Do you believe in God?

Question

If yes... Why?
If no... Why?

Answer 1

No.

Why I Don't Believe in the Existence of Gods:

=== 1: Simple Common Sense ===

Nothing in life has ever made me suspect that any gods really exist. I see no divine revelations, no miracles, no answered prayers, no preferential good fortune for people of any particular faith, no divine retribution for evildoers, no protection for the virtuous, the innocent or the weak. Life is exactly as we would expect it to be if there was no divine influence in the world - i.e. good and bad things come to good and bad people alike. Our lives are subject to chance, and the actions of other people, but that seems to be all.

=== 2: The Natural World ===

"Nature does all things spontaneously, by herself, without the meddling of the gods." - Titus Lucretius Carus (c.99-55 BCE).

We can see no sign of any divine involvement in the natural world. Galaxies, stars and planets form because it is in the nature of matter to do so. Living organisms evolve and diverge by the unthinking, undirected process of evolution. There is no plan, no design, just the effects of probability and the properties of matter and forces. Many people will claim to the contrary, but as far as I can tell this just reflects an ignorance about how the natural world really is, rather than the perception of any higher truth. Certainly, their arguments always evaporate in the light of reason.

=== 3: Logical Arguments ===

1: Science gives us a way to distinguish between good ideas and bad ideas - i.e. to show which explanation is the most consistent with observable reality. Science shows us that great complexity does not just arise spontaneously. It is inconceivable that even the simplest bacterium could exist without something being responsible for the complexity of its structure, its biochemistry and so on. It would take the lifetimes of a billion universes for it to appear spontaneously, by pure chance - in fact it is probably safe to say that it simply could never happen. This goes all the more for human beings. It's surely no coincidence that the only thing that we regard as truly intelligent - the human brain - is also the most complex thing in the known universe. Intelligence requires enormous complexity, far beyond anything that could conceivably exist without something being responsible for its existence. By the same reasoning, it's infinitely more unlikely still that an intelligent entity capable of designing and creating an entire universe and everything in it could just exist from nowhere, from nothing, without anything being responsible for its existence. Complexity, and especially the massive complexity required for intelligence, can therefore only arise from an antecedent, non-intelligent process - In the case of life on Earth, this means biological evolution, a fact which is attested to by a vast amount of real objective evidence and valid argument. So, to the extent that science allows us to reliably distinguish between plausible ideas and implausible ideas, it effectively rules out the possibility of an intelligent entity as the uncaused cause of everything that exists.

2: We've known for thousands of years that the 'tri-omni' gods of classical monotheistic religions cannot exist. If an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent deity existed, then human evil could not exist. Since human evil unarguably does exist, the classical monotheistic deity cannot exist (objections about 'free will' notwithstanding).

3: Quantum Mechanics strongly suggests that nothingness is a state that cannot exist in reality, since that would be 100% deterministic, and QM says that existence is probabilistic rather than deterministic. Experimental evidence supports QM. If true, then this also precludes the existence of a creator, since it would be impossible to have a state of 'nothingness' from which a 'something' could be created.

4: David Hume proved that moral values are subjective - i.e. they describe a person's response to events, rather than objective properties of events themselves. Since morals are personal and subjective, there cannot be an external, objective source of moral values - Indeed, the idea is simply incomprehensible. Therefore, any god which is claimed to be the objective source of moral values cannot possibly exist. This includes the gods of most monotheistic religions, by their usual definitions.

5: Argument from design: If everything was designed by an intelligent creator then we would have no basis for identifying things that clearly *are* designed (things made by human beings) since we would have no non-designed (i.e. natural) things to compare them with. Therefore the natural world (everything that has not been designed by humans) must be non-designed, and therefore there can't be a designer god.

6: All attempts at arguing *for* the existence of any gods through logic and reason can be and have been comprehensively debunked.

=== 4: Religious Belief, Literature and Dogma ===

If any religion were true, we could reasonably expect it to produce some ideas and beliefs that people couldn't have thought up by themselves. Similarly for 'holy texts', and the rules and practices that derive from them. In fact though, religions only produce what we would expect humans to imagine or decide for themselves, on the basis of aspects of human nature such as superstition, moral judgments, xenophobia and so on. There is no sign of any divine influence here.

Religious literature, if divinely inspired, ought to be factually correct and free of contradictions, immoral ideas and absurdities. None of the holy texts fit the bill.

=== 5: Society and Culture ===

It's an observable fact that people overwhelmingly adopt the religion of their family and culture. If there was any external truth to religion, which human beings could perceive with some kind of supernatural sense, then we could reasonably expect there to be some consistency in religious belief. Instead, the distrubution of different religious beliefs is exactly as we would expect it to be if this were pure mythology, handed down through family and culture like any other kind of purely fictional story.

