My journey here at Off-The-Map has lasted about 2 1/2 years and it has truly been a good time. By “good,” I don’t necessarily mean “fun” (although it was), but rather “important” or “necessary” in the formation of my own spiritual character. The journey I have been on with y’all has truly been “good.” I don’t think I could ever list all that I’ve learned here. But I’m going to list a few. Read the rest of this news item »
At the end of March Off The Map will be closing the Conversation at the Edge, Justice and Compassion and eBay Atheist blogs to new posts. They’ll stay open a little longer than that for comments.
We appreciate everyone who has blogged for us on these three blogs and participated in the comments conversations. We’ll keep the existing content up even though the blogs are being closed.
The reason for closing them
Read the rest of this news item »
Over the last several months I’ve tried to list common reasons why many people fail to believe in gods or God. I’ve talked about different kinds of atheism, about how evidence and how it does not lead to God, about how God isn’t necessary to living, about how some of the common argument for God are not convincing for me, the Problem of Evil, science as a better way of explaining things, the lack of meaning in the term “God”, god belief as a function of the mind. and as a function of society.
These are common reasons really and not exhaustive. If you ever choose to spend time looking at deconversion forums you’ll also note others. What all of these boil down to and indeed what every reason for disbelief boils down to is that God is not apparent. It is not obvious that God is real or, for those who choose to put their faith in the spiritual, which god is real.
There are some fine things in religion. There is a message of charity and kindness, of love and acceptance. A supernatural agency lends credence to these ideas and further motivates people who choose to follow a faith. Religion is cause for great beauty in this world, of fine art and sublime music. Belief in God has inspired people to do great things. Belief in God has also inspired people to do terrible things but I’m not going to dwell on that today.
Despite the huge influence that god belief and religion have had and continue to have on people none of it proves that God is real or false. None of it. Logic and reason can take us down both routes if we follow them in certain ways. Evidence can show nothing of God or everything pointing to God if we let it. We can explore our own psyches as individuals and as society and either see God in our hearts and minds or find them lacking any trace of the divine.
There are lots of people who aren’t aware of the existence of a loving God. There are lots of people who see only their (perhaps false) gods and dismiss others as unreal. It’s difficult to credit any one religion as being true or any one god as being true when there have been so many throughout human history. None appears to have any greater claim to being more credible or reliable than any other. Shouldn’t God, a true God, be more obvious? Shouldn’t the words of the bible reveal themselves perfectly to the reader? Shouldn’t God be apparent?
I want to thank you for sticking with this latest series. That’s all I have to say about reasons for disbelief except that I don’t see any of them as a choice or as a reaction. I don’t think that people choose to believe or disbelieve but find what works well for them. God belief doesn’t present itself to me even though I have explored the idea and I’m sure the same is true of those Christians who have explored life without God. I think we all look at things in a way that reinforces our own notions and even when we are aware of this we cannot avoid it. It’s just the way we’re made.
Finally I want to point out a few things that I have not given for lack of belief. I think that the reasons I have given are reasonable, even if you do not agree with them or that some might seem weak. I have not written anything about the actions of the Old Testament God and of religions in waging wars or annihilating whole nations, or nearly everyone if the Flood story is true. I have not mentioned anything about the way religions treat those who do not conform to their ideas. I have not written anything about atheists hating God. I’m sure I don’t need to separate the action of religious men and women that may give some atheists a reason to hate the faith and the God that we do not believe in and so have no reason to despise. In short I’ve tried to avoid the emotional response to the idea of God as a reason not to believe in God. I don’t think that it is helpful.
Posted in A Cacophony of Posts, Jason | 13 Comments »