They say that friends should never discuss either politics or religion. Obviously, I discuss politics frequently in this blog, so perhaps it is time to alienate the other half of my readers by discussing religion. ☺

I will begin this discussion by assuming there is a God. That statement possibly offended 2/3 of my audience: 1/3 because they are firm atheists who do not believe God exists, and 1/3 because they are firm believers in God and by using the word “assuming,” I am leaving open the possibility that God might not exist at all. Only the 1/3 who are agnostics were likely unoffended.

But, quite frankly, if God is so powerful that he (although God is likely asexual, I feel awkward referring to God as “it”, so I’ll use the sexist pronoun “he”) created the entire universe, then he is so far above us intellectually and philosophically that how could we lowly humans possibly be able to prove his existence? That is why I approve of one fact I was taught in Catholic grammar school, that faith in the existence of God is unprovable; either you believe in God or you don’t.

So what about all those supposed proofs of the existence of God which were popular in the middle ages? In my opinion, they were self-justification for those philosophers or theologians’ personal beliefs.

Let’s make a simple comparison. Compare our human existence to that of the simplest one-celled microorganism. If microorganisms have any conscious thoughts, do you think they are capable of proving that humans exist? And yet the “difference” between the intellectual/philosophical level of microorganisms and humans pales compared to the difference between humans and an almighty God.

So either we believe God exists or we do not. But the more important question is: what is the relationship between God and humans? Most religions would have us believe that God has nothing better to do than sit in front of his cosmic viewer and observe our daily behavior, making notations in his infinite grade book as he does. That is the most blatant example of self-centered hubris that I can fathom: humans are so important that an almighty God devotes his entire existence to watching over us. Hogwash! Assuming God exists, he set in motion a cosmic process of which humans and our entire universe are a small, very insignificant part, too minor to concern him.

If God ever notices us, it is only momentarily in passing. He does not care if we eat meat on Fridays, go to church on Sundays, pray three times each day, or any other rules which were created solely by religious institutions which falsely believe they are carrying out God’s will, when in fact they are merely perpetuating their own authority over their members. God created the universe for a purpose, and that purpose was definitely not that a minor race of humans can perform a series of meaningless routine actions when they are not otherwise occupied demeaning and brutalizing each other.

So what impact does that have on morality and justice? Let’s consider some statements which have as much chance of being accurate as any claims by any religions:

• the cosmos consists of numerous parallel universes of which ours is merely one of an infinite number, each with its own physical rules and possible intelligent occupants;
• there have been so many instances of people being contacted by supernatural beings, ranging from “spirits” to “angels,” that it is highly unlikely we are totally alone in the vast cosmos;
• just as humans would never devote themselves to studying the most minuscule behavior of microorganisms, God has no interest in humans’ mundane behavior;
• nearly every group of humans in both recorded and prehistoric times have demonstrated some belief in a potential afterlife. It is highly unlikely that so many unrelated groups would develop such a similar belief without having some reason for doing so;
• an almighty God has the ability to create the universe in such a manner that a person’s inherent “good” behavior determines whether they survive into an afterlife or, perhaps, which particular afterlife they inhabit. Thus, the more love a person generates in other people, the more likely that person is to achieve a higher afterlife. Similarly, the more anguish or suffering a person causes in other people, the less likely they are to achieve a lower afterlife, or perhaps none at all.

What do you think?