So many people believe in God because it is an evolutionary advantage to believe in God, just like almost all physical and mental traits in humans.
Although I am a devout atheist, I myself understand the beauty and peace of a religious belief. I satisfy this need through meditation and other means, but cannot believe in such a thing as a God. –sphttp://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/god-talk-part-2/#comment-82867
God Talk, Part 2 – Stanley Fish Blog – NYTimes.com
I have become a frequent reader of Stanley Fish recently. This time though, it was the comments which piqued my interest. There were many comments on one side or the other for or against the existence of god, and for or against certain ways of debating the existence of god.
The quote I have above was one comment which I enjoyed immensely, though there were many others.
As I read the article, and the comments, it occurred to me that many of the commenters were starting in the wrong place. Before you can debate the existence of god. Before you can debate the concept and reality of religion. You must examine the existence, or lack thereof, of purpose.
Is there a reason behind the universe?
At the beginning of the universe, was everything random, or was there some form of purpose behind it.
If it was truly random, as was everything after it, then we exist in a world of remarkable coincidences. I choose not to believe this, because for me, to exist in a world that is truly random would lead only to feelings of purposeless and emptiness. This may not be so for others, and I recognize that, but for my self I can not accept a purposeless world.
If the universe is not random, how much purpose is there?And at what point can we call that purpose god or spirit or creator or anything?
The debate should not be about god, but rather about purpose. For that may be something that we can debate. We can examine the probabilities of the circumstances that created our universe and debate at what point must there be a fraction of purpose in order to tip the scales of randomness.
If you wish to follow the thread connecting purpose more to the Christian God then I highly recommend Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
A few questions to leave you with; if reason supposes that one thing follows from another, then there must have been a point at which reason was created. What was before reason? Or is reason a random evolution?
At what point is coincidence too much and we must begin talking about purpose? Once there is purpose, at what point do we call that purpose by a name?
