To many God is as real as physical matter. The religious state he made and created all things.The basis of faith is that one believes hard enough, without factual evidence. If one is to think critically, the concept of God does not with stand logical argument. The major world religions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism preach there is only one God and it is the creator of all life. Through out history many societies were polytheistic. The shift toward monotheism was a radical notion, but its purpose was more so political. It cannot be ignored that religion is a powerful mobilizing force, just as much as nationalism. Organized religion contributed to the control of citizens in emerging states. Absolute monarchs often said their authority came from God and their rule was justified by divine right. When the Enlightenment happened in Europe intellectuals questioned religious dogma and the God concept. Thinkers who were deists believed that God did not intervene in every day affairs or was responsible for miracles. They were not atheists, but if that had advanced understanding of the universe they probably would have been. Extreme religious fanatics attack science and reason, because it discredits there views of a supernatural world. Human evolution and climate science are primary targets. Even astronomy and astrophysics are despised by such extremists. The argument is that these academic disciplines are being disrespectful to their convictions. Ultimately, these scientific fields demonstrate that God never existed. If science never reached the level that it has, there are basic questions that challenge the existence of God. Logic, critical thinking, and science demonstrate that God was an idea developed in the thoughts of humankind.
One question that should emerge is where did God come from? Did he always exist or come from another God? Numerous religious texts avoid this question or do not attempt an explanation. Saying that such a being was born takes away the power of the concept. This question remains unanswered for a deliberate reason. Before the rise of civilization spirits and Gods were used as explanations for natural phenomenon. Gods and spirits were responsible for everything from earthquakes, floods, and the stars in the sky. Disease, which early hunter-gatherers had limited understanding of were also though to have a spirit based cause. Many times early human societies were convinced that certain illnesses were either punishments from Gods or spirits communicating with man. Based on the knowledge of diseases of the nervous system, these individuals may have suffered from epilepsy, schizophrenia, or other mental disorders.The pre-historic peoples of the world had no concept of neurological disorders or diseases of the brain. When scientific medicine arises, only then humankind was moving away from spirits being an explanation for illness. The early medical practitioners such as Imhotep and Hippocrates began moving away from notions of the supernatural. Reproduction of organic species happens either sexually or asexually. Assuming God is an organism it either has the capability to do either one of those methods of reproduction. There is no evidence or mention of this in any religious text. The assumption that a being just existed and was fully conscious seems to lack cogency. An all wise, powerful, and omnipotent creature that has no origin is just accepted by the devout. The mystery of the universe is used as evidence of existed, but this is more a demonstration of what is unknown.
The God concept has been adjusted depending on the political and social circumstances. Roman, Egyptian, Greek, Indian, and Chinese civilizations believed in numerous gods during the course of history. There were rare cases in which monotheism appeared before the major world religions. Pharaoh Amenhotep IV declared that Egyptians should worship Aten. Prior to the rise of ancient civilization it is possible that early hunter gatherers worshiped a mother goddess. This can be linked to certain phrases or sayings like "mother nature." This was not exactly a pantheistic ideology , but that a goddess was expressing herself through the beauty and power of nature. Goddesses appear in various world civilizations, but are removed from being worshiped when monotheism arises. This could be a metaphor for women's declining status with the rise of organized religion. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam promote rigid gender roles in which man has authority over women. The gods of old civilization merged into a male God. At the time of the Dark Ages in Europe, there was a desire to impose order on a chaotic landscape. The Middle Ages was a period in which God and organized religion imposed order and control upon emerging centralized governments. Controlling populations through religion and God did not just occur in Europe, but in Africa and Asia. The Ummayyad and Abbasid dynasties kept the Middle East together by Islam. The Ottomans would continue that technique. The Mauryan, Gupta, and Mughul empires either used Hinduism, Buddhism, or Islam to manage vast areas of India. Buddhism was more so an ethical philosophy than a religion and does not have a single God. However, it still holds to the conviction of spirits and reincarnation. The Songahy empire of West Africa was unified under Islam and traditional Africa religion. As time progressed it became a tool of oppression. The Spanish and Portuguese used the excuse that Christianity needed to be spread to justify the conquest of South America . Religion was also used as a justification for enslavement of African peoples, before it was replaced with pseudoscientific biological racism. Horrible acts or atrocities were forgiven by God, because in their minds they were spreading the words of Jesus Christ. The God concept can be changed whenever some political or social agenda needs to be legitimized. God can be a cover for egregious acts.
