The author, Gary Gutting, begins the article by explaining how he came up with the question the article poses: "Does Zeus Exist?" He says that he played a game with his children called "Zeus, May I"; a variation of the popular game "Mother, May I?", with the idea of introducing them to classical culture. This led him to asking them if they believed in Zeus, to which they replied that maybe he existed in the ancient Greeks' time, but not anymore. After that, the article is a series of answers to the many variations of the question "Why couldn't he exist?". He presents five possible suggestions against the existence of Zeus, and he offers a rebuttal for each one. The conclusion he presents is ambiguous; the possibility that Zeus exists is just as likely as the possibility that he doesn't. The overall message he delivers is: "it's not such a ridiculous idea".
The article is well-written, and not too lengthy, even though this is a topic that could very well be argued about for pages and pages. He does not strongly believe any specific opinion, but he's not overly uncertain either. He accomplished the article's apparent purpose, which is to declare that the idea that there is a deity is not as absurd as many would believe. The conclusion is satisfactory, the language is a little tricky, yet understandable. He seems to have found a good middle ground. The only distracting thing in the article, however, was a cartoon placed right in the middle of the text. Although it made sense given the topic, and was rather amusing, it would have been better if featured at the beginning or end of the article. Not smack in the middle.
-Cleo Santos
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/did-zeus-exist/?hp
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