Thursday, June 3, 2010

We must get rid of God!

The single biggest source of conflict in the world today is God. Throughout history more people have been killed in the name of God than in all other wars put together. Perhaps if we get rid of God we would have less to fight about...NOT!


Before you jump to conclusions, I am NOT an atheist. I don't believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and I don't believe in the same God they don't believe in, but there is a major difference: the true atheist is certain there is no God. I am not so sure and I do not know how they arrive at such certainty. Voltaire once said, "If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated." Rousseau also is quoted as saying, “God created man in his own image. And man, being a gentleman, returned the favor.” It is this man-created, geopolitical god that is the troublesome one. As far back as written history goes, and likely before, the ancients believed in a god that would give them an advantage over their enemies and look after their crops. Each city-state of the ancient Middle East had its own god and the most powerful city-state must then have the most powerful god. When the ancient Israelites brought the concept of one god, the people from Egypt in trying to envisage and conceptualize this god, only had the image of Pharaoh to go by. Therefore the Judeo-Christian concept of God is Pharaoh elevated to a cloud. This is the god worshipped by the vast majority of so-called Christians today. The deeply ingrained habit of thinking of God as someone to slay one's enemies and protect one's crops continues to this day.


Perhaps most atheists are not truly atheists at all but anti-religionists. This I could share. Karl Marx observed that "religion is the opiate of the masses." Religion offers a mythical certainty in a life filled with uncertainty...BUT is it real? Or is it merely a mind-numbing analgesic for the pain and uncertainty of this life?

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