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.

The stakes
Nothing is longer than eternity and thus nothing can be worse than eternal damnation. The torments this merciful god promises in hell in the Bible and Koran could not be more horrible. With this in mind, is this god fulfilling its moral duty to prevent such unimaginable suffering?

Spreading divine word
Just think of what a PR firm could do with an unlimited budget. It would not be long before anything they were instructed to communicate would be heard in almost every language and corner of the world. In the case of this god, there is not only an unlimited budget but unlimited powers. Even human beings with their less-than-perfect intelligence and imaginations can think of all kinds of ways to both communicate to everyone and leave evidence that no normal mind could deny.

Religion, logic and miracles
If this god wanted to use technology, every TV, radio, homepage and any other form of media could at the very least be temporarily turned into a medium to communicate his word. Better yet, this god has the power to bypass technology and could just communicate with every person on earth directly. Why not do something like this and then turn every place of worship into the one of the favored religion instantly? There are just so many miracles, from great and small, that a being with the power to create the universe could perform with ease. Anything from making the moon disappear for a day to turning everyone’s hair another color would be undeniable and save a lot of good, but skeptical, souls from the most horrible eternal fate.

However, this god does not do these things to support any religion and thus dooms many souls and sentences humanity to so much conflict and confusion. Some would say this is a test of faith, but why would the ability to blindly take the word of people who lived long ago be such an important test? Why not make logic and evidence compatible with religion? Does not this god know that many of the people he created need those things before they are going to follow any religion?

Why rely on people?
The method of this god to spread its word is to rely entirely on people that it has not given hard evidence to. One would think any god would want to spread the word himself or at the very least be seen directly aiding those spreading his word with solid evidence. There is absolutely no divine support to spread divine word. This is not a very helpful god.

If a god exists and he has divine truth for humanity, there is certainly no reason why this divine truth could not be presented with massive logic and evidence to back it up. Why would a wise and merciful god create a system that requires blind faith, creates so much confusion and sends many skeptical minds to eternal torture? If this god does not spread its word like any all-powerful being would, it does not deserve worship as such a being.

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.

All the Abrahamic religions claim to have books based partially or entirely on the word of a god. Therefore, people following those religions know at least partially what is on the mind of their god. This is in fact a pretty fantastic and arrogant claim. Does evidence exist to allow people to make such claims about their books and therefore about their knowledge of the universe?

When asked to provide evidence to back up their claims, those claiming divine truth often point to prophesy. None of these prophesies ever give definite specifics though. Predictions like cities will be destroyed and nations conquered are pretty easy to make–especially when so much time is given for them to come true. This has been compared to shooting an arrow at a wall and painting a target around it.

Others point to supposed scientific knowledge discovered in their books. However, these come from interpretations of passages made well after they were discovered by science. If a god wanted to reveal scientific discoveries in a book, why did not he include something like germ theory in a way that could have been understood by the people of the time? Think of the lives and misery that would have saved!

Some also try to use personal revelation as hard evidence they know what a god is thinking. However, these revelations are highly subjective and are contradicted by those following other religions and even those following the same one at times.

The simple fact is nobody has ever produced hard evidence to support their claims their religion is what a god wants, and that they thus at least partially know what is on the mind of a being with the power to create the universe. If someone ever does, it certainly will make headlines!

While this alone is not proof all the religions are wrong, it certainly raises some serious questions. If a god wants us to follow a particular religion, why would not this god take a second of his infinite time to leave undeniable evidence as to what religion it is? Just think of all the confusion, hatred and atrocities that would prevent in this life, let alone the horrible eternal burning it would save in any afterlife (assuming Christianity or Islam is correct).

Why does not this god, in his mercy and infinite power and resources, do this? All it would take is a voice calling down from the heavens speaking directly to everyone at once and saying what the favored religion is. For good measure, some undeniable miracles could be thrown in. For example, if Christianity is the favored religion, why not just magically turn every religious building instantly into a church?

The tragedy of this is that many people give their lives and take those of others in their arrogant certainty they know what some god wants. Many even want all life on earth to end over it! While a simple belief in a god or gods can be kept personal, claiming to know what a god commands is dangerous.

For this reason, it is not only good but necessary to question the beliefs of those who claim they have a book with god as the author. Raising questions and demanding evidence is a good thing. If there are people out there who really do know what a god wants, they should welcome questions and be able to answer them with ease.

From the rather vague descriptions of a joyous place in Christianity to beautiful virgins in Islam, the kind of place heaven is has varied greatly with the time and culture. One consistent theme though is that it is eternal.

Forever is a very long time and well beyond human comprehension. People cannot imagine trillions upon trillions upon trillions of years that will never end. If the human mind cannot even possibly begin to imagine it, how can it possibly deal with it?

Also, people will have to pass the time without the kinds of stimulation they usually need. Be it through work, education, sports or hobbies, without something to reach for, people feel lost. What can people do in a place where everything is taken care of for them, infinite knowledge can be had without effort and there is no risk in anything they do? Without risk, can reward be very sweet?

Hobbies, visiting long-dead relatives and the like can keep people occupied in heaven for days, weeks, years and perhaps even centuries, but even a millennium is a drop in the bucket of all eternity. Then what happens?

