I am currently in Colombia, serving as Spanish translator for the president of Urantia Association International during his visit to Pereira and Medellin. He is travelling throughout South America informing The Urantia Book readers about the Leadership Symposium in Chicago next year, and also about the importance of forming study groups in their countries.  During one of the meetings, I had the opportunity to present my workshop on Cultivating Universal Intelligence and the response was very heart warming.   It has been wonderful meeting with readers and non-readers alike.  I have been moved by the love, humility, and desire for growth that has been expressed both here in Colombia and also in Mexico City last February. There is so much that I have learned from my brothers and sisters in the south!

One of the things that has impressed me most has been the ease with which people from all walks of life and professions speak about God.  Despite the violence and corruption in these countries, people are not afraid to speak about God and to bring God into every aspect of their lives.  Their faith is strong and alive; they yearn for more understanding of God and to better express God’s nature in their actions. From my perspective this contrasts sharply with what I am increasingly finding in the United States: founded on faith and recognizing God as Father, people seem to share a spirituality that has little appreciation for the personal God that our currency says we trust.

This realization raised my interest to explore the reasons for this decline, so I will begin with the atheist perspective. In the coming blogs I will present reasons atheists give for not believing in God, and then I will reconcile these rationalizations with the teachings in The Urantia Book.  I will do this not only for personal edification, but in the hope that all who read these blogs will better understand the atheist point of view and discover new and higher spiritual meanings and values to reflect upon.

 My first blog on this subject will be posted in the next few days.  Hasta pronto!