50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God (28 page)

My lifelong passion for science, anthropology, and history has
rewarded me with a strong sense of belonging. It's a feeling that connects me to all humankind, to all life on earth, to all life that ever lived,
and even to the whole cosmos. Believers may have their gods but I
have an entire universe and that's not too bad. Thanks to a general
understanding of how the universe works, I know that I am part of
something bigger than myself. I am made out of atoms that were
forged inside of stars billions of years ago. I am literally part of this
vast universe. That's a big connection, certainly enough to prevent an
inferiority complex. Clearly one does not have to look to the gods to
feel a connection to something grand and spectacular.

I majored in history and anthropology in college and those subjects
helped to enlighten me about my link to the entire human experience.
Stories about the rise of humans in Africa, wars in Europe, and migrations of people into the Americas and Caribbean resonate with me
because I know the characters involved were not aliens with no relevance or connection to here and now. What they did set the stage for the
world I was born into. Their stories are my stories too. Their successes
and their failures are mine. I claim them all and feel bigger for it.

Anthropology showed me that it's not optimistic fantasy to think
of all humans as one big family (dysfunctional though we may be).
What I learned in anthropology classes changed me. Later in my life I
was able to walk the back alleys and country roads in faraway lands
without ever once feeling like I was a visitor from another planet. I
roamed around places like Papua New Guinea, East Africa, Fiji, and
Ecuador without ever feeling like a stranger. I recognized many differences in cultures and peoples around the world, but ultimately I knew
that I was nothing more than a guy wandering around in his own
neighborhood visiting long-lost cousins.

The idea of race is one of humankind's all-time greatest mistakes.
For centuries we thought it was sensible and morally acceptable to
treat people well or poorly according to trivial traits such as skin color,
nose dimensions, and hair texture. Now, thanks to anthropologists and
geneticists, we know better. Or at least some of us do. Science has
shown us that race is a lot more about cultural belief than biological
reality. By exaggerating our trivial physical differences, we have
divided ourselves unnecessarily, enslaved and murdered fellow
humans. When I learned about the simple evolutionary reasons for the
physical differences we see between populations, those differences no
longer seemed very important. When I learned how closely related all
humans are genetically, I didn't feel so distant from the Australian
aborigine and the Mongolian nomad anymore. If you want or need to
feel connected to a large group, try your entire species instead of some
relatively small tribe or religion. There are more than six billion
people alive today. I am grateful to the work of historians, anthropol ogists, and other scientists who have figured out so much about the
world, the universe, and ourselves. By feeding off their work, I have
been able to enjoy a connection to all humanity and even the entire
universe-without having to suspend reason or ignore reality.

When believers say that their religion makes them a part of something bigger than themselves, they usually are not referring to simple
membership in an organization with others who share their belief.
They mean it is the god they believe in who gives them a special
feeling. Believers talk about experiencing a connection to the master
of the cosmos. This feeling, they say, could only be possible if the god
is real. This is why believers often present the "something greater than
me" claim as evidence of their god's existence. But again there is that
reccurring problem of contradictory religions. Remember, all religions
cannot be true and all gods cannot exist. So when a Hindu enjoys positive feelings of oneness with a god or gods, she is making the same
claim that a Muslim makes when he prays and "feels the presence of
Allah." But both cannot be correct because the many Hindu gods and
the one Islamic god are not the same thing by any stretch of the imagination. Both believers may be sincere about what they are feeling but
one, or maybe both, must be mistaken about the source of the feelings.

Considering how common it is for believers to feel connected and
empowered through worship, regardless of what particular god is
called on, it is clear that belief itself is capable of providing this
feeling. A real god is not necessary to experience it. Therefore, no
believer can be sure if her or his experience has a natural or supernatural origin. For example, Christians who feel the high of connecting to
something "larger" might ask themselves if it is more likely that an
invisible god named Jesus really made contact with them or they
simply experienced the same psychological phenomenon that billions
of other people experience when they worship their gods.

It is important for believers and especially nonbelievers to understand that feeling the presence of a god or sensing a connection to a
god does not necessarily indicate mental illness or a lack of intelligence. I think believers sometimes mistakenly feel that they are backed into a corner when their claims are challenged. They see their
choice as either stubbornly clinging to the claim that it really does
come from a god or admitting that they are fools. But this is not a fair
choice. Probably most humans have the potential to "experience
gods," whether they exist or not. If anything, feeling a god's presence
in the way that billions have done in virtually every culture throughout
history is probably evidence of a normal and healthy human mind.

To show how this phenomenon may have more to do with the
brain than the gods, neuropsychologist Michael Persinger has conducted experiments that appear to be able to summon a god with the
flip of a switch. He has conducted experiments on more than a thousand people to see if there is a biological source for this feeling of connecting with a god. He believes that our brain's temporal lobes can be
stimulated to produce what many people interpret as a religious experience.

Persinger wired a modified a motorcycle helmet with outputs that
send gentle electromagnetic pulses into the brain of the person
wearing it. According to a BBC report, 80 percent of Persinger's test
subjects reported the presence of someone or something while they
were wearing the helmet alone in a room. A fascinating and telling
detail is that the subjects described their experience in ways that
matched their cultural background. Muslims would report being in the
presence of Muhammad, Islam's primary prophet, for example. Christians sensed the presence of Jesus or his mother, Mary (Hitt 1999).