There is also the argument that God exists by the fact that there are lifeforms on Earth. Reality many people of devout faith are convinced is God's doing.Reality is still a peculiar and evolving concept. Philosophers once said it is a product of rational thought and the senses. As the natural philosophers became modern scientists reality was by its definition was altered again. Physical matter is the basis of the universe. Atoms and subatomic particles are the building blocks of the known universe. The higgs boson explains why matter even has mass.String theory and unified field theory are attempting to merge or bridge relativity and quantum mechanics. The universe functions on fundamental forces of gravitation, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear force. It has been suggested that there could be more. If God created reality why are things structured in this particular way? There are particles and anti-particles which could mean there is more than just one universe. There could be a multiverse. Astronomers have confirmed that exoplanets exist outside the Solar System. Some of them could even be Earth like or sustain life. It has been expressed that God created humanity as something special. If it is true life exists on other planets or dimensions the need for a God falls apart. The divine and immaculate creature was suppose to create beings to look over as if they were his own children. The diversity present in life and environment dismantle that mystic concept of a higher power. Existence, reality, and the state of matter were debates in ontology among the early philosophers. The monotheistic belief system proposed an answer without a solid basis and formulated it in relation to what God demands of humanity. How can you know what God wants if the religious texts were written by humans and none had ever had direct communication.? A believer has never said they have seen God or Heaven. Humanity still has not fully discovered the true nature of reality and existence, so making such claims is premature.
God was once used as an way to explain natural phenomena. Physics, biology, chemistry, astronomy, and Earth Sciences have disproves this old assumption. It was once thought that humanity emerged from the dirt of the Earth molded by God. Human evolution and astrophysics have been piecing together the puzzle of the past. The reason religious fanatics attack science in general is that it challenges their conviction in an anthropomorphized God, which control not only nature, but human destiny. Human evolution demonstrates that nature and organism are not the product of a God, but the work of genetics and natural selection. The idea that one creature created everything is disputed by astrophysics and the big bang theory. The big bang theory does not describe how the universe began, but how it evolved. There was as astrophysicists believed was nothing and absolute nothing. There was no time, matter, or life. The pious claim that God initiated the process. There is a problem with this assumption. It states that God existed always and that energy could just be created. Energy cannot be created or destroyed as far as human understanding goes. If that is true then, God would not be all powerful because he did not create energy. When questioning existence of God it simply is not testable.The scientific method functions on certain steps. The first is a proposed hypothesis followed by experimentation. There will be observation resulting in data and a conclusion. The experiment must be reproducible and have the same results to be considered a fact. No one has ever observed God or deities. There is not an experiment that can be made to demonstrate God's presence. Trying to duplicate a possible experiment would not be possible. That is why the God concept is in the realm of faith. It is believing without evidence. However, faith is not factual, but religious fanatics proclaim it to be so.
The world is advancing technologically and socially. There are a number of reasons the God concept still remains in a science based world civilization. God as an idea can provide comfort to people in dire and destitute situations. Tragedies and personal hardship happen through out life with no explanation. This means the idea of God acts a coping mechanism to extreme stress and violence.God has been the poor person's wealth. Another dynamic is that people are searching for the meaning of life. God provides a simple answer to a complex question. Life and its meaning is not a simple matter. It takes much introspection, thought, and reflection. Saying everything "is God's will" appears as intellectual laziness. Humanity has a desire for answers and is not willing to work for a solution to a problem. Some feel that their life would have no meaning if they just merely existed by random chance. According to the devout God put people here for a purpose. Without God they believe life would have no direction. This is an odd way of thinking, because ultimately individuals decide what meaning their life has. That must be discovered through cogitation.Besides the unknown of the philosophical implications of life, there is a fear. Death is the end of life, which terrifies most people. Many worshipers want to know that life's struggles had meaning and were not just going to result in a lugubrious end. When examined from this perspective God and heaven seem attractive.Maybe it is time to view death differently. If we understand that it is part of a cycle of birth and life it does not seem like an anathema. This is a part of nature and biology. The unknown must not be fear, no should it be assumed it has a negative outcome. There is nothing wrong with believing in a certain system of thought. However, there is a problem when ignoring facts. If critically analyzed the evidence for God is lacking. It would appear that God was a creation of the thoughts of man.
The God concept has been adjusted depending on the political and social circumstances. Roman, Egyptian, Greek, Indian, and Chinese civilizations believed in numerous gods during the course of history. There were rare cases in which monotheism appeared before the major world religions. Pharaoh Amenhotep IV declared that Egyptians should worship Aten. Prior to the rise of ancient civilization it is possible that early hunter gatherers worshiped a mother goddess. This can be linked to certain phrases or sayings like "mother nature." This was not exactly a pantheistic ideology , but that a goddess was expressing herself through the beauty and power of nature. Goddesses appear in various world civilizations, but are removed from being worshiped when monotheism arises. This could be a metaphor for women's declining status with the rise of organized religion. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam promote rigid gender roles in which man has authority over women. The gods of old civilization merged into a male God. At the time of the Dark Ages in Europe, there was a desire to impose order on a chaotic landscape. The Middle Ages was a period in which God and organized religion imposed order and control upon emerging centralized governments. Controlling populations through religion and God did not just occur in Europe, but in Africa and Asia. The Ummayyad and Abbasid dynasties kept the Middle East together by Islam. The Ottomans would continue that technique. The Mauryan, Gupta, and Mughul empires either used Hinduism, Buddhism, or Islam to manage vast areas of India. Buddhism was more so an ethical philosophy than a religion and does not have a single God. However, it still holds to the conviction of spirits and reincarnation. The Songahy empire of West Africa was unified under Islam and traditional Africa religion. As time progressed it became a tool of oppression. The Spanish and Portuguese used the excuse that Christianity needed to be spread to justify the conquest of South America . Religion was also used as a justification for enslavement of African peoples, before it was replaced with pseudoscientific biological racism. Horrible acts or atrocities were forgiven by God, because in their minds they were spreading the words of Jesus Christ. The God concept can be changed whenever some political or social agenda needs to be legitimized. God can be a cover for egregious acts.