Then there are those who are suffering an even worse fate in hell. Some may deserve it for a while but would not even someone murdered in an event like the Holocaust say enough is enough after watching Hitler burn for a few trillion years? How can someone be happy in heaven knowing other people are suffering horrible, eternal torment?

Finally, what form to people take in heaven? Do they all return to what they looked like when they were at their prime (or what would have been in their prime)? Do those who were deformed or ugly become prefect?

There does not seem to be any way human beings could possibly enjoy eternity in heaven without their very nature taking an entirely new form when they get there. Considering how totally horrible heaven would be even after only a few trillion years or so for any typical person, that new form would have to be something really different than anyone is now. However, if they are something so totally different, then it becomes eternal life for another being and not eternal life for them!

Furthermore, by people becoming totally different beings, has not the entire test this merciful god sent them to earth for, and what many are damned for all eternity for, just become totally meaningless? For example, many of the sins and desires that would get people into hell should not be a problem in heaven. Presumably, people would not be feeling sexual lust (or at least have an outlet for it), be motivated to steal if they could always get what they wanted anyway and would not have any of the same kinds of conflicts or desires that lead people astray in life.

In short, if there is a heaven, it certainly could not be designed for beings anything like humans are now. Either it is for different beings or it is not what anyone should strive for, but this does not fit with the idea of life being a test.

If this god gave irrefutable proof of its existence and asked a certain type of obedience directly, it is pretty safe to say the vast majority of humanity would quickly follow it either out of respect or fear. Knowing that many human beings have a natural tendency to doubt and want evidence before believing in something, a merciful god demanding belief in him and a certain religious ideology would surely be eager to offer hard evidence to doubters. That would certainly save countless skeptical people from the pains of hell and the faithful from fighting in his name. So, where is this overwhelming evidence?

The proof for the existence of god and religion
Proof of the existence of god generally takes the form of:
1.    Revelations to selected prophets that lived in the past and who were alone at the time. Since recording devices unfortunately did not exist then, there is no hard evidence any of their claims are true.
2.    Natural phenomena and miracles. However, this evidence, if it can be called that, is rapidly shrinking. While people once credited gods for every natural force out there, god gets credit for less and less and science can explain more and more. Also, even if some things could be proven to be miracles, it would not be proof they came from any god people worship.
3.    Personal revelations. People can sincerely believe they hear all kinds of voices that are not real though. Also, many of these personal revelations are contradictory about gods, religions and the like. Besides, if that was the preferred method of offering proof, everyone should have them.

The proofs for any particular religion being what a god wants are basically the same as above. Claims of prophets that lived long ago, supposed miracles and other natural phenomena that can increasingly be explained by forces that do not require a god and personal feelings from brains and senses that are not always reliable.

A skeptic can easily dismiss all of these. So, where is the hard evidence? Why would not a god just give overwhelming evidence of its existence and what religion, if any, it wanted us to follow? For example, a god calls down from heaven so everyone can hear and says something to the effect: “I am real and I want you all to follow religion A. As further proof, everyone will turn purple and be able to fly by flapping their arms for one day.”

Something like that would be so easy for a god to do and save so much misery both on earth and in any afterlife. Why would a merciful god not take a few minutes of its infinite time to leave some hard evidence? This is supposedly a being with unlimited power and resources. Yet, nobody can offer any hard evidence which would stand up in court that this god even exists let alone that is favors a certain religion.

Finally, why should people be relied on to spread the word of something so important? If this god must rely on people for some reason, why not give them irrefutable evidence to back up what they are saying?

Again, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Furnishing extraordinary evidence should be extraordinarily easy for a divine being. It is inexplicable that a merciful god, that wants humanity to worship it in a certain way or be damned for eternity, does not supply it.

This first thing to consider is that history, as well as the world today is full of gods and religions. Virtually every one has had devoted believers utterly convinced in their hearts they are right. Without hard evidence, anyone’s sincere beliefs are as good as another’s and needs to be weighed equally. With this in mind, assuming there is a god, everyone has to consider that they may be wrong.

With so many religions to choose from, it is necessary to categorize to list the possibilities as follows:
1.    One of the Abrahamic religions is correct and there is a loving, merciful god out there that will send us to cruel, eternal torture (or some other type of eternal damnation since the religions cannot agree on this either) for not believing in the correct Abrahamic religion.
2.    One of the other religions, past or present, is correct.
3.    There is a god or gods and none of the religions of human history are correct.
4.    There simply is no god.

Faced with these choices, many suggest taking what they consider a safe bet and choose Islam or Christianity (their version of course). However, if we are going to assume there is a god out there that sends people to eternal torture over ideology, this is not a safe bet either. Any possible god could be from option 2 or 3 above and despise being characterized like the god of the Abrahamic religions.

There is also this to consider: Assuming humanity was created by a god, maybe that god wants us to be atheists or agnostics. That would explain why we do not have any hard evidence to support any religion.

For those looking for the safest option, atheism or agnosticism just might be it. The anthropomorphic god or Christianity, Islam and many other religions of history is often pretty cruel, bigoted, vile and an overall bad character. If there is a god that judges people after they die, let’s hope it is one that does not judge people over what ideologies they believe in but by how they lived their lives. That would be a god worth being wrong about, and the only way can truly good people be safe.