Some people have raised questions about Persinger's work. They
say that the power of suggestion may have led to the test subjects'
experiences and not the helmet. Either way, whether it was electromagnetic waves or suggestion, there is plenty of justification to be
skeptical about feeling the presence of a god as evidence that the god
exists based on Persinger's work. If people can have such a variety of
"religious experiences" in a lab, pretty much on demand, it suggests
that biological and psychological forces are more likely to be at work
than anything supernatural.

Hitt, Jack. "This Is Your Brain on God." Wired 7.11, November 1999.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.11 /persinger. htm1.

Joshi, S. T. God's Defenders: What They Believe and Why They Are Wrong.
Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003.

Since it is inconceivable that all religions can be right, the
most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong.

-Christopher Hitchens

t is stunning how little the typical believer knows about the
world's religions. Most Christians, for example, have never read
their own Bible and know virtually nothing about Hinduism, Islam,
animism, or Sikhism. Most Muslims probably know little or nothing
about Mormonism, Scientology, Shintoism, or the difference between
Catholics and Protestants. One result of this widespread religious
ignorance is that few believers are aware of just how similar their justifications for religious belief are to the justifications cited by people
who follow very different religions. They probably also do not know
that almost all religions follow a nearly identical pattern. Most religions rely on authority figures, very old stories, early instruction to
children, and faith in the absence of evidence. Discovering how similar religions are in the way they operate and survive can be surprising
for many believers who have been misled to think that their justifications for belief are unique and superior.

It is nothing less than shocking, some might say scandalous, that
so many believers know so little about their own religion. Christians may or may not be the worst offenders but they certainly are in the
running. For example, many Christians love to mention that the Bible
is the best-selling book of all time, filled with inspiring stories, moral
guidance, and invaluable wisdom that can be applied to our daily lives.
Despite their glowing endorsements for the Bible, however, few
Christians ever bother to read it. It's difficult to understand how some
Christians can be so forceful in defending and promoting their religion
when they have never read the book that it is based on.

I read the Bible so I know why so few Christians read it from start
to finish. It's long, confusing, much of it is boring, and some parts are
painfully tedious to get through. The revered King James version is
written in seventeenth-century English, which is pretty much a foreign
language to most English-speaking people today. Even more troubling
for would-be readers, the Bible contains numerous stories and laws
that hopelessly contradict the popular image of Christianity as a religion that is about morality, peace, and love. I cannot count the number
of times that I have mentioned bizarre or disturbing things that I found
in the Bible and the response from a Christian was either a blank stare
or absolute refusal to accept that I could possibly be telling the truth.
But there really are many jaw-dropping items in the Bible. Most
Christians probably know that God killed babies by the thousands, but
how many know that mass rape was approved of, if not ordered, by
God? In the Bible God doesn't condemn or forbid slavery. He offers
tips and rules for how to do it well. God also orders executions for
what most of us today would consider trivial offenses unworthy of
even a small fine. In addition to the violence, there are also sexual stories in the Bible that would make most Christians blush-if they ever
read them. I don't think I'm a prude, but some of the stories are so
graphic that I don't think any child should ever be allowed near the
book. Nevertheless some adult Christians call for the Bible to be used
in public schools as a textbook. I challenge any of these Christians to
read aloud Ezekiel 23:1-22 to a fifth-grade class in any school in the
United States, for example. If it doesn't get them arrested it certainly
will upset some parents.

Not only have most Christians neglected to read their own holy
book, far fewer have read the Koran, the central document of the
world's second-most popular religion. Probably no more than a
handful of Christians have read books that are important to Hindus,
Mormons, Sikhs, Buddhists, Scientologists, or other religious people.
How, then, can these Christians know with confidence that their belief
system is superior to all others? How can a Muslim or a Hindu say
their belief system makes more sense than Christianity if they have not
read the Bible? It's like a football team declaring themselves champions despite never having played against any another teams.
Shouldn't a person know something about another belief system
before declaring it invalid?

It is strange but true: religious people don't know much about religion. To be fair, however, no one could possibly be well versed in every
religion even if they cared enough to try. There are simply too many. It
would be an impossible amount of work, considering that there are probably more than a hundred thousand religions and more than a million
gods. Still, if religion is half as important as believers keep saying it is,
one would think that they would at least know a little something about
today's most popular religions. But few do. Countless times I have heard
believers refer to Buddha as a god. They are completely unaware that he
never claimed to be a god according to Buddhist scriptures. I also know
from personal experience that many if not most Christians are unaware
that Allah, the god of Islam, is their god, too. They don't know that the
Jewish god, Yahweh, Christianity's God the Father, and Islam's Allah are
supposed to be same god. Of course, given how poorly these three groups
get along, one can understand why people wouldn't think that Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam have anything in common. Many Western
believers think Hindus are "cow worshippers" and leave it at that. They
know nothing about the diverse and colorful gods that make the Hindu
religion so fascinating. Some believers think that all religions are equally
valid and that all paths lead to heaven. This sounds wonderfully optimistic but it only makes sense to people who know nothing about the
conflicting and irreconcilable claims of the world's religions.