=== 6: Intellectual and Moral Progress ===

Religion has consistently been the enemy of intellectual progress, suppressing rational investigation of the world where it disagrees with and thus endangers religious belief (often by torture and death). There has never been, to the best of my knowledge, one single fact about the world that was brought to us by divine inspiration rather than rational investigation. How could this be, if religion were a source of truth? Religion has also consistently been the undisputed cause of much conflict, discrimination and persecution in the world, belying the existence of any kind of benevolent or moral guardian of the world.

=== 7: Rational Explanation for Religious Belief ===

As part of our evolutionary 'toolkit' of survival strategies, we have a highly developed awareness of other entities in our environment - We often notice human faces in carpet patterns, rabbit-shaped clouds and so on. There is more survival value in seeing what really *is* there, and also seeing some things that *aren't* really there, than in missing things that really are there and going hungry, or worse, ending up as someone else's lunch.

The consequence of this undeniably true aspect of human nature is that we have a natural tendency to imagine 'agents' (intelligent entities) behind natural phenomena and events in our own lives that aren't really there - i.e. gods and goddesses, demons, angels, spirits - a whole menagerie of supernatural characters. Society and culture binds up these characters with our wishes and fears, our desires for dominance and submission and shared identity, and we end up with religious belief and ritual and dogma, in thousands of different flavours throughout the world and throughout history. Religion is formalised superstition - It's just a common flaw in human nature, rather like the way we see optical illusions. We can account for the existence of religious belief perfectly well with this fact-based, rational explanation, rather than believing that there really is a supernatural realm of existence.

=== 8: Human Nature ===

Religious people will argue that humans are unique amongst all the animals in having an eternal, divine component that exists independently of the physical body - Usually referred to as a 'soul'. What exactly could a soul be? What properties could it have? What part of a person resides in the soul?

If it's postulated that consciousness, or awareness, or sense of self resides in the soul, it's difficult to see how this can be reconciled with the complete oblivion which accompanies general anaesthesia. How could a straightforward chemical, injected into the bloodstream, anaesthetise a soul so that it effectively ceases to exist during this time? If consciousness, in the form of a soul, were some kind of supernatural faculty, it would seem implausible that it could be completely disabled by a chemical.

How about some of the other things which we regard as essential parts of what makes a person what they are? How about love, compassion, reason, empathy, memory, conscious thought, character, 'spirituality' and so on? Well, there is really no plausible doubt that all these things are properties of the physical brain - We can alter all of these properties very simply with alcohol or other drugs, and observe how they change in people who have suffered significant brain damage. Previously placid people become uncontrollably violent, intelligent people become imbeciles, and so on. Stimulate the brain artificially, and the subject reports corresponding mental activity, e.g. 'religious experiences'. We can see from brain research that all these things - thought, emotion, sensation, character traits and so on - are correlated with activity in the brain, and some things can be identified with specific areas of the brain.

So, if all these faculties and characteristics of what we regard as the 'person' reside in the physical brain, as seems to be undeniably the case, and they all cease when the person dies, then what is left to be attributed to a 'soul'? As far as I can ascertain: Nothing. If there is no part of us that can continue after death, then there is no 'afterlife'... and if there is no afterlife, then most of religion is null and void.

============

There are other reasons too, but that'll do for now...

Answer 2

Yes! God has answered prayers many times, I feel his presents and love. If you read the Bible that was written so long ago all the prophecies have been coming true and I see more and more of this everyday. Some of the sine's are very apparent, Jesus said close to his return it will be start becoming hard to tell the difference between the seasons, I can see a big difference in the change as I have gotten older.
He said there will be fighting in the middle east, It's happening now! He said there will be weird weather, Look at the news things are happening in different states and countries that has not happened before. Believe he is coming!

Answer 3

No, I don't believe in a "god" of any sort. First of all there is no scientific evidence to back up the claims of these religious people.
Secondly, the people who follow these faiths, use a book which predominantly spreads hate, intolerance, abuse, murder, rape, etc. Why would anyone want to be involved in such an evil organisation.
There have been thousands of years to prove if these fairy tales are true or not, and they haven't done it yet. So, in my mind it all stems from medieval mind control when certain people with influence wanted to control the weaker types.

Answer 4

Of course not...

Why ...?... you want to know why? Are you kidding me?

The entire idea of god is preposterous. Lets just cover the most basic question: Why would the universe need creating?

