One of the first times I had my faith directly challenged was in ninth grade. I was having a conversation with a kid named Justin who sat next to me in pre-algebra. Somehow the subject of church came up, and when he realized I was a Christian he cocked his head and asked, “You believe in god?”
“Of course I do.”
He laughed. “Why do you believe in god?”
I was a little flustered. How could anyone not believe in God? “Well, it’s the only explanation for how the universe got here.”
“But that’s what they used to say about everything.”
“Huh?”
“People used to not understand things like lightning and earthquakes, so they invented gods to explain them. That’s why they used to worship the god of lightning or the god of earth. People who worship the Christian god are doing the same thing.”
I had never heard this argument before so I was pretty disconcerted. Was it possible that Christians were just as foolish as the people who worshiped Greek and Roman gods? This conversation planted a seed of doubt in my mind, but I buried it away and didn’t think about it again for years.
There was a time when people assumed rainbows must have been created by one or more gods. And who could blame them? Rainbows form a perfect semicircle and the colors line up in the same order every time: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. How could anyone not think rainbows were designed? And if they were designed, then it followed that they were some sort of message. Perhaps a covenant of some sort. Of course, now we understand that rainbows don’t need a designer. They occur naturally when light is refracted through drops of water and broken up into its characteristic colors.
That’s not the only supernatural explanation that was later replaced with a scientific one. People used to believe earthquakes and lightning occurred when the gods were angry; now we know about plate tectonics and electricity. People used to believe lights in the sky were spirits; now we know about the Aurora Borealis. People used to believe sickness was caused by demons; now we know about germs. Similar things could be said about rain, eclipses, stars, and so forth.
There have been thousands of times throughout history when people used god or some other supernatural idea to explain things. And people still do it today. For example, since no one knows exactly how life came into being in the first place, many people say god created life. And since no one knows exactly how the universe came into existence, many people say god created the universe. But just because scientists don’t understand something doesn’t mean they should throw up their arms and declare, “God did it!” If they did that, they would be no better than the primitive people who said the same thing about rainbows.
There are many things scientists still don’t fully understand (black holes, dark matter, quantum mechanics, etc.), but they keep looking for answers because mysteries have always turned out to have a scientific explanation. Always. The reverse, on the other hand, has never been true. Just try to think of one scientific theory that was later replaced with a supernatural explanation. The reason you can’t is because it has never happened. This is one of the many reasons I don’t believe in god.
My ninth-grade classmate was right. People have always invented gods to explain natural phenomena, and today they’re still doing it. The only difference is that today there’s only one god left (at least in most of the Western world).
If someone provides evidence that god exists, I will gladly consider it. But I’m going to need something better than, “You can’t explain this, therefore god.” If you’re a theist, you can cling to every scientific mystery as evidence that god exists, but be prepared to see that evidence debunked. As Neil deGrasse Tyson said, “If that’s how you want to invoke your evidence for god, then god is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.” Put another way, god is getting smaller. Someday he might disappear completely.
You’ve hit on something called God of the gaps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps
And yet the naysayers will continue to say that Science is the work of the devil.
“Was it possible that Christians were just as foolish as the people who worshiped Greek and Roman gods? ”
Just as foolish? They didn’t have access to information and education like we do now. There is no excuse for it in this day and age.
If the universe was created by god, surely he would have left his mark somewhere. If it is there, we will eventually find it. Thus, a position of skepticism will lead to faith if, and only if, grounded in reality.
On the flipside, starting from a position of belief, postulating god from the outset and simply waiting to be disproven…
We can never say with certainty that we have looked EVERYWHERE, that we have all the facts lined up and correctly correlated and explained. There will always be somewhere else where we have yet to look, where we could say, “maybe god is there?”
Thus skepticism is the rational perspective in the absence of evidence because it must, logically, lead you to the truth, in the fullness of time.
(Applied more broadly, this principle is known as Occam’s Razor)
….and a wonderful and useful tool it is. In its purest form, it is stated as “Thou shalt not multiply unnecessary entities,” which goes against a very basic trait of human nature. We are SO lonely in our sole possession of reflective consciousness (and no, recent discoveries about animals do NOT contradict this) that we multiply unnecessary entities at the drop of a hat. The only healthy side of this trend is that instead of creating deities as we once did, we now create comic-book and game characters.
Rob Cahill
. . . “Was it possible that Christians were just as foolish as the people who worshiped Greek and Roman gods? ” . . .
There was nothing “foolish” about the gods the Greeks and Romans worshiped, or the Greeks and Romans for worshiping them.
Judging them, and comparing Christianity to the Greek gods is uniformed, based on the information you likely got from a Christian-influenced grade school education.
The Greek gods explained emotion and human foibles. For instance, the Greek gods were the Muses, that spirit within us that drives us to create and appreciate Art (revered as a god, by the way) and Truth (revered as a god) and Beauty (revered as a god).
You, too, worship the Greek gods every time you plug in your earphones or tell you sexual partner how divine is the smell of their pubis, how invigorating the taste of wine.
Please don’t think yourself superior because you happen to be an Atheist.
Do you own a credit card? Then you worship a god. (And he’s a mean son of a bitch!)
Bill Cruse
@ Bill Cruse
“The Greek gods explained emotion and human foibles.”
Exactly the point of the post. We don’t need supernatural entities to explain natural and scientifically explainable phenomena.
“…that spirit within us…”
Can you explain or provide some evidence of this?
“…revered as a god…”
Again, applies agenticity where none is required (see Occam’s Razor).
“Please don’t think yourself superior because you happen to be an Atheist.”
I don’t “happen” to be an atheist. I was born an atheist and programmed a xian. It took a long time and a lot of reflection and consideration, not to mention systematic deprogramming, to be able to put off the shackles of religion.
Atheism is superior intellectually because it is based on logic and reason and evidence, not on faith.
Atheism is superior morally because we do the right thing because it is the right thing, not because we will be punished if we don’t.
“Do you own a credit card? Then you worship a god.”
WTF are you even talking about?
You have used a great many words to try and justify foolishness.
Well said.
Why would you assume that the creator (if there was one) would leave a
mark? That would be a bit egotistical and according to Christians their god is
not ego driven. But then they also say he is forgiving and loving yet he killed (according to the bible) 2,579,478 people for misbehaving…..not very forgiving. If your seeking a signature Nick I suggest you develop a new goal.
and applied more narrowly (as i understand it) you’d call this Russel’s Teapot, the argument that you can’t prove that there isn’t a teapot orbiting the sun somewhere between earth and mars. anyway +1
The picture you have posted is one of Peter Marshall and Betty White playing on “Family Feud”.
Nice!
If only this message could get through to all the brainwashed individuals wrapped up in religious cults the world over. Every crises in the world’s history has been caused by religion.