are two quotes (paraphrased, perhaps) from a letter by a Christian woman to Matt Dillahunty of The Atheist Experience fame. Here’s a transcript of his response, which he read on the internet radio show The Non Prophets. It’s commonly—and affectionately—referred to as Matt Dillahunty’s Greatest Rant Ever. I’m not sure if it’s his greatest (is it even a rant?), but it’s certainly a worthy response to the common religious sentiment of cosmic justice.

The kind of world you want to live in has no bearing on what kind of world you do live in. If this is your principal objection to worldviews that don’t include some cosmic justice in them—if you’ll forgive the condescending remark—you really don’t understand what you’re talking about.

Life isn’t fair, and the desire for justice that you express is one of the key foundations of most every religion. We’re all aware that sometimes good goes unrewarded and evil goes unpunished. And so, some justice seekers invent a security blanket to ensure that they aren’t mired in depression. It allows them to avoid facing the harshness of an indifferent reality, whether it’s heaven and hell, or karma dictating infinite rebirths; it serves the same purpose.

Some of us prefer to actually face reality. Some of us realise that there’s no good reason to believe that the universe is anything other than indifferent to our existence and our perceptions of good and evil. Some of us realise that dealing with reality on reality’s terms is the only way to make any real improvements in the situation.

Life isn’t fair, and that’s actually comforting, if you think about it. If life were fair that would imply that you actually deserve the bad things that happen to you, and that those who benefit from evil deeds are similarly deserving.

The realisation that there’s no reason to expect justice is what ensures that we take steps to impose justice. The realisation that good isn’t always rewarded is what drives us to reward it when we see it. The realisation that evil isn’t always punished is what drives us to work together as a cooperative society to deal with our problems, collectively and individually, in a way that encourages real change and that hopefully minimizes harmful actions.

Realising that justice isn’t guaranteed allows us to appreciate when it happens, and work toward ensuring it on a more regular basis. Your particular God concept/view of justice represents the height of irresponsibility and injustice. Your chosen religion has us born as reprobates, guilty before we’ve even taken a single breath. Responsible for things we’ve never done. It offers instant, undeserved forgiveness for the most horrible of crimes, and punishes people whose only crime is disbelief… forever.

It advocates slavery, denigrates women, curses homosexuals, orders the stoning of unruly children, sanctions wars of exterminations, condones human sacrifices, and poisons every mind it touches. It includes only one unforgivable crime: disbelief. Is that just?

This justice you so admire is no such thing. It is divine edict. It’s arbitrary, capricious, and ultimately unjust and immoral.

Yes, I realise that there are pedophiles out there who’ve escaped our flawed justice system. Do you realise that your system says that they’re all eligible for an eternal paradise? How does that address your objection? Under the rules of Christianity, the pedophile who escapes justice here can also escape your ultimate justice. Under the rules of Christianity, he may live forever in paradise, while someone who spent their entire life doing good, helping others, and contributing in a generally positive way, to the one and only life we’re sure to get, ultimately is judged unworthy of that reward.

Don’t kid yourself. You haven’t accepted a cosmic sense of justice that alleviates the problem. You’ve accepted one that you believe alleviates the problem for you. It is a selfish justification that shows no regard for real matters of justice.

It is the height of arrogance, and your desire to feel special because somebody up there thinks you’re special. Well, according to the paradigm you advocate, He thinks anyone willing to worship Him is special, with no regard to justice or character.

Go, read Romans. No one makes this point clearer than Paul. The law was established with full knowledge that no one would be able to fulfil it. It was established to demonstrate this inability and damn us further, and then a loophole was established to let some people through, regardless of their standing with the law.

Your religion has made you a slave. It has made you uncaring. It has made you support immorality and injustice while claiming that arbitrary edicts and loopholes count as either. It is a reprehensible lie that poisons the mind and prevents you from understanding reality.

When the scales drop away from your eyes, as they have for many of us, we’ll be here, and you’ll realise that you’re not alone and not to blame.

Amen.

Listen to the “rant” here. Yeah, I wanted you to read it rather than listen 🙂