Do you believe in God?
It’s a logical question to ask yourself. Many people do. Why do you? Why don’t you? In contrast, unanswerable questions exist concerning matters of faith. For instance, consider this statement: “I have seen the afterlife.” You cannot verify whether you saw anything after death so the claim carries little weight unless accompanied by additional claims regarding the reliability of perception.
Why or why not?
Answering questions about God’s existence presents no conceptual difficulties. Questions concerning his character, actions, and teachings pose much more difficult challenges. Belief systems based upon answers to trivia lack coherence. By asking meaningless questions, you encourage yourself to think about irrelevant topics instead of engaging on issues of genuine importance. The net effect is reduced intelligence.
If he does exist what would you want to know?
It’s perfectly human to be curious about this and have a sincere desire to understand. But the list of meaningful questions exceeds the number of atoms in the universe. Because answering random questions lacks value, pondering such subjects merely wastes one’s mental energy. Humans naturally tend toward superficiality; therefore, focusing on superficial thoughts encourages laziness rather than creativity.
Was Jesus Christ His son? Have any miracles ever been performed since the death of Christ? Do angels really fly around heaven helping humans? Will the world end soon? Why did he let suffering occur?
Most religions purport to provide answers to these types of metaphysical questions. Yet there exists insufficient agreement among different sects over how to interpret sacred texts. Furthermore, none of the purported facts has yet proven useful in predicting events or improving people’s lives over alternatives in the population at large. Even when religion provides explanations that appear plausible, science offers alternative hypotheses that explain similar observations equally well.
Religion is personal and subjective. It depends on which particular interpretation each believer accepts. Since interpretations vary widely, religious beliefs are extremely diverse.
From a scientific perspective, it’s absurd to treat such opinions as having equivalent validity. One can never hope to establish truth beyond reasonable doubt using arguments alone. Rather, proof must always involve empirical observation and experimentation. Ultimately, philosophical inquiry requires concrete experiments.
