50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God (33 page)

I later researched the Stone of Unction and discovered that there is
no chance at all that this stone could possibly be the actual stone that
the body of Jesus once rested upon. The stone that is there today was
placed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the 1800s. If there ever
was such a stone it's either under the rock that is visible today or it's
not there at all. I wonder how that woman who bathed in the Stone of
Unction would react if she knew that Jesus could not possibly have
touched it two thousand years ago. Maybe she did know or at least
suspected that it wasn't a magical stone, but still didn't care. Maybe
for some, truth and reality do not matter when it comes to religion.
This is not beautiful.

I am standing at the center of the courtyard in the Umayyad
Mosque in Damascus, Syria. Ancient Romans once worshipped
Jupiter in a temple that stood on this same site. But Jupiter's fame
crashed long ago and he is left with few believers today. Not that
anyone ever proved that he does not exist. Like thousands of other
gods, Jupiter simply faded away. This leads me to wonder: can a god
still exist even if no one believes in him or her? What if all the gods
we know are fiction but the one real god has no believers? Wouldn't
that be weird?

Today, Umayyad Mosque stands as one of the oldest active
mosques in the world. Some believers in Damascus tell me it is the
oldest in the world. Colorful tiles, white stone, and religious passions
synchronize to create a remarkable atmosphere. Overall, the building
is beautiful. The architecture is not overbearing but still powerful. I
feel small here. I'm not a Muslim but I do sense the energy and presence of more than a billion people who are. Most of the believers I
encounter in Syria are friendly and every believer I meet in the
mosque is friendly. Their kindness and hospitality add to the beauty of
the scene. I feel welcome. But not for long, as I cannot forget the
unspoken ugliness that taints the beauty here.

Some Muslims think it is justifiable to kill nonbelievers if they refuse to convert to Islam. I read the Koran and understand why some
more passionate believers would think that Allah wants this. There are
statements in the Koran that seem to suggest that killing nonbelievers
is not only acceptable but a duty as well. Fortunately, most Muslims
disregard this or offer softer interpretations of the scarier passages and
point to peaceful quotes within the Koran that would seem to counter
calls for violence against nonbelievers. Still, some Muslims do believe
that "kill the infidels" means kill the infidels. This is not beautiful.

Religions have been an inspiration and guiding force for human
passions for thousands of years. Belief in gods has generated songs,
architecture, paintings, sculptures, smiles, and laughter. It would be
foolish to deny that there is great beauty to be found in religion. However, it would be equally foolish to celebrate and fixate on the beauty
while ignoring the ugliness that is also there.

Religion is similar to nature in that many people think of the natural world as universally beautiful. But this ignores reality. For every
gorgeous waterfall to photograph there is a deadly tornado to flee. For
every bright flower bouncing in the summer breeze there are millions
of microbes waiting to kill us in slow and agonizing ways. So it is with
religion. Every time good people sing "Old Rugged Cross" beautifully
and from the heart, there is a preacher out there somewhere who is
delivering a poisonous sermon that encourages believers to hate others
and to embrace a medieval ignorance of the world. Wars and evil
deeds that were inspired by or sanctioned by religion provide a counterbalance to all the goodness that comes from religion. For every life
improved by belief in a god, there are lives damaged by it. The beliefinspired mistreatment of countless millions of girls and women alone
proves that. It is either a mistake or outright dishonesty to describe
popular religions such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism
as completely peaceful and wholly good.

It should not be seen as a blanket condemnation of religion to speak
the truth. Honest believers have an obligation to admit that their religions are less than beautiful. For example, how can a science-literate
Christian refuse to call it anything but ugly when other Christians insist on teaching children that the world is ten thousand years old and life
does not evolve? How can a sophisticated and worldly Jewish person
not cringe at the segregationist behavior of some Jews? How can a
peace-loving Hindu call all of Hinduism beautiful when it inspires
some to hate and even kill those who follow a rival religion? And how
can good Muslims see Islam as completely beautiful when its prayers
are whispered by a suicide bomber the moment before he kills himself
and others?

At best, we might call religion a complex part of human culture
that includes the potential for both good and bad. It is beautiful and
hideous. Those who insist on denying that religion is often repulsive
are dishonest. Religion was not beautiful when an Aztec priest
plunged a stone dagger into the chest of a living, breathing human
being and then ripped out his still-beating heart. It wasn't beautiful
when religion inspired the Crusades and the Holocaust. And religion
is not pretty when it motivates terrorism, antiscience activists, and
prejudice among people who might otherwise be cooperating to build
a better future for everyone.

Religion has caused unimaginable suffering for so many people
throughout history. For example, can any one of us sense how terrible
it really must have been for the women who were burned alive after
believers condemned them for being witches? Don't skim over this
little historical item just because you have heard about it many times
before. Try to imagine how astonishingly evil it is to tie a woman to a
wooden pole, pile up branches around her feet, and then burn her
alive. Imagine the terror and intense pain they suffered. And this kind
of thing didn't just happen to a few people. Thousands of people in
Europe and around the world have been killed for allegedly practicing
witchcraft. Today, despite the fact that witchcraft is still as unproven
as any other supernatural claim, the killing continues. Every few
months or so, a news report is published that describes the murder of
an accused witch somewhere in the world. For example, the BBC
reported in 2006 that more than one hundred people in a rural village
in India took part in the beheading of a man, whom they accused of practicing black magic. Just to be thorough, the mob also chopped off
the heads of four of his children. "They said the killings would
appease the gods," explained an investigating police officer. The BBC
report added that police records reveal that approximately two hundred people have been killed for practicing witchcraft in that same
area in the previous five years (BBC News 2006).

