Emma's View on "God Is Dead"

My sister, Emma, is an atheist, and can debate the issue. It's kind of sad and kind of cute at the same time, because she's only 7 and has been professing her Atheism since she was 4. She get's it from my mom, whom is also an atheist. I remember when she was 4, when I talking about God, she quoted Nietzsche, "God is dead." When she debates her twin brother, I usually have to step in. But she said something to me the other day that gave me a lot of hope. 

Emma and Julian got into a small fight as we were walking home, and Julian said, "God is going to punish you!" to which Emma responded, looking up to the sky, "Where is God? I don't see him." I decided this was a good opportunity to teach them something. So I stepped in. 

I said, "Emma, you can't see me either." She looked at me, irritated, under the impression that I was messing with her. So I repeated myself, more seriously, "You can't." 

"You're right there!" 

"Are you sure?" She punched me, to prove to me, and perhaps to herself, that I was indeed there. 

"No, Emma, you're punching my body, but you're not punching me. You can see my body but you can't see me." I could tell she wasn't getting it, but she was trying. "Okay, close your eyes." And so she did. "Now, imagine mom." 

"No, because then you're going to punch me." 

"OMG, Emma, I'm NOT going to punch you." After some hesitancy, she finally did. "Okay, now imagine mom. Do you see her?" 

"Yeah." 

"Okay, now imagine mom with a red shirt." 

"Okay." 

"Do you see the red shirt?" 

"Yes." 

"Okay, now open your eyes." 

"Okay." 

"Did you see mom?" 

"Yeah." 

"Where?" 

"In my brain! Duh!" 

"Oh, really?! So if I were to cut open your brain, I'm going to find mom all small with a red shirt inside your brain?" She understood this was not a sensible thing to say. 

"...No." 

"So where did you see mom?" Silence. "I'll tell you. You saw her in your mind. Your mind is the one that sees things. You had your eyes closed, but you still saw mom. You and your mind are the same thing. You and your body are different. Your mind controls the body. It's like a car. You see the car, but you don't see the driver. Your mind is the driver, and your body is the car. But just because you don't see the car doesn't mean the person doesn't exist." 

Julian chimes in, "And that's how you know heaven is real." I gave him the same talk a few days earlier about Heaven and what it was like, so he was eager to share this new information.

I thought that was a bit too simplistic, but close enough for a 7 year old. "That's right, Julian. When you die, your body stops working, but your mind keeps living because they're not the same. You know what we also call the mind? Christians call it the soul. The mind and the soul are the same thing. So in the Bible when it says 'soul', it's the mind. You are a mind with a body, not a body with a mind." 

This is what it takes to keep my sister from beating my brother in a debate. So, a few days after this, my sister comes up to me and says, "Adrian! God is dead! But, it's different!" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Okay, so, when you die, you don't have a body, but you're still thinking because you're still real." 

"That's correct." 

"So then, God is dead, but still real because God is thinking but doesn't have a body. God is dead AND real!" 

I laughed, because it was funny way of putting it, but it's cool to see my little sister connecting the dots. My little philosophers.