Why believing in God is difficult

One of the big reasons that makes it difficult to lend any credence to a belief in God (and I'm referring here to the God that Christians and Jews worship) is that nobody can say much about God without finally talking in absurdities and contradictions.

If you ask probing questions of a believer about the God they worship, you very quickly get some statement like, "We cannot understand God's ways," or "God is inscrutable," or "We will learn the answer to that in the next life."

So why should we respect or venerate (worship) such a being whom we cannot possibly understand or even describe in a sensible way? Simply out of abject fear?

Examples:

God is supposed to be all-knowing (omniscient), knowing the future as well as the past. He also is all-powerful (omnipotent), able to do anything he wants. Apparently, then, he knows exactly what all of us are going to do (sin!) and he does nothing about it. He created a universe (supposedly for his own glory and satisfaction) and peopled it with creatures who he knew would disobey him and therefore he would have to condemn them to eternal torment.

If I were writing a computer program and knew it was going to crash when I ran it, I would not be a very good programmer.

God is supposed to love us, since he created us. But he sends storms, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires and all kinds of natural disasters to destroy and kill us. After having promised in the Bible that he would protect us from harm.

It makes about as much sense as worshipping a stone idol or a good luck charm. Actually, less.

Any believers out there who can clear this up (without telling me I simply have to "have faith")?

"Why do you choose to be an atheist?"

A Christian recently congratulated me on having given up the religion of my youth (which he rightly viewed as a "cult"), but then asked me quite puzzled, "But why did you choose atheism as its replacement?"

Here is another misconception many believers have about atheists. They think that one chooses to be an atheist the same way one chooses to buy a Dodge or a Ford or a Toyota - it's just a matter of preference or taste. And probably many Christians do choose their denomination in the same way: they try ("test-drive") the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Methodists, the Congregationalists, and decide which one they like better. And if a new pastor takes over and they don't like him, they switch.

Atheism is not like that. It is not an affirmative choice. One does not simply decide to be an atheist. Atheism is the natural and quite involuntary result of examining the evidences and doctrines about God and realizing that they don't make sense. Once you realize that, you are an atheist, willy-nilly. It's not a choice.

I suppose I could have asked this Christian, "Why do you choose not to believe in fairies? I can understand why you don't believe in gnomes or leprechauns, but what do you have against fairies?"

In a way it is like your realization that you are mortal, and one day you are going to die. It may not be a pleasant realization, but it is unavoidable. You don't choose that. You actually have no choice in the matter. Maybe I should have asked the Christian, "Why do you believe that someday you are going to die? Why not believe that the angel of death will pass you by?"

Of course, he might say, "Well, I AM going to live forever, with the God I believe in!" Hmm, yes, but you have to die to get there, don't you?

More About Atheists

Here are a few more misconceptions about atheists.

"Atheists are rebelling against God." Since atheists do not have a belief in any gods, such a statement makes no sense. Only believers could possibly rebel against their own god, and only believers make this statement about atheists. It would make as much sense to accuse a Christian of "rebelling against Wotan, Thor and Freya."

"Atheists hate God." Same problem as above. You can't hate something that you do not believe actually exists. Some atheists may hate the IDEA of "God" but that it quite different from hating God. Only a believer in God can possibly hate him (or her, or it). When you stopped believing in the Tooth Fairy, did you hate the Tooth Fairy? Of course not!

"There are no atheists in foxholes!" This statement is used by believers to cast doubt on the sincerity and firmness of an atheist's nonbelief when in a crisis situation. It is not based on any evidence. In fact, many atheists have served in the military, under fire, without feeling the need to acknowledge the existence of any god. There is even an organization of atheists in the military: The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers.

For an excellent analysis of the falsity of the assertion, see this link: http://tinyurl.com/6reake

"Atheists want to take over the government and control our society!" I find this accusation bitterly ironic when it comes from a devout Christian. All atheists want is that NO special group - believers or non-believers - determines how our society functions. But many Christians are working very hard to make Christianity the basis for all the rules and customs of our society.

I suppose the Christian fear of atheists becoming too influential is based on the following facts:

• Almost all members of Congress are atheists.
  

• That is because it is almost impossible to get elected to public office unless you affirm your lack of faith in God.

• Both houses of Congress open each day's session with remarks from a professional atheist (whose salary is paid by the government) to the effect that no belief in God will influence the deliberations.

• All our money says: "We trust in ourselves because there is no God."

• School children start the day with the Pledge of Allegiance, which contains the phrase: "...one nation, without God,..."

