Religion
In reply to the discussion: To my fellow atheist, do you think believers just wrong? [View all]Lemonwurst
(298 posts)I am indeed an atheist, but would agree with someone else's point that categorizing right vs. wrong on the existence of God isn't a helpful exercise.
Faith and religion are products of our human existence. In its purest form, faith is specific to each individual. But most individuals associate their faith with an established religion as a function of the society they're born in / raised in / living in. From there, the concept of "God" is introduced to successive generations as if humans decisively know all there is to know, and have for several centuries.
But whether God (as described in human terms) really exists is immaterial, to the extent that faith and religion on their own have defined and measurable consequences for earth's people. We're in control of that, not "God". So right vs. wrong might be determinable with specific outcomes from faith and religion (i.e. helping the poor, religious wars, etc.) but can't be used to distinguish those who allow for faith - with or without religion - from those who don't.
Those with faith will tell you God's existence doesn't have to be proven. Humans don't try to prove that "love" exists, but its effect on humanity is widely understood, and measurable. And that's enough for people to agree that love "exists". Similarly, the human effect of believing in God is understood and measurable. But unlike love, humans have historically been obsessed with materially proving God's existence, which I believe is borne from a persistent societal desire to elevate a specific religious agenda. We have no distinct "loves" among societies to argue about, so no effort is made to prove one Love Belief above another.
Honestly, I can't imagine we'd even recognize "God" if we had the means to prove his existence. Heck, we're so off-base about God, we can't even come up with an accurate pronoun to describe "him" within our language (and we're all well aware as to why "her" isn't used...).