An Atheist Meets God In Heaven

James Balla cloud painting, 2012

Let's say an atheist dies and discovers with surprise and maybe chagrin there's actually an afterlife. Perhaps he is greeted by St. Peter outside the gates of heaven, which we know from countless cartoons is how it goes. No, let's dispense with Peter, since one of God's qualities is that He is omnipresent. So greeting each arrival personally is something that's right in His wheelhouse. What happens then? I think that God must be as developed as a reasonably mature adult human. That being the case, God would say something like,

"Look, I know you got this whole God and afterlife thing wrong, but I have to admit that your point of view makes some sense. Plus I admire your gumption for sticking with it in the face of a lot of criticism and censure. So, job well done! Come on in. You will see that we have a wing for atheists, agnostics, and Buddhists, and so on. You're free to hang out there, but you are also encouraged to mingle with everyone else. Frankly, the music is often best in the Christian area. Bach is performing there later today. Or now I mean, since time doesn't exist here."