First, we may be related … the Jewish side of my family is also named Reitman, and migrated to the United States from Germany in the 19th century. Where they originated we cannot be certain.

And speaking of certainty, that argument reminds me of the debate concerning the number of angels who can dance simultaneously on the head of a pin. The probability of something may be so exceedingly high that it is, for any practical purpose, virtually certain, but given that we are finite beings the possibility of error—however remote or theoretical—must still be acknowledged, no?

As for the deity, I would suggest that the existence of God is contingent upon the definition of God—and since that word is in the public domain, no one can unilaterally deny another person’s use or definition of it. Arguably, Spinoza’s God is real in some meaningful sense, as is Tillich’s object of ultimate concern. And at least a few cosmologists are seriously struck by the notion that the universe looks a lot like a computer simulation—which raises any number of mind-boggling possibilities.

If nothing else, denying the possibility of absolute certainty reminds us that what we do not know remains far greater than what we do know.