Is there a God out there?
Submitted by Pericles on Wed, 09/26/2007 - 19:51.
Recently, as I was reading the book by M. Shermer entitled "Why Darwin Matters", I saw a sentence which caught my eye: “Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence”. How come did I not think of that before? I was born and raised in a very Christian country of the Mediterranean Sea. I was taught to believe. I even graduated from a catholic high school. However, I managed to escape the indoctrination and propaganda, primarily due to the years I have spent abroad. I ended up acquiring a degree and PhD. in physics and started to think. What I was taught about religion did not make sense to me any more. The God Hypothesis was created by humans to explain the unexplained and particularly to address their fear of death. As we are pushing back the frontiers of science, God is used less and less as an explanation to our surrounding world. He/She is the God of the gaps. God did not create humans according to His/Hers image because, simply, He/She does not exist. Instead, humans created God according to their image.
If Christians or any other members of the monotheistic religions want us to believe that some kind of God exists and He/She created the universe and life, they have to really prove it. Such an extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence. Arguments like, God is everywhere, life is too complex (irreducible complexity, see the human eye or DNA), nature is too beautiful or personal contact with God just do not seem very convincing, especially since physics and evolution with natural selection can provide logical counter-arguments. Furthermore, the argument of personal contact with God has a medical term associated with it.
In addition, the argument that God is outside of the natural world (super-natural / meta-physical) and as a result He/She cannot be tested and proved or disproved is, at least, weak in my mind. Using the same rationale, I believe that there are mermaids at the bottom of the sea who come out for an occasional BBQ with the fairies living at the bottom of my garden. The guests of honour are Santa Claus, Mother Goose and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. They meet in a very secret place far away from our every day world and they cannot be seen by humans. However I really-really believe it.
Could you see the main difference between the God Hypothesis and the fairy tale I just described? The difference is that most people were taught from a very young age that God is real but mermaids and fairies are not. As for Santa Claus, I got really upset when my parents told me the truth. Imagine what would have happened if they had not told me. In the Mother Goose case, well, I was old enough to figure out the truth myself, and we all know that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is real, don’t we?
I do have a kind request, especially for the religious people who are convinced that I will burn in hell. Please do not try to convert me back to your religion or tell me that I will burn in hell, by sending me e-mails. Do not send me sentences from the Bible, because it is a work of fiction. If I want to believe that mythology is true, I might as well accept the ancient Greek one. It makes a more interesting read and a better soap opera. Even the ancient Greek platonic philosopher Celsus (Kelsos in Greek) was very critical of the early Christians in his work entitled "The True Word". He could see the bad attempt to copy the Greek philosophers.
Your ugly e-mails will most probably go on-line and you will further ridicule yourself. You will also provide further proof on religion's bigotry.
Not only we live in a democratic society but I would rather go to hell because this is where the eternal party and interesting people are going to be. Where else would I have eternal discussions with A. Einstein, R. Feynman, F. Nietzsche, B. Russell, C. Sagan, D. Adams and probably C. Darwin over a glass of wine?
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- by Pericles
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Quite convincing..but i would stay with GOD's existance
I must say that you have many convincing points in your post that ask for facts & proofs for God to be existing.But i would still like to be among one of those who actually believe that "God does exists"
I agree with you about the God fabrication
Is there God-really? Does He exist in reality? Or are we all deluding ourselves and following like sheep? Can we believe all the hype that has been drummed into us for centuries?
I know that I have given up believing. For decades I had hoped that there was a real God and that with prayer He would sort out anything. But I am deluding myself. I am no longer going to follow blindly along like millions of the sheep in this world. Be they Muslim, Hindu, Catholic or any other religion. I am starting to believe that the Vatican themselves are nothing but thieves that have made a mountain out of a molehill and live on that to the detriment of everyone on the planet.
How can we as a modern society even have a remote chance in life when all the wars throughout time have centered on religion? Are we stupid? You better believe it.
I don't see any animal, insect, or fish building churches or shrines or starting wars about God. They have to know something none of us do. Like the creatures of this world, we are born, live a life and die. Do you see any animal praying? I haven't.
What of the so called miracles? hello if you believe in something, and I mean really believe that something can change, it doesn't take God to change it, you changed it because you believed it. God didn't come along and wave a magic hand and say, "Hey presto- pain is gone."
I am a nobody living in a world of somebody's. Yet of all those somebody's - not one have stepped forwards and said, "Hi, can I be your friend".
We are a sad and deprived society and the only rich people are the religeous nuts!
A Priest depends on humanities good will and handouts. He doesn't have a real job excepting to preach to the people. Most of the bible as it were is meaningless nonsense - created so long ago by a religeous nut that everyone follows the words blindly and accepts it. Hymnal songs have absolutely no meaning to them and they are old fashioned and people think they are songs sung to a heavenly dignatory that they only imagine. Where has our common sense gone?
Have you noticed that Bishops and Cardinals have a lot of cash - all are male and woe......I haven't seen a female pope yet...nor are we ever likely to ever see one, because women are second or third class citizens. We have no say in anything at all.
Yet- in the bible it states, that all are created equal.
Horse pukky.
Women are stoned in Asia for alleged adultry or being in the company of males. Has anybody noticed that the men are patted on the back and sent along their way?
In Africa a male can have as many wives as he likes, but women are not allowed to have more then 1 man.
In Muslim societies women are chattel or little more then slaves.
In India and China - if you are born or conceived as female - you are terminated.
And here is the crunch- in all societies God is portrayed as MALE!!!
Yet we women do all the work. We bear children, we cook, clean and work ourselves to the bone, where are the men in this picture?
If there was a genuine God, we would all be equal. We would share the load.
So I ask again "Is there a God?"
Throughout history women have been persecuted, murdered, ignored, for religeous sake.
The puritans, the jesuits, all clergy, these are all the bad guys. They have taken religion to new heights of depravity. Using it as weapons for their own purposes. Whole cultures have been destroyed because others have forced their religions on them. What a sad ending to a way of life. If one believes in a particular religion why force it on another? A case of believe or else.
I will not believe in a God that will allow suffering and pain and humiliation to millions.
I refuse to believe in a God that chooses Man over Woman.
I refuse today to believe in any God.
U have my vote
You are absolutely right when you say that women's rights have been violated over the centuries in the name of a non-existent entity. Men have used this BS to inflict pain. But enough is enough. Women should say that. Men with brains (there are some, trust me) should also join forces. Look at honour killings and those pro-choice wackos.
Slowly but steadily we will prevail. People are tired of them.