Why I am Unconvinced there is a God
Abstract
Ken Harding on “Why I am Unconvinced there is a God”. I am unconvinced there is a God. The invisible and the nonexistent look too much alike. I have no choice. I cannot accept that such an entity is possible. I am unconvinced, and all the threats of eternal damnation cannot convince me.
© Ken Harding 1999, last update 9/11/06
Lightly edited mainly for HTML for AW! © Dr M D Magee Contents Updated: Saturday, 24 November 2007
I am unconvinced there is a God:
- Because there is no proof, not one shred, that a god of any sort exists. Be honest… there is no physical evidence. If there were evidence, there wouldn’t be any need for faith. There is also no evidence of heaven, hell, a devil or demons, or angels, or an afterlife.
- Because there is no need, or use for, a god. A god is not necessary to explain the origins of things, or people, or morality—there are rational, worldly explanations that actually make sense.
- Because we cannot speculate on what a god is made of, or how he came into existence. We cannot imagine how he creates things and people, knows everything, or why he did what he allegedly did. Because a god just doesn’t make sense.
- Because a good god would be useless if he were not powerful, and a powerful god would not deserve worship unless he is good—but there is no all powerful, good god, otherwise there would be no imperfection or suffering in the world.
- Because the bible, the most widespread “proof” of god, is unreliable as a source of accurate information. It is internally inconsistent and contradictory, historically wrong, and filled with deep moral problems. The bible cannot be considered or consulted in the question of whether or not there is a god. It is no evidence at all.
- Because the history of god-belief is rife with ignorance, superstition, intolerance, persecution, cruelty and hatred. Those people believed just as firmly in their faith as anyone alive today. This makes it more likely that religion was invented by people who wanted to control other people.
- Because theology has fought and resisted nearly every major scientific discovery. Instead of embracing new knowledge, religion fears it. Religion resist liberty and reform, and freedom of information and freedom of thought.
- Because god-belief was invented in the earliest days of man’s ignorance. People did not know anything yet. They thought the world was flat, that disease, hurricanes, earthquakes, thunder and droughts were all caused by gods. It is unbelievable that primitive man guessed wrongly about everything else, but discovered “the truth” about the origin of life. It is more believable that god(s) were invented by primitive people for the following reasons:
- to explain natural events that they couldn’t understand
- they had an inability to cope with their fears of a death that was final and absolute
- they had a need to provide enforceable laws with divine penalties
- they had a child-like need to feel watched over and protected by a loving, powerful father-figure
- Another reason for the continuation of religion is that the positions of power held by holy men depended on the beliefs of their followers.
- Because everything that science has now described in detail were previously believed to be the exclusive handiwork of god—from the origins of life, to the cause of natural phenomena (earthquakes, lightning and volcanoes, in fact all of the natural world), to the formation of stars and our own world, to the causes of mental illness and diseases…virtually everything you can think of. Religion retreats, loses ground, whenever a new fact is discovered. No new discovery has ever supported a religious explanation of anything.
- Because there is no evidence of communication with a god of any kind. Prayers are answered no more often than by flipping a coin, despite the fact it says in the bible that you need only ask, and ye shall receive. People report having a personal relationship with god, but they cannot demonstrate that this is not merely their imaginations and self-delusion.
I am unconvinced, and all the threats of eternal damnation cannot convince me.
I’m like Doubting Thomas… I’ll believe when I put my hand in Christ’s side… until then, no.
When someone can tell me the following, then it would at least be possible to accept the existence of a god:
- What God is made of?
- What is “spirit” made of?
- Where are heaven and hell?
- How did God make everything, and from what did he make it?
- Where did God come from?
- Why did God exist alone in an empty nothingness for an eternity before creating the universe?
- How can he continue to exist without ingesting some sort of energy?
- How can he exist in every point of the universe at once?
- How can he know everything, past present and future?
- Where are souls kept within our bodies?
- Where were our “eternal” souls before we were born—or how can immortality begin at conception?
When someone can provide convincing answers, then I could believe. Until then, my mind will not let me believe. I have no choice. I cannot accept that such an entity is possible.
The invisible and the nonexistent look very much alike. When you come to realize why you do not believe in Zeus, you will understand why I do not believe in your god.
Last uploaded: 20 December, 2010.