There is also the argument that God exists by the fact that there are lifeforms on Earth. Reality many people of devout faith are convinced is God's doing.Reality is still a peculiar and evolving concept. Philosophers once said it is a product of rational thought and the senses. As the natural philosophers became modern scientists reality was by its definition was altered again. Physical matter is the basis of the universe. Atoms and subatomic particles are the building blocks of the known universe. The higgs boson explains why matter even has mass.String theory and unified field theory are attempting to merge or bridge relativity and quantum mechanics. The universe functions on fundamental forces of gravitation, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear force. It has been suggested that there could be more. If God created reality why are things structured in this particular way? There are particles and anti-particles which could mean there is more than just one universe. There could be a multiverse. Astronomers have confirmed that exoplanets exist outside the Solar System. Some of them could even be Earth like or sustain life. It has been expressed that God created humanity as something special. If it is true life exists on other planets or dimensions the need for a God falls apart. The divine and immaculate creature was suppose to create beings to look over as if they were his own children. The diversity present in life and environment dismantle that mystic concept of a higher power. Existence, reality, and the state of matter were debates in ontology among the early philosophers. The monotheistic belief system proposed an answer without a solid basis and formulated it in relation to what God demands of humanity. How can you know what God wants if the religious texts were written by humans and none had ever had direct communication.? A believer has never said they have seen God or Heaven. Humanity still has not fully discovered the true nature of reality and existence, so making such claims is premature.
God was once used as an way to explain natural phenomena. Physics, biology, chemistry, astronomy, and Earth Sciences have disproves this old assumption. It was once thought that humanity emerged from the dirt of the Earth molded by God. Human evolution and astrophysics have been piecing together the puzzle of the past. The reason religious fanatics attack science in general is that it challenges their conviction in an anthropomorphized God, which control not only nature, but human destiny. Human evolution demonstrates that nature and organism are not the product of a God, but the work of genetics and natural selection. The idea that one creature created everything is disputed by astrophysics and the big bang theory. The big bang theory does not describe how the universe began, but how it evolved. There was as astrophysicists believed was nothing and absolute nothing. There was no time, matter, or life. The pious claim that God initiated the process. There is a problem with this assumption. It states that God existed always and that energy could just be created. Energy cannot be created or destroyed as far as human understanding goes. If that is true then, God would not be all powerful because he did not create energy. When questioning existence of God it simply is not testable.The scientific method functions on certain steps. The first is a proposed hypothesis followed by experimentation. There will be observation resulting in data and a conclusion. The experiment must be reproducible and have the same results to be considered a fact. No one has ever observed God or deities. There is not an experiment that can be made to demonstrate God's presence. Trying to duplicate a possible experiment would not be possible. That is why the God concept is in the realm of faith. It is believing without evidence. However, faith is not factual, but religious fanatics proclaim it to be so.
The world is advancing technologically and socially. There are a number of reasons the God concept still remains in a science based world civilization. God as an idea can provide comfort to people in dire and destitute situations. Tragedies and personal hardship happen through out life with no explanation. This means the idea of God acts a coping mechanism to extreme stress and violence.God has been the poor person's wealth. Another dynamic is that people are searching for the meaning of life. God provides a simple answer to a complex question. Life and its meaning is not a simple matter. It takes much introspection, thought, and reflection. Saying everything "is God's will" appears as intellectual laziness. Humanity has a desire for answers and is not willing to work for a solution to a problem. Some feel that their life would have no meaning if they just merely existed by random chance. According to the devout God put people here for a purpose. Without God they believe life would have no direction. This is an odd way of thinking, because ultimately individuals decide what meaning their life has. That must be discovered through cogitation.Besides the unknown of the philosophical implications of life, there is a fear. Death is the end of life, which terrifies most people. Many worshipers want to know that life's struggles had meaning and were not just going to result in a lugubrious end. When examined from this perspective God and heaven seem attractive.Maybe it is time to view death differently. If we understand that it is part of a cycle of birth and life it does not seem like an anathema. This is a part of nature and biology. The unknown must not be fear, no should it be assumed it has a negative outcome. There is nothing wrong with believing in a certain system of thought. However, there is a problem when ignoring facts. If critically analyzed the evidence for God is lacking. It would appear that God was a creation of the thoughts of man.
