Religion has always included a good deal of bowing, kneeling, praising and other forms of prostrating before gods that demand human worship. While people have come to despise tyrants who demand such demeaning behavior since it serves mainly to expand egos and maintain the status quo, it is still acceptable for their god(s) to demand it. Why should any god act as the tyrants of old?
When one really thinks about it, it does seem odd that any god would be concerned with humans endlessly praising and worshiping it. If a being with the power to create the universe has any concern with the tiny spec of it occupied by the earth and its inhabitants, it should be with how people live their lives and not if they are constantly praising him.
Why would a being with such incredible power seem to have an ego like a petty dictator? Demanding kneeling, bowing and other forms of humiliation are in keeping with what cruel, egotistical people with delusions of grandeur and other emotional problems would do. When leaders make such demands in the modern world, most of humanity will have less, if any, real respect for them.
If a god did create us, then it was just doing what it wanted to do anyway. How much praise does that deserve? Furthermore, people do not demand such behavior from their children they invest so much in, why does a god demand it from people, especially when human beings would be nothing in comparison to an all-powerful god?
Let’s lay these arguments aside and assume that worship is what a loving, wise and merciful god would require. Why does not this god do things that would earn real respect and adulation? For example, a god seen clearly saving people from accidents, healing the sick, stopping natural disasters etc. would all bring true, heartfelt thanks from all.
A god that wants adulation and respect should be seen by everyone. Instead, this god hides all direct evidence of its deeds and existence. It cannot even be demonstrated that praying heals anyone (although modern science clearly does).
Teaching people to degrade themselves and unthinkingly grovel before authority does serve a practical purpose for those in power. When people are in such a state, they are much less likely to question and much more likely to blindly follow. A being with infinite power should not need to use such methods to keep people dedicated to it if that is something that it needs.
It seems that either this god is not as great as people might think, or it was simply created by people for more earthly needs. A being truly so above everyone else should not demand constant reassurances of its superiority from those it created and make people wonder who created whom.
Was the world and everything in it really created by a divine, benevolent being? While there are many wondrous things in the world that a creator could be proud of, it is impossible to deny much of the world is not so wonderful. For example, flies, mosquitoes and diseases clearly show this god cannot be a great as people say it is.
First consider a creature like the fly that has tormented man, child and beast since it came into existence. While the modern technological world has made the fly more of a nuisance for many people in wealthier nations, one only needs to look at a starving child being swarmed with flies in some developing country to get an idea how much misery they have brought about throughout history.
Carrying diseases and attacking the most helpless, including children, many luckless beings have gone to horrible deaths throughout history tormented by swarms of these dirty insects. This loving and merciful god had no problem sitting back and watching it all knowing he designed and invented the fly?
Why would a benevolent being create such creatures that have provided nothing but torment? While they may feed frogs and other animals, surely any god could find a better way or creature to fill their role in the food chain.
As bad as the fly is, the mosquito is worse. With malaria (another of god’s creations?), they have killed far more people than any other animal in history and brought indiscriminate death on an unimaginable scale.
Why create a biting creature that can both suck and spit at the same time (this is why mosquitoes spread disease) knowing how much agony it will cause, disease it will spread and death it will inflict on so many including helpless children? Could not the ecosystems of the world function without them? What useful function does it perform? Even if you can make some kind of biological excuse for mosquitoes, could not that function be performed in a better way? Would not a god have the intelligence so see what it was doing?
Also, there are diseases. Diseases are not only arbitrary in who they strike down, but they tend to strike down the youngest and most helpless. Why would a merciful god create diseases that have no function other than to kill and maim? If these are really the work of the devil (himself a creation of this god), why does not this god undo what this devil did? Either this god would have had to created these diseases or sat back and watched as they formed knowing they would kill and maim countless people.
Furthermore, since life is supposed to be a test, these diseases are destroying this god’s will because they are striking down people before they can be tested. Does this god lack the power or the will to stop diseases?
It sure seems like this god is getting a free ride here. It is not rational to give it credit for all the good things in the world while it escapes any responsibility for the bad. If this god is all-powerful and all-knowing, it had to have created the things the world would be better off without too. At the very least, one cannot deny it is letting the bad fester. Assuming everything is a god’s creation, it is time to start looking at that creation with a more balanced look. This creator is either lacking wisdom or benevolence.
The faithful are often comforted by the thought of a divine being watching over them. What exactly are the consequences if this is true?
Privacy
The consequences for privacy are more Orwellian can anyone could ever imagine. People are rightly concerned with online privacy and the like, but nothing can ever compare to the invasion of privacy that would result in their every thought and deed from birth being watched and recorded. Everyone has secrets. Is it really comforting to imagine we actually do not? Who really lives their lives truly believing nothing they ever do is truly a secret?
Prayer
If everything is watched and recorded anyway, why does religion have prayer? Prayer seems to be a pretty pointless exercise for an all-knowing being to demand. Why would some prayers be answered and other not? Does a benevolent god really let people die just because they or their loved ones are not praying when it knows their every thought anyway?
The Good Samaritan
By watching everything and not intervening, it would appear god is anything but the Good Samaritan taught in the Bible. What is the evidence those in need are ever helped by a god? Assuming prayer is necessary for some reason, studies have shown even it does not statistically do anything to help people recover from illness. If a god is doing anything in this most important issue for people, it is so minor that it cannot be statistically measured! However, logic tells us that if this god is really helping people the evidence should be overwhelming.