• Government offices are closed one day a week, the day when most atheists attend their atheist meetings (Wednesday).

• Towns all across America are dotted with atheist meeting-houses, where atheists gather once a week to bolster their lack of belief in God.

• Believers who want to get married, but don't want a judge to perform the ceremony, have to find a professional atheist to do it, since God-believing ministers are not allowed to perform weddings.

• When taking a formal oath, it is customary to place the left hand on a copy of the U.S. Constitution.

• Each unit of the military has a professional atheist attached to it, to minister to military personnel and conduct atheist meetings. They are paid a salary by the government.

Obviously, the atheists have already taken over!

All About Atheists

Many people have quite mistaken ideas about atheists. Usually it is because they don't really understand what an atheist is, and what an atheist is not. Which is a shame, because it's really quite simple.

First of all, one must understand what a "theist" is. A theist is anybody who believes in God, or a god, or gods, or some deity. Got that?

All right, an atheist is anybody who is not a theist. The "a-" in "atheist" is just the Greek prefix that means "not" or "non-," so that an atheist is a non-theist, that is, one who does not have a belief in God, or a god, or gods, or any deity.

And that is ALL you can say about atheists. To say any more is to make unwarranted assertions. Because atheists are not a group, and have ONLY that one thing in common: non-belief in a deity.

Here are some unwarranted assertsions that people (usually theists) make about atheists.

"Atheists claim that God does not exist." No, although some atheists may make this claim, not all atheists do. Many non-believers realize that such an assertion is unnecessary. The reasons people have no belief in God may vary, from "I don't know" to "I don't care" to "I don't see any convincing evidence that would allow me to believe." Technically, a newborn baby is an atheist. We all entered the world as atheists.

"Atheists have no moral guidance." Belief in God has nothing to do with whether one is moral or not. A theist's morality may well be based on a belief in God (and God's rules), but workable moral codes can be derived without such a belief. And they are often more humane than moral codes based on religion. Probably the majority of atheists are good people, good citizens, and good neighbors. Statistics indicate that poor moral conduct (teen pregnancy, divorce, sexual abuse of children, violent crime, etc.) seems to be much more common in highly religious areas (the American "Bible belt") than in areas that are more secular (northern Europe). And the population of American prisons is overwhelmingly religious, with atheists making up only a tiny minority of the criminal population, far less than their proportion of the population at large.

"Atheists believe that death ends everything." Although many atheists hold this view, not all do, since belief in an afterlife has nothing to do necessarily with a belief in God. The Jewish Sadducees, for example, believed in God, but did not believe in an afterlife. And Buddhists believe in an afterlife, but have very little to say about the existence of God. Some atheists, like Buddhists, believe in reincarnation (which does not depend on a belief in God).

"Atheists see no purpose in life." This mistaken notion is probably a corollary to the previous mistaken notion. Again, whether one sees a purpose in life has nothing to do necessarily with belief in God. Many atheists lead happy, purposeful lives. Especially when an atheist believes (as many do) that death is the end, it seems to give even more purpose to the precious lifetime that we do have.

"Atheists hate religion and churches." Many atheists may feel this way, but many do not. Most atheists probably feel sorry for believers. And many probably are angry at the human misery that has often been caused in the name of some God. But surely we all should be angry at that, shouldn't we, believer and non-believer alike?

"If someone simply doesn't know whether to believe in God, he is an agnostic, not an atheist." Remember that "a-theist" merely means "non-theist." If someone says, "I really don't know whether there is a God" (the position of someone who claims to be "agnostic"), he is implying that he does not now have a belief in God. So an agnostic is merely a sub-set of atheist.

A New Year, A New Blog

This blog will be a tiny voice to counteract the faith-heavy voices that presently seem to dominate our society: the frequent letters to the editor urging us to turn back to God (the Christian God, of course!) as the cure for all society's ills; the suggestion that since this nation has a majority of Christian citizens, the majority should rule and make all the laws conform to Christian doctrine and practice (much like the Taliban imposed Islamic law on Afghanistan).

This blog will try to speak for that all-too-silent minority, which is one of the last minorities in our country to suffer the prejudice which used to be directed at women, non-white races, homosexuals, and immigrants. Those groups are gradually becoming accepted into society. The non-believers still are victims of prejudice. When polls indicate that voters in America would be more likely to vote for a qualified Muslim than for a qualified atheist, we see that prejudice at work. And yet non-believers are the fourth-largest group in the world, as far as religious belief goes (after Christians, Muslims and Hindus).