Faith without God

On faith, my wonderful grandmother once remarked: 'I don't believe in anything I can't see.' Of course, she didn't mean this literally she believed in air, atoms and Antarctica, none of which she had seen. Rather, she meant that the world she lived in was not Christian in any obvious or tangible way. She still speaks with calm contempt about my mother's brief Baptist education, and often reminds us not to give her a Catholic funeral. For her, 'faith' has always seemed an absurd Christian fancy, riddled with quaint follies. While she may have seen the handsome young priest who attracted a crowd of teenage girls whenever he went swimming, she has never seen God or, in her eyes, anything that even hinted at him, let alone his divine benevolence, mercy and grace.