Can there not be a god?

Just a question for all of the atheists out there claiming that atheism is the religion of sense. If there is no higher being then why are so many of us drawn to believe there is one? Sure we are divided largely by what this higher being is but it an overwhelming majority that believes there is at least one (often more). I've often heard that it's because we've advanced so far that we create a need but even in our primitive periods we worshiped gods. So wouldn't there have to be something we're drawn to to create this desire even in times of need?

 

Atheism cannot be a religion for it is by definition lacking one isn't it? Whether this is true or I was misinformed matters not though. It's really simple how there can be no God really. It's all about how you're looking at the situation. Logically, God, the big man upstairs or whatever you wish to call it is an idea used to explain the world for people in simpler times; times before technology had reached so far and understanding of the world became a common thing. People just want to know what's happening and if someone tells them "God did it" that's enough if there exists no science that contradicts such a teaching. So it is in essence the very antithesis of what you said about it being a result of advancement. In actuality religion is a simple, and antiquated system that merely instructed conduct and knowledge of the world before science and government could efficiently do either of these jobs. In the modern world it's just a vestige of the past clinging on by indoctrination. That's it.

 

Yes, but there's where your wrong I don't believe in God because I know he's there. I've felt his presence but whoever wants to, can disagree with me becasue I see prove everwhere. The Bible is the #1 selling book ever, the american goverment is based by the teachings of it, and the fact that God was here before science. there's more too. Oh and there's been seashellls found on the mountains from Noah's ark....and I think the greatest fact is Why do you think one person's death made an impact for over 2000 years.. because Jesus Chirst is the son of God

 

Well, it's sorta comforting to think something greater is looking out for you. Like your parents or something. Also, I think they made them just to lay down the law and make people listen. I mean, what is more intimidating than a supreme being that is going to smite you if you do wrong? I don't know if I believe in god or not, but some things can't be proven. Either way, we're gonna all find out when we die anyway, so I don't really stress on the issue.

 

Well since i belive in science, i think there might not be one, because i kinda doubt that someone just clapped their handsto make the universe and sprinkle Foo foo powder to make humans.

 

i think people are drawn to this idea because people want to live with hope. hope certainly makes life alot better. i think ALOT of people (myself included) would rather live with false hope than with no hope at all. i personally don't believe in God but there are other reasons to have hope. i guess the whole afterlife belief is to make death seem not so bad, tho i'm not sure why people would think of the concept of "Hell" if that were true. so basically, people want hope.

 

Your so called proof is ridiculous and doesn't make for a sound argument. The Bible as you say is a best seller, no because it's so important so much as because it is very well written and influential, it would be the same if it was any other set of things written in it. The U.S. government doesn't explicitly base itself upon the Bible, it's based on generally accepted morals that happen to coincide with the Bible(so very many things do, it's a very long book), however most people like to leave out the ludicrous things found in books such as Leviticus and treat the Bible as faultless.

Being first isn't better, shame on you for having such foolish thoughts. Progress indicates that what comes later is better because we've had the chance to correct for error in past editions.

I really have no idea why seashells are so important, there were huge geological shifts throughout the planets history, it'd be logical for an inland sea or even a patch of open sea to have existed in many places, you're just grasping at straws with that.

Honestly, I said it before, indoctrination. If the parents learn it the kids learn it, it goes on and on. Jesus was just a guy that some people based a religious group on, they taught people what they wanted pyramid scheme style and the rest is history. Think very carefully before you make blanket statements with no backup based in logic. "Religion is the opiate of the people" to quote Marx. Take from it what you want.

 

I think God was a way to explain many phenomena that couldnt be explained because of the technological advances (or lack there of) in many societies. Some people actually believe he exists, they feel as though they've got some proof or something that allows them to know for sure God exists.

Alternatively, you have to consider people dealing with pain and strife are in a type of "denial." Sometimes, God is the only thing people can hold onto and it keeps them from feeling worthless or hopeless.

I for one am not sure I believe in god or not. My theory is that a human(s) who had a certain amount of power created the concept of god and not only did people listen to the human (because he/she was in power) but the concept snowballed, and through globalization or something like that it eventually went around the world, or formed different and newer religions...I cant say thats true or not but I think that its plausible.

 

Honestly, I believe in God, but I have many doubts. I question God's existance 24/7. Just because a **** load of people believe in something doesnt make it true, it can just mean a **** load of people are stupid. And humanity has proven many times how stupid it can be.

 

oooh, i didn't think of that, that's a good explanation as well! people DO hate the "unknown" and naturally want an explanation for everything.

i have another theory, i think another reason religion might have sprung up is to unite people, because nothing unites people better than a common goal/belief/enemy.

 

Humans have had gods since way back. Some even believe that these "Gods" were aliens who visited long ago and thats were our beliefs come from. There is even a passage in the bible that discribes a "Flying disk of fire with human looking creatures in it that landed and followed them" there are also ancient carvings and such that suggest aliens and "space men"

 

Thank you. I really do mean it. I really don't feel any need to say God doesn't exist so much as I need to say that if you believe in it for the wrong reasons it may as well be a falsehood. If you let it arrest your ability to grow and think then you're just being an over conservative dead weight on society.

 

Actually I dont think thats theory...I think thats truth. For billions of years, people have done rituals before fighting or after fighting, sort of "engaging themselves" so that they could fight the good fight...maybe religion is something more sophisticated than this.

 

Exactly. There are people who believe in God let him take complete controll of rational thought. Part of being human is to ask questions and strive for greater knowledge. I believe anyone who refuses to look at things from different angles can never truely be intellegent.

 

I should have just said this...this is like...my general philosophy to life. The last sentence just explains it all. I definately agree with this statement.