Religion can be ugly. Very ugly.

Defensive believers can rest assured that it is not a total condemnation of religion to point out obvious problems. Keep in mind that
virtually everything in human culture is a mixed bag. Sports, politics,
art, business, and education are all messy combinations of good and
bad, beautiful and ugly. Sports has both champions and cheats. Politics has both servants and crooks. Science is wonderful until it sells
out to irresponsible corporations and ignorant politicians, or is used to
create weapons and technology capable of bringing about our extinction. Nothing we humans do is perfect or perfectly beautiful.

Believers might consider that this does not have to be a make-orbreak issue. One does not necessarily have to surrender loyalty to a
religion or even their belief in a god in order to acknowledge the evil
within religion. If one chooses to believe in a god or gods, so be it. But
how can anyone possibly justify that belief by claiming that her or his
religion is beautiful? A casual glance at the past and present clearly
shows that religions are terribly flawed in many ways. A nonbeliever
might speculate that this is the inevitable result of human rather than
divine origins. In any case, religion in its totality falls well short of
anything we might justifiably call beautiful.

"Indian `Witchcraft' Family Killed." BBC News, March 19, 2006. http://news
.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south-asia/4822750.stm.

Intellect distinguishes between the possible and the
impossible; reason distinguishes between the sensible and the senseless. Even the possible can be
senseless.

-Max Born

t was obvious early on during my interview with Jane Goodall
that she was the real deal. The famous primatologist was sharp
and thoughtful. She was a deep thinker and well versed on many subjects. As I expected, she was brilliant on apes and conservation, but no
less so on the issue of poverty too. I loved every minute of the
encounter. It was the kind of interview I live for. This was about more
than just getting a good story. I was going to walk away from it
smarter than I was when I sat down and maybe even a bit inspired, too.

Before Goodall's remarkable career spent observing wild chimpanzees in Africa, humans were thought of as the animal kingdom's
only tool users. Goodall forced a rewrite of that definition when she
saw chimps making and using tools in the wild. Today she is widely
considered to be one of the great scientists of the twentieth century and
one of the greatest female role models ever. Her contributions have
made a huge impact on how we view ourselves, other animals, and our
place in nature. She also believes in a god.

It would be ridiculous to suggest that Goodall's religious belief in
a god somehow cancels out or diminishes her intelligence. She is, by
pretty much any definition I can think of, a very smart person. I have
interviewed numerous astronauts of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and
space shuttle programs and found all of them to be every bit as intelligent as one would expect of people who make their living riding
rockets. Although religious belief did not come up in every interview,
I would guess that most if not all of them believe in a god.

Despite the existence of smart believers such as Goodall, some
atheists jump to the conclusion that people who believe in gods must
necessarily be dumb. Come on, they say, only a fool would believe
that there are invisible beings floating around in the sky watching us
and granting our wishes. How could any intelligent person believe
such ridiculous things?

Ridiculous or not, any nonbeliever who says that all or most
believers are unintelligent sounds pretty dumb themselves. There are
far too many exceptions to make the case that dumb people believe in
gods and smart people do not. Believers already know this very well.
They are aware that numerous engineers, lawyers, medical doctors,
and Nobel Prize winners believe in gods. They know this because
smart people are sitting next to them in their churches, mosques, and
temples every weekend. While it may not be very smart to accept
claims of a god's existence with no good evidence to back it up, it does
not stop millions of highly intelligent people from believing in gods.

Some religious people go too far the other way, however, pointing
to intelligent and highly educated believers as evidence that their god
or gods must be real. This does not hold up as a good reason to believe
in a god. People are complex. The human mind contains many rooms.
One can be very smart in one sense and less so in another. Human
minds-even exceptionally intelligent ones-seem to have the ability
to compartmentalize irrational beliefs in ways that shield them from
the kind of analysis and challenge that is used diligently with other
matters. This is why there probably are many students today in prestigious law schools who think astrology is a valid predictor of the future and many students in top medical schools who believe in ghosts.
These are not weak thinkers; they are inconsistent thinkers. Highly
intelligent people who believe in a god seem to have erected some
kind of wall inside their heads that shields belief in a god or gods from
the intellectual force that they bring to bear on other matters.

Imagine a smart believer who is looking to buy a new house. One
can safely assume that they would make an effort to look around each
room, scan the walls for cracks, peek in the closets, and ask many
questions. They would let loose plenty of analytical and skeptical firepower before closing the deal. But one would think that purchasing a
home would be much less important than deciding on whether or not
to believe in a god or which god to believe in, especially given the possible eternal implications. More than likely, however, a typical home
purchase is given far more thoughtful analysis than the selection of a
god to worship. Do you think Jane Goodall applied the same rigorous
thinking to select Jesus over Apollo that she did to her scientific fieldwork in Gombe? How many believers bother to research even a small
fraction of the numerous religious options that are available? Why
isn't there a demand for some form of a shopping guide for gods, similar to Consumer Reports Magazine? Most believers today, regardless
of their religion, have never even heard of Insitor (Roman god of agriculture) or Hazi (Hittite mountain god). So how can they be sure they
shouldn't be worshipping them? After all, there was a time when many
very smart people believed they were real.