Why I don't believe in God. (or more specifically, why I don't believe in a Christian God)
Disclamer: This is not meant to insult Christians, though some may be insulted by some of what I say here. This is just an attempt to share my thoughts and to prompt discussion. It is a diary of my beliefs. Christians and others of faith, are welcome to share theirs.
I understand why the religious right is waging a war against science. It is true science has destroyed religion for me. Science is the culprit. The more I learned about how the world worked, the less believable became the religious paradigm.
In high school we were taught about evolution, and though it was a familiar concept to me, learning about genes, DNA, random mutation and natural selection, solidified the concept for me in a way that made sense.
In college I studied biology, geology, and chemistry among other things. Geology was a fascinating science that placed human existence in the context of a few minutes at the end of a geologic day. On field trips we saw the folds and faults of ancient rocks in road cuts, went fossil hunting, and observed present day erosion and sedimentation. We learned to expand our minds to see the hills and valleys around us as a snapshot of an ever-changing landscape. A trip through the Grand Canyon was a descent back into time.
So early on in my education, the book of Genesis was out as a literal explanation for the earth and its life forms. Thus the Bible became at most a book of compiled wisdom written by some ancient wise men. Perhaps there was some historical accuracy to be gleaned from the book as well. Closer examination revealed stories of God sanctioned violence, slavery, rape and genocide (the livestock too). Sure seemed like people wrote this to me.
In studying science there is the most important lesson of all to learn, humility. We learned to see ourselves as the small naked apes we are, existing for a glimpse of time, on this magnificent planet, within an incomprehensible universe. We learned how truly limited is the total body of knowledge known by human kind. We learned that we are 98% similar to chimpanzees, and that our ancestry is traceable back to a small aquatic proto-vertebrate.
We also learned how vulnerable we are as a species, having little if any control of the factors threatening our existence, be that meteors hitting the earth, run away climate change, or most of all our own instincts and behaviors which seem to repeatedly lead us into trouble. At any moment we are clearly just a few steps away from superstition and its resulting irrational behavior, or worse violence and genocide.
Now, in my 40's, I've given the whole God hypothesis a lot of thought. I will never say I have all the answers or know the truth because we can't know these things for sure, but I've certainly come to some strong convictions. Mostly I find many of the aspects of Judeo-Christian religions frankly ridiculous. (this is the start of possibly insulting people... sorry) For example, why would an all powerful, all knowing God create some stupid peons like us for company? If He wants someone to talk to, why not create an intellectual equal, or at least someone smarter than us? Why does God need for us to worship Him? Does God have an incredibly weak ego that he needs some not-so-bright beings, which He has created, to sing his praises all day long?
At the base of Christianity is the torture and execution of a man (or man-God). This strikes me as incredibly barbaric and reminiscent of burnt animal sacrifices on an alter to appease an angry volcano god. There is also the exclusivity of hard core Christianity. If you don't believe that this man-God was tortured and executed to pardon you for your sins, you are going to hell. Never mind that this very premise seems ludicrous, to condemn all other religions as wrong, and all other brands of Christianity as wrong seems decidedly like a scam to recruit and maintain members. OK, so God created these beings to keep Him company, to worship and praise him, but then consigns the majority of them to burn in hell for all eternity? The only reason this mythology does not strike most of us as completely absurd, is that we have grown up with it as part of our culture.
Here's my explanation for the origin of religion. Of course being a biologist, I base my ideas on the evil paradigm of evolution. Early humans (or Australopithecines, etc.) who could observe cause and effect were more successful than those who could not. It rains and two days later there are fresh greens in this meadow to eat. Wispy clouds one day lead to a weather change the next day. We are more than born scientists, we have evolved to be scientists. We observe and look for cause, and test our ideas and observe some more. We became expert trackers of game, identifiers of useful plants, and predictors of changes in our environment.
A side effect to being good at seeing cause and effect, is becoming superstitious. To those early humans, the world must have been largely full of unexplainable mysteries. From the rising of the sun, to the passage of seasons, to the availability of game, we were at the mercy of forces not understood. I swam in the river this morning before that successful hunt. Next time I will purify myself again before hunting. Thunder and lightening are frightening and dangerous. Who is angry and how can he be calmed? (almost anything worked, as the storm will pass) Superstitious associations, along with a nascent belief in gods who must be placated, seem to follow easily.
What primitive barbaric creatures we are, going around killing each other in the name of religions and gods that are based on silly superstitions, fears, and lack of understanding. Perhaps we would be a better species if we could learn to sit in the presence of uncertainty, not knowing, and not needing to make up answers for all of life's mysteries.