 

I'm Christian, but I see what the atheists are thinking. Humans in primitive times couldn't determine with their primitive science what their origins were. So they created this omnipotent being to be the answer to all their questions.

 

Being an Atheist doesn't make you religious. I suppose the only way a religious minded person can understand Atheism is to say it is a religion of not believing in a god, or is one of 'sense' but it is so far from the truth. Not everyone needs to believe in deities to make themselves happy or to find out the mysteries of life out there. Religion gives easy answers. Being someone who seeks answers through examination takes a lot of work. Anyone who is spiritual and open-minded would probably say the same thing. Also, some people cannot stand 'open ended' questions that don't give answers immediately. Philosophers live with it and an atheist can wait until the question is filled with an answer that makes sense so there isn't a need to say 'god did it' or 'the devil did it', etc. We can say 'we don't know yet' and research.

Think of it this way. Followers of Christianity and Islam have warred for years and taken over territories and snuffed out or absorbed cultures. Christianity since its inception had the romanizing way of adapting cultural things into it such as Easter, Halloween, Christmas season which is winter solstice and Yule. This habit of romanizing or squashing out religions by force of occupation extinguished cultures but took in some of their flavor. The colorful gods of pantheons were reduced to mythologies and tales for the most part though a revival of Wicca does transpire and some others have continued on in small groups which are considered little more than cults now. The fact Christianity declares that any other God is false and should not be worshipped, and also failure to worship Yahweh is a sin and marks you as a heretic...well this spawns some issues. Atheism is just one step beyond that and less harmful. It means that basically we can celebrate holidays for the festive spirit they hold and feel that this final god that is left is also not real.

To make a point also, even as religions have flourished, there were always skeptics or people who did not believe. In Roman times, quite a few people did not really believe in religion and preferred instead to be philosophical and study their surroundings. To believe in any religion, a person must take a leap of faith and Atheists simply won't do that without a logical reason. Really, we are thinkers and studiers. If a god showed up, we wouldn't be called atheists anymore so I actually prefer the word 'realist' to describe me instead as do quite a few other atheists I've talked to. As for the question of do people need gods or god? I don't think they do but this is from the perspective I have. Anyone who believes in a religion is going to say just the opposite and that's fine by me. We are all entitled to our opinions even if we may believe the other side of the coin is wrong. In the end, neither side can totally prove whether or not -any- deity exists. We can only examine the books and scripts etc we find and dismiss them for being erroneous or putting our faith in them.

 

We are drawn in by the tales of a few very clever, very old, very dead people. It only takes a single strong leader to create a cult, and only a single person to realize that person A is onto something good, and that copying him would not be a bad idea.

What's more, lots of people don't believe in a god. What could lead them to this conclusion? Both sides can use the "lots of people" argument. The thing is, either way, lots of people are making a huge mistake.

Why can we all not agree on a god? One minute the Earth is on the back of a giant turtle, the next it is run by a fat, happy man, the next it is watched over by sadistic, vindictive arseholes, the next there is a god of doorways, finally there is one "True" god.

So what makes this true god so true? Why was there so much disagreement between this god and the god of doors, death and dining? Lots of people believed in both. Just because lots of people once thought that cats were sacred, that does not show up in today's society.

It is just a fad, like marbles or Yu-gi-oh. Nothing more.

 

@OP: The idea that a majority of people believing something to be true is complete and utter tripe. Someone could come up with something completely off the top of their head tomorrow, make it sound convincing enough and spread it over the Internet. Half the world could believe it by the end of the week. Doesn't make it true or right.

Also, human beings are weak to be blunt. We need to feel fulfilled and that what we do has purpose and meaning. Easiest way to do that is to say that a magic sky-fairy has a big all-encompassing plan with some divine purpose.

There is also the control aspect. Organised religion first appeared as a method to control the people. The only educated person in the community was the priest. The only one who to read or write was the priest. Everyone had to pay tithes (religious taxes) to the church (there is a saying that says "the bigger the church the poorer the community). The Church's word was law, and anything against that was blasphemous.

Basically, the idea of there being a God is an attempt by inferior minds to make sense of the world and the feeble existence they were eking out way back when. Then some scrupulous people worked out that they could control people and extort money from them if they capitalised on religion. It certainly worked, and look where it has left us.

I prefer to use my common sense, logic and powers of reasoning and deduction to decide what I think about the world, not let something else do my thinking for me.

Therein lies a problem, if you don't believe in God because you "know" that he is there, then you have no faith in God. There is the saying that "Without faith, God is nothing". Therefore not having faith in God (if he actually does exist, which is a slim to nil chance) reduces his power.

And? Harry Potter is one of the best selling books of our time, doesn't mean it is fact.

I am SICK of hearing this argument. The government of the United States of America was not based on Christian beliefs or even started by Christians. Though it may be hard to swallow the founding fathers were secularists and humanists, not Christians. Try and get your own heritage right please.

LOL. Just because the primitive and not yet developed societies of yesteryear had no explanations for why things happened, didn't mean that science didn't exist. Are you saying that the laws of physics didn't exist before someone wrote them down? Science has existed since the beginning of the universe, it is the closest logical and sane thing that there is to a god/higher being.

And on whose authority do you have it that these seashells came from Noah's Ark? Was it some religious organisation? The Vatican perhaps? Even with carbon dating there are hundreds of other ways that seashells could have got on a mountain. For one, the mountain was almost certainly not always a mountain. For all you know it could have started at the bottom of the ocean.

........or because any sufficiently popular idea is gong to live on for a long time? Also if successful empire or civilizations have a certain belief system it will spread and last at least as long as said empire/civilisation.