Since I was twelve years old I had never believed in the existence of God, nor any similar omniscient deity which I was destined to serve for an infinite amount of time. The first issue I came to with religion, is in fact the vast amount of religions there is to chose from. When you have two billion people following one religion, and a further one and a half billion following another, how do you decide who is right? Indeed, how can so many people believe that their views are undisputable, that any other religious belief is completely and absolutely wrong?
How is that so many people can believe in a supernatural being, simply on the basis that it cannot be proven not to exist. Of course, the comfort religion provides is second to none for most. The fear of dying is something prefer not to contemplate, and therefore push it to the back of their mind. Others believe that their life is infinite, that they are immortal. When they cease to exist on this Earth, their soul will leave the body, and based on how they are judged for their actions, will be placed in either a utopian existence, namely Heaven. Or in somewhere apparently so painful, and somewhere which should be feared above all other situations, is Hell.
We now understand that religion is based on fear, power, and most probably jealousy. The fear is created by the existence of Hell. If the Ten Commandments are not followed, the person will find themselves in the most horrific and painful environment possible, where they will be tortured for and infinite amount of time.
For me, I do not wish to follow a religion where the simplest errors in life can lead to being forced to live for an infinite amount of time in Hell. A God who is supposedly kind and full of forgiveness is not someone I believe would cause such pain to a person’s life, simply because they either did not believe, or believed in the wrong religion. Because let’s face it, there are a great many religions and Gods to chose from.
Is the idea of an Afterlife simply created due the fear of death? This seems highly likely, as previously stated we prefer not to contemplate the idea of death. As going from a living, breathing, thinking, communicating being can go from being in existence, to being nothing within a matter of seconds. This is something I find difficult to grasp. Grasping the idea of existence is highly difficult, and something I want to discuss.
A person, not the physical body, but the actual person, something due to finding this difficult to put into words, religious people refer to as the soul, that which houses the person’s beliefs and morals. To think that something can go from being able to think, communicate, and most importantly, exist. To go from existence to nothingness is something which is impossible to understand in my opinion. Although this is an Atheist blog, this is something which if I was a theist, I would be contemplating considerably more.
I believe that we all usually have quite a strong pull on us to believe in religion, as of course it does give us many answers. And above all some form of Universal purpose and understanding of why we’re in existence at all. However, isn’t that taking the easy option? Rather than improving our intelligence to the highest level, and trying to understanding the world we live in and then proving our theories with observation? Isn’t it simply lazy to just rely on God being the creator of everything?
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