Onto the bored part. I was talking to some students yesterday about God, and all three of them professed some belief. So I have been dwelling today on why it is exactly that I don't believe in God, or the soul, or the supernatural, or the transcendent, or miracles, or ghosts, and I thought I'd outline it here on my own blog. Here goes:
1. It's irrelevant. Why should I believe what a bunch of semi-literate and confused Iron Age peasants from a dusty and savage speck of the Middle-East decided 2000 or more years ago was the truth? We should have moved on from the Abrahamic religions hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Take the good bits and move on, don't believe in ALL the superstitious nonsense. That's what we do with Hippocrates, isn't it? And he knew a damn sight more than any of those prophets or disciples.
2. It's absurd. Why should I believe in a supernatural being that created everything? Nothing about my knowledge of the universe suggests that such a thing is remotely possible-the laws of physics cannot be suspended. Miracles simply do not happen-they are invented by deluded, devoted or despicable fabricators. Furthermore, a single deity is just as silly an idea as a pantheon of Gods, and also rather less interesting as a story. Not as many characters to work with. Ever heard of Sathya Sai Baba? He is this old Indian Guru chap, with literally millions of followers. He claims to be born of a virgin, and has apparently performed miracles, including raising someone from the dead and making objects appear from nowhere. Is he a liar and are his disciples fooled by him and do they make up more lies to prove to others that they are onto something? Yes, of course. And it's the same with Jesus and Muhammed and any other prophet. Sai Baba just happens to be alive today whereas the distance that 2000 years gives you, somehow, absurdly, seems to give these other two blokes more credence.
3. We are insignificant. We are not the pinnacle of evolution, just a product of it. Our planet is one of millions of millions buzzing around millions of stars in an expanding universe. The universe was here 13 billion or so years before we were and will be here long after we are gone. Long after our sun burns out and our galaxy crashes into Andromeda. Why do we insist on creating a picture of the universe with ourselves at the centre? Because we are at the centre of OUR universe, and we have evolved to be selfish and self-interested (it's pretty good for survival). But we are not the centre of the actual universe, just our picture of it.
4. Worship. Why would any all-powerful deity require his followers to bow down and worship him and build dirty great (often very lovely) buildings in his honour? What does he get out of it? We rightly loathe any King or Emperor who tries to do the same. It's contemptible. And it's even more contemptible for a being of unlimited powers to ask for all that stuff too.
So there you have it. There's other stuff, but those are the central points. I haven't even touched on the idea that religion comforts or gives hope (it's false hope, people!) Looking forward to some spiky comments on this one.