If you are willing to believe that a "god" could be infinite, then why would you have difficulty believing that a universe could just as easily be - it makes much more sense to accept that matter and energy and space have always been than to invent a complex "beginning," doesn't it?

“So what about the big bang?” you might ask. My answer is... what about it? What needs explaining about a physical event driven by imbalance between matter and energy - have you never experienced a spark of static? Think of it like that if you must and recall that it's as common as dirt for order to go to disorder and back again. There have likely been billions of big bangs and they have likely been much smaller than the name implies – limited to just parts of the universe. Remember that we live in and infinite universe of galaxies and our "Big bang" may have been only about "our own galaxy" or it may have been only about our portion of the universe. We just don’t know, do we?

Toss the god-idea aside. The god-philosophy has done its job for mankind - it's taken us from there to here and it’s done a good enough job, but it just isn’t realistic to believe it any longer. Tell "God" thanks and let it go. Belief in mysticism remains only for the small-minded romantic fool and for those who stubbornly remain wrapped in denial of the obvious truth. Which of those are you? (I sincerely hope you're able to honestly answer that you're neither.)

[][][] r u randy? [][][]
.

Answer 5

Yes, without a doubt!!
I've felt his presence so strong.
I've personally seen amazing miracles!
I've felt His love for me.
I've heard Him speak to me!
I've had many, many prayers answered. Not all our prayers will be answered the way we want them to be, but we can't see the whole picture. God can see your entire life, all at once.
Please people, don't be against Him who you don't know! To know Him is to love Him! Get to know Jesus Christ; it will change your life for the better... That is a promise!!
And yes, a lot of people who call themselves Christians sure don't act like they're supposed to. Don't just look at them for your opinions. Look at Jesus. In the Bible, Paul says to imitate him (Paul) as he imitates CHRIST!!
God has a GOOD plan for your life. It's not about sitting in a pew every Sunday singing hymns. Knowing the Lord personally and loving Him deeply brings great excitment and JOY!!

Answer 6

Umm properly i've got self belief at nighttime God and Goddess, they dont truly care if I make errors....as long as I dont reason injury to nature, which i could on no account do because of the fact i'm vegetarian and that i admire the Earth =)

Answer 7

I was brought up in a family that had no clear faith. When I was 21, God came into my life. I know what it is to live without Him and with Him. When I get to know someone, I'm not sure about the relationship at the start. After years, I'm sure. God has been in my life for 25 years. He gives me peace when I admit my sins to Him. He guides me when I don't know what to do. He answers my prayers - though often not as I expect. Coincidences? Imagination? Wishful thinking?
After 25 years, there is no room for doubt left.
There's nothing better than knowing God, belonging to Him and looking forward to eternity with Him and His people.

Answer 8

No, due to the fact there is no evidence if you discount self-delusion.

The fact that the belief in a single deity is just a bronze age myth kinda discredits the whole idea.

Answer 9

Yes. God is only a power whom different people visualizes in different ways/means. If I think of him, I forget all my problems and have peace of mind, if I fail to get what I wanted, I think that he has decided not to give me that, as I am not entitled to get it or have it. There again I get peace of mind, because I believe, all that he does, gives or take away from me is for my good. He guides me internally and makes me happy with what I have. Because I believe in God, I do not do any wrong or bad things, which I believe wrong or bad, to others. Even if I think bad or ill of others, after a short while I correct my inner feeling, that what I thought was not correct. Because I believe in God, I fear him also. This God fearing helps me in maintaining a balanced life. Belief in God will always makes one good in society.

It is very simple, if we have belief in our home, parants, relations etc, we will lead a controlled life. If we do not have believe in anything that controll will not be there. Think ' I am late my parants or wife/husband will be anxious and waiting for me'. This belief leads us to reach home in time. Other wise not.

Answer 10

I'll assume you mean the Christian God.
The answer is no.
The reason is two-fold.
For me, the Christian God does not exist.
Further to my argument, I would not wish to acknowledge a God whose followers behave the way Christians do.
Blatant hypocrisy is neither a basis for, nor an enticement to join a religion, in my eyes.

Answer 11

Nobody can prove any gods, much less a specific god, exist; many people will tell you their god exists but no others, but will never be able to prove it, even if they think so. Some will threaten you with eternal pain or promise eternal joy to get you to believe in their god; these are all stories, created for people who were scared long before we understood the universe. Now we have no more reason for these superstitions.

How terrible the bible in particular is:
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/

How silly and horrible religion in general is:
http://godisimaginary.com/
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/

The alternative:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/
http://www.infidels.org/
http://www.positiveatheism.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism