The American Humanist Association launched a new ad campaign on the Washington D.C. transit system proclaiming “Why Believe in God? Just be good for goodness’ sake”, so it begs an answer to another question. Why do people believe in God? Most scholars agree the Hebrew Bible was composed and compiled between the 12th and the 2nd century BC, before Jesus’ birth. Jesus and his disciples based their teachings on them, referring to them as “the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms … the scriptures”. The accounts of Jesus and his disciples are recorded in the New Testament. Fact remains both literary pieces were written by people who at the time knew very little about science, math, medicine, technology, or astronomy and were prone to believe in things which are readily dismissed today.

At one time people believed the world was flat, but we have since proved otherwise. People believed the sun revolved around the earth, but we have since proved otherwise. People believed in witches to the point many women were killed and in some parts of the world where the people aren’t as progressive they still believe this. People believed the mentally ill were possessed by the devil, but today those same illnesses are treated with Prozac, or any number of psychopharmaceutical drugs. The point is many beliefs were disproved over time through advances in math, medicine, technology and astronomy, yet religious literary works like the Old Testament and New Testament are still believed by the majority to be true.

The religious faithful of various denominations have been waiting patiently for the Rapture to occur, each generation firmly believing it will happen during their lifetime, yet it has not. If a human failed to live up to expectations year after year, then without question we would lose faith in this person. Religious faith is held to a different standard because it is the purported word of God. Religion asks its believers to refute logical thinking and believe in the word of God even events as described by the same men who had limited understanding of math, medicine, technology, or astronomy. Logically thinking it stands to the reason why the Bible is filled with so much mysticism, fantasy and supernatural occurrences is because people back then were not as educated as we are today, so they believed a God to be responsible for things they did not understand.

Society accepts all the wonders the 21st century beholds to them including, heart transplants, cancer treatment, cars, airplanes, electricity, space exploration and computers to name a few, yet when science suggests the earth and universe are millions of years old the religious faithful refuse to believe it. Humanity relies on advances in medical research, or technology to improve and extend our lives, but when this same advancement is applied in a manner which contradicts the word of God then those who would provide this theory are repudiated. We have trust in medical ‘practice’, or theory, but not in scientific theory when it refutes religion.

Faith in God is a wonderful thing largely because it helps so we don’t feel alone and isolated in the world. Faith in God provides guidance and reassurance in thinking someone is looking out for us and helping with our lives. People turn to God in crisis because it offers comfort through our darkest times. Frankly it is a scary thought to think we are all alone in this world without some divine intervention. Faith is not fact, but far too often the faithful of all religious denominations lose sight of this and condemn those who don’t share their belief system. I believe people need to make a better effort to be good not because religion mandates it, but because it is the right thing to do no matter what your thoughts are and this includes respecting all beliefs

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