Imagine for one moment there is no god?

Question

what would be the point of all the prayers and clergymen and places of worship and all the people that died in the name of god?

please don't give stupid answers like "well the bible says this and that so it's absolutely 100% true there is a god blah blah blah". give an intellectual answer please.

Answer 1

if there was no God , prayers would be useless, clergymen would be con artists, and places of worship would be empty edifices with no purpose.
but when I pray god answers, most clergymen I have met are sincere honest men that are trying to help people not take advantage of them. and when i am in a worship service i feel the presence of God.
you can imagine that there is no God but I know better.

Answer 2

don't think this isn't intellectual.

if there wasn't a God, there wouldn't be a point to any of that because it wouldn't exist.

and since you're going for the more unreligious answer, the only real point to any of that would be to make people think that there is a higher power. This would ultimately give people morals to follow and would keep people in-line. But if you think about it, things like that still wouldn't exist because the churches and other places of worship are kept because people have experiences with God. So it would have to be a big government operation to help give people something to live for. Without religion, there'd be a lot more suicides and almost complete chaos. This would give the government a very big incentive to keep the idea of religion going.
Though, that too can be disproved by looking back at history. There was a period of time where civilization collapsed and government didn't exist, but religion did. So how could an intracent design of religion exist when these people left were so illeterate?

sorry for the bit of tanget, i tend to do that....

Answer 3

It is interesting that over the last two thousand years, we have made unbelievable advances in technology. Wean put people into outer space and split sub-atomic particles, but humanity's idea og "god" has remained authoritarian, superstitious, and antiquated. There is no point to their prayers currently as most people don't have the right idea of what god is or how spirituality works. Look at all of the problems worldwide that people with belief systems that denote a divine creator have wrought upon us. They will continue to do this until they destroy us all in conflict, or they shift the focus of their religious dogma.

Answer 4

It would be pointless activity. But it doesn't make in meaningless activity. In the case of all the prayers - it might have provided a calming effect. I know when someone I love is in danger, "being able to do something for them" (like pray) would make me feel better about things.

As far as dying in the name of god - well there wouldn't be a point to that either. Hopefully they gave their lives for a good and moral CAUSE and "god" was just a reason in front of that cause.

As an atheist, I think that most god-activity is pointless, but I hope that it is at least meaningful to the person who's doing it. Would we be better as a society if we gave it up entirely? Well, yes!

Answer 5

There was and always will be a god or gods or goddesses. Believing in such an entity is just peoples way of coping with fear.
Check out the religions of the world; there's thousands of them (and they all believe their religion is the right one; causing war and death). The biggest fear being death itself.
There's a line from (I think) The Big Bounce that goes something like "God is just an imaginary friend for adults" which pretty much sums it up for me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and beliefs; at least in this country.

Answer 6

You want an intellectual answer to a very childish and oversimplified question: "what [sic] would be the point of all the prayers and clergymen and places of worship and all the people that died in the name of. . .?" In the name of. . .Whom?

Answer 7

Clergymen would have to get real jobs. Having a war over religion is like fighting over who has the best made up friend. Thats my reply to people who have died in the name of religion.

Answer 8

You know, to me that is the scariest thing that could ever ever happen to me! I've had the kind of life that each day I've only made it thru because of God and to think that even for 5 min. He wasn't there would be terrible! There wouldn't be any point in any of the churchs, clergy, or the like nor would there be in life. You don't need the Bible, Church, or clergy to tell you, your heart does when you believe!

Answer 9

Well if there was no God, there would be no point to all the prayers, or deaths. Although there probably wouldn't have been althose prayers and deaths. Your questions is like asking what use your shoes would have if you didn't have feet. Not much, but you do have feet (I'm assuming) so there's not much point in the reflection of the patently false.

Answer 10

I'm atheist so I don't need to imagine, I live everyday without god.
The point of all those things would be that the people involved believed there was a point.(although I can't see much point in that myself)
To quote Francis Bacon(the painter)- "Life is meaningless, but we give it meaning while we exist, although those meanings are themselves meaningless really."