691 More on God, Facts and Belief, part 1
Once
again I had the opportunity to test my beliefs in regard to religion. I find it
interesting how often I come across the contention, “well, I do not believe in
God ... but one has to keep an open mind.”
An open
mind in regard to what? That God will reveal himself one day and the non-believers
will say, “Wow, I never would have thought …” Or that someday there will be
non-refutable proof that God exists? Which would result in the same reaction.
Years ago
I had a two-month long email discussion with a pastor in the US. I was sent a sermon I liked and I started this conversation, where we
discussed religion. He said it was refreshing to discuss the topic with someone
who is not a believer, not a “man of faith”. We exchanged dozens of emails. In
the end the good pastor said ... “I know God exists, the proof is the good He does in the world.” When I asked how he qualifies the good God does, he
said, “I can see it in the good people do.”
It is
futile now to point out all the bad people do and whether that is God’s work too; this will be put down to, “God works in mysterious ways.”
However,
guess what happened when I made this point, “the good you see in people is not the
good God does, that it is the good people do as a result of their belief in God” and it follows that God is not necessary for
good to be done (nor bad); all it takes for people to do good is to
believe; that indeed there is no God, but instead the belief in God. You know what happened? I
never heard from the pastor again.
The
bottom line with all this is simple: There is no God, we know that, for if here
was a God we would know that too … there would be proof. The religious will now
chime in and say, “the question of whether God exists is not a question of
proof (or fact) … it is a question of belief.”
But that
exactly is the point: This is this dichotomy at the base of this discussion:
There is no God. But there is the belief in God. And there are hundreds of
beliefs; there are dozens of religions; there are myriads of gods and goddesses; and many differing beliefs in "the One God". That is the way of the world ... and everybody has the right to believe
in whatever they want to believe in …
… oh,
well, hang on a minute: Conditions apply! It’s all very well if you are the
follower of one religion or another, if you believe in one God or another … and
this belief of yours compels you to do good; few will argue with that.
But it is not OK if your belief in your God compells you - as you
do “God’s work” - to either force others into your religion or kill them. Not
good. Awful. The fact is, your God is the Devil.
I have many essays on GOD ... that's just one, in my book with no title, instead three definitions for the term en.light.en.ment