I almost skipped this topic because I have come to the conclusion that the existence of god(s) is so improbable and implausible that the question does not merit serious consideration by a rational person, so this will be brief.
“Hi, I’m an evangelical Christian. I believe in heaven, hell, angels, devils, a woman getting pregnant without having sex, a man coming back to life three days after he died, all the animals in the world fitting on a single boat, self-replicating food and talking snakes. But I’m still skeptical about the evidence for evolution and climate change.”
Sigh. Really, how does a rational person respond to someone like that? The only response that occurs to me is, “Jesus Christ.”
From an evidentiary perspective, the existence of gods, and therefore the validity of all religions that assert them, is almost certainly not true. Why then, in the absence of even a shred of legitimate empirical evidence, is there such widespread belief?
Belief in god(s) is a vestige of our primitive, superstitious past and is primarily a product of fear. If humans were not conscious of death, and so deeply fearful of it, religion would not exist. In a clever bit of sleight-of-hand prestidigitation, religion has capitalized on this fear by promising to simultaneously make death both better (for believers) and worse (for non-believers). Pretty neat trick.
The key to religion is to find impressionable minds in which to plant and nurture the seed. The indoctrination of children before they have reached the age of reason is particularly effective. As Arthur Schopenhauer observed, “There is no absurdity so palpable but that it may be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to inculcate it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity.“
Here is a thought experiment for those still able to think rationally about this topic: Imagine you have attained your present age having never been exposed to the concept of an omnipotent, omniscient, eternally elusive supreme being who has no physical presence yet created and continues to micro-manage (nano-manage, actually) the universe.
You were never indoctrinated as an impressionable child. Rather, your life has been one of reason, rationality and logic, in which every event is assumed to have a natural cause. There are no occasional suspensions of natural laws, i.e., miracles. No one knows your inner thoughts or private actions but you. There are no sins, but rather just violations of societal norms and expectations for behavior that are intended to maintain social harmony. There is no afterlife. We are born, we live, and we die, just like everything else. That’s it.
Now, imagine that I approach you with the concept of god(s) and ask for your belief. How would you respond? Can anyone truthfully say they would respond “Sure, that sounds reasonable, I’m in!” No, of course not. Your response to such a patently ridiculous assertion would be more like “Sorry buddy, we’re not buying crazy today,” and you would be right.
I’m not suggesting that religion does not serve a purpose. It does, but it’s not the purpose believers think it serves. Religion is a mechanism of social control, and one that many people – maybe most people – need to keep them between the white lines of civil behavior. The belief in gods was derived from the primitive need to make sense of, and exert some influence on, an otherwise mysterious and often dangerous existence. Rulers quickly recognized the utility of gods and formalized these beliefs in the form of religion, delegating its management to a class of underlings called priests.
It was the Roman statesman and philosopher, Seneca the Younger, who observed “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.”
How do you convince people not to break their ruler’s laws even when no one is watching? Tell them a supernatural being observes everything they do and will visit eternal punishment on them. How do you persuade them to fight and die in wars that only benefit their rulers? Tell them if they die in battle they go directly to everlasting bliss. How do you convince an impoverished and exploited working class not to rise up and overthrow their ruling oppressors? Tell them that in the afterlife THEY will be the ruling class because of all the grace they are accumulating by being passive and subservient in this one. I have to admit that the entire scam is rather brilliant.
The Old Testament of the bible is particularly abhorrent to me, as I cannot conceive of a more detestable deity: jealous, vengeful, petty, vindictive, cruel, misogynist, xenophobic and breathtakingly insecure. Basically, He is Trump on crack.
That having been said, like Thomas Jefferson and many of the founding fathers who were either deists or atheists (essentially the same thing), I am a fan of the teachings that have been attributed to Jesus of Nazareth. Did he actually say them? Probably not, as Professor Bart Ehrman at the University of North Carolina has persuasively argued in his various books (see, for example, “How Jesus Became God”).
The New Testament is, however, a work of compelling fiction that represents a nice collection of moral and ethical principles which provide a pretty sound basis for living a socially responsible life from a secular humanism perspective. That is precisely why Jefferson cut out all allusions to miracles and the divinity of Jesus and renamed his bible “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth,” an exact replica of which I have in my own library. One can agree with the basic moral and ethical message without accepting the superstitious baggage.
So, why do otherwise rational and intelligent people believe in god(s)? It was Francis Bacon who said, “men prefer to believe what they prefer to be true.” I can’t say it any better than that. People want to believe certain things, especially those that make them feel better about themselves. Many apparently need to believe such things. But that doesn’t make these things true, it just makes us human.
While stated in a very different way, my views on gods and religion can be summarized in this brief but brilliant set by the late, great George Carlin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r-e2NDSTuE