Why do people need a god?

I pretty much ignore religion for the most part these days except from a philosophical position. Some religions have their philosophical tenets which have value. The Golden Rule for example, though I think that belief is not carried to the level it should be. (Another topic for another day, I suppose.)

Nature does its thing, inexorably and unstoppably. The best thing man can do is delay its onslaught with shelter and disease control. An irresponsible parent who places a greater importance on an individual pasttime rather than on the well-being of his child is personally responsible for whatever harm comes to that child as a result. Yet, we read of such things regularly.

Second, we have to be careful to keep a grip on ourselves and our reality. The way I look at it, everything we do has consequences and whatever behaviors we engage in will have their benefits or detriments in the short and long run. There are a whole range of natural events, however, over which we have no control. The aforementioned irresponsible parent sets events in motion and causes a child to be 'left behind.' Such a parent has abandoned whatever degree of control he could have exercised over events in the immediate future.

The inexperience and fear of a child takes over from there. Nature, if you will. It would have been a mercy for such a child to die cataclysmically and immediately but coincidence and chance often preclude that from happening. They generally suffer a great deal before they succumb.

I agonize over the ordeal of such ill-fated children. It's very easy for me to place myself in their position and come very close to pure empathy with them. And choked with emotion over the suffering they must have endured. (There have been studies which suggest that nature floods the body with pain-killer chems and starts to shut down in order to prevent such pain as much as possible. That eases my mind about the suffering of small children and animals.)

Where I started to go with this second thought is that most of us have an inherent need and longing for a protective cloak over our stupidity and from the uncontrollable factors of our lives. We need to be careful we don't allow such compelling needs to push us into an irrational wishful belief in an all-powerful protector; just because we feel there SHOULD be one or we can't accept that there may not be one. Belief in god should be well thought out and based on intelligence, not reactionary emotion. Not trying to convince, lecture, or patronize. Just kind of outlining my own thought process as I dismissed a belief in God. Frankly, I think it's just fine not to know either way and to live life accordingly whether or not you believe. As long as you can make some degree of sense out of your belief.

As children growing up, our parents, ideally, are always there to kiss it better when we skin a knee or bonk a noggin. Is that the source of our desire to have a loving god watch over us as adults so that when things go badly, we can rely on his influence to make things better? A natural outgrowth of a learned thought pattern which says, "Take care of meeeeee?" I had that to a degree but not as much as some people. I was badly abused by my parents whereas the younger half of my nine siblings got treated more nicely. Perhaps that's the reason I didn't have much trouble dispensing with a belief in god and why my siblings may never do so.

Of all the theories of god, the watchmaker theory seems the most believable. Fits the circumstantial evidence the best. However, it would be the most difficult theory to prove. If god is ever discovered or chooses to reveal himself, we'll likely find that he's either a grandfatherly type who was just taking a nap and forgot to set his alarm, or we'll find he's more like a little kid with a magnifying glass aimed at the anthill of the earth and when he gets back around to us, we're gonna get fried!

Either way, we'll have more cause to hate him than love him. We'll look at him and say, "Why did you let millions of people starve to death, die of AIDS, die of crusades and inquisitions and holocausts and disease and earthqukes and other sorts of suffering?" "Benevolent" or not, if there's a god, there's plenty more reason to hate him than love him! My opinion, of course.

In the movie, "Pitch Black" there's a line by Riddick who says, "Yeah, I believe [in god] and I hate the motherfucker." I love that. It expresses my sentiment perfectly, except, of course, for the belief part. At least, it used to express my passion up to the point where I realized I could let go of my hatred of god since there was no god to hate.

Just my perception of the topic. Maybe more to come.

--Wag--