Atrocities
This is the most logically problematic aspect of being constantly watched over by a merciful being for many. Human history is just so full of people suffering the most horrible fates. From starvation, brutal rapes and murders, sadistic torture (sometimes at the hands of religious figures), pogroms, brutal societies, war and the like, any look at human history quickly brings up countless atrocities more horrible than can be imagined. Was a caring and merciful god really watching over it all?
Those defending their god will counter by saying life is a test of free will. God, in effect, has his hands tied. However, this only raises new questions. Does not a god know everything anyway? Why would it need to test people?
Besides, many of these atrocities happen to the most innocent and helpless children. What about their free will? Why not at least make a baby rapist and killer have a heart attack before he can continue on his horrendous crime?
Furthermore, any being with infinite power could surely create a world better than the one there is now. From earthquakes and the most horrible birth defects to fragile human minds that lose their grip on reality, the world simply could be designed a lot better. Evolution and blind chance look more powerful than any benevolent god it what can be seen in the world.
Most of us would regard a person who watches a horrible crime he could easily stop while doing nothing almost as sick and guilty as the perpetrator of the crime. Yet, a being with infinite power can do this on a massive scale on a continuous basis and can still be loving, caring and merciful?
If humanity really is living under conditions more Orwellian than most could ever imagine, then the being doing it cannot be the kind of being it is described as. There is something missing in the teachings of this topic.
Who that prays ever really stops to think of what they are doing? Most likely, in spite of all the time people spend in the activity, they have not. Let us stop for a second and consider basic questions such as the act of praying and its benefits.
First of all, why would an all-knowing god want us to pray and how it is fair? If this god knows everything anyway, then it should know what people need without them having to get down on their knees to ask. If a father wants to save the life of his sick child, is that god really going to save the life of the child that is being prayed for and let the other child die because his or her parents did not grovel to this god and pray?
Then, there is the issue of people on two sides praying. Does a god really help one side to victory for its prayers? If this god favors a certain religion, then should not one religion have won every battle it ever fought in?
Also, consider this. Very devout people on both sides (that often shared the same religion) of conflicts have prayed before battle and went to their deaths certain god was on their side. If this god was listening to their prayers, why did not it ever answer them and save the lives of his followers on one site by simply telling them they were on the wrong side? Why sit back and allow slaughter in his name after hearing the prayers?
Even if we put all those questions aside, we still should have solid scientific evidence of the power of prayer. Unless praying is totally meaningless, there should be a dramatic and undeniable trend showing that those with someone praying for them recovering at much higher rates. However, in spite of numerous studies, none have ever been able to show paying making any difference.
Sure, people feel their prayers have been answered. For example, they pray when they are in a tight spot and survive. However, they are not considering all the others who also prayed when they were suffering but died anyway. We are only hearing a kind of winner’s version of history here. Unless it can be demonstrated statistically, there is zero reason to believe prayer does anything.
There is also this to consider. Countries, in which belief in god and thus praying is low, such as many European countries and Japan, do just as well, if not better, in wealth and happiness indexes as those in which considerable time is devoted to prayer (especially the Islamic world which has both high prayer and poverty rates).
Finally, when prayer supposedly works, it is always in situations where the survival or other “miraculous” events can be attributed to a more earthly explanation. Those advocating prayer have never been able to show a healed amputee or anything else that clearly would indicate divine intervention.
So, it is pretty obvious. Even if there is a god, that god does not respond to prayer. Unless prayer helps a person psychologically (this may be possible scientifically since it is a form of meditation), it is a waste a time. Doctors, emergency workers and the like save people from bad situations. Action counts and prayer is just a diversion.
Thank god! Those are words people hear and say so much they do not even think about them. Should we really be praising and thanking god though or do others deserve the praise?
From a young age, children are taught to pray and thank god for their food. Is there any evidence that a god prepared the food though? There are a lot of hard-working people from farmers, truckers and cooks that spend many hours of their time so that children and others can eat and be healthy. Many of them do not get the compensation for the labor they probably deserve either. Why not thank those hard-working people instead of this god that does not do anything as far as anyone can see and should not need praise from humans anyway?
Also, if people are to praise god for the food they have, should not they blame this god for not giving food to many in certain areas in the world? People who often share the same religion as those who this god does take time to feed?
People also pray to god for those who are sick and praise god when those people get better–even though there is no evidence anyone but doctors worked. If divine power is at work, why does humanity invest so much in doctors, medicine, painful surgeries and expensive technologies? If god gets the praise for when people get better, should not god get blamed when they die? That would save a lot of lawsuits against doctors!
When disaster strikes, people pray to god for the victims. Is there any hard evidence any god has ever saved any victim though? Has a god ever delivered food or pulled anyone from a building? It seems odd that a being with so much power can never seem to find a way to help people except through internal voices that could have come from the mind or with random events that save some while destroying others.
One has to wonder why a being with so much power can never be seen or heard directly. If this being can not speak to us out loud for some reason, why not at least leave direct and irrefutable evidence of its actions?
Those who win games and excel in other ways often thank god. However, they were the ones who practiced or strived in other ways to accomplish what they did. Why would a god pick favorites? For every person who wins, there is at least one who loses. How does this god pick winners and losers when both parties follow the same religion and pray?
People praise god for what they have and ask for divine help, however, they would not dream of giving up their farmers, doctors and others they rely on while asking for this help. Perhaps they should direct their praise elsewhere.
