Some Questions For The Believer
- How would you define what your god is? Note that the question is not what you think he does, but what he is.
- If everything requires a creator, then how was god created?
- If you contend that god, who cannot be perceived, does not require a creator, then how can you maintain that the universe, which we can perceive, does require a creator?
- How can something that cannot be described be said to exist?
- Since there are literally thousands of religions in existence that are different from yours, what makes you think that yours is the right one? Did you examine these other faiths before accepting yours? If not, why not?
- If you feel “in your heart” that yours is the correct religion, how do you answer those of other faiths who say the same thing about theirs?
- Since all these religions make opposing claims, can more than one of them be right?
- How is it possible for us to settle the debate as to which, if any, of these religions is the right one?
- Why does your god allow all these false religions to exist?
- Is the bloody history of Christianity consistent with what is supposed to be a religion based on love, or does it instead show, as we atheists contend, the consequences of abandoning reason for faith?
- If everything is the product of a “grand design” by an omniscient, benevolent designer (your god), why is the history of life so filled with horrible suffering, blundering waste, and miserable failures? If humanity is god’s purpose, why did he create the nearly one hundred percent of life forms that have become extinct?
- Why did your alleged god (YAG) intervene so many times during antiquity (according to your Bible), and yet not do a single thing during modern times?
- Where was your god during the Holocaust, and how do you explain his failure to act at a time when humans most needed him?
- Why should your inner conviction about the existence of YAG indicate that such a being exists outside of your own imagination? If people can rely on subjective “intuitions” about the existence of their gods, where does it stop? Does intuition “prove” the existence of witches, devils, ghosts, and other supernatural agents as well?
- If you claim that the Bible is literally correct in its depiction of the Resurrection (complete with two major earthquakes, zombies arising from their graves, according to the Gospel of Matthew, and an eclipse according to Luke), why is there not a single source outside the Bible testifying to these extraordinary events?
- If you claim that the gospels are eyewitness accounts, then why do they disagree so widely over what happened?
- If something is not rational, should it be believed anyway? If so, why?
- If the god of the Bible is “all-good” why does he himself say that he created evil? (Isaiah 45: 7)
- Is there a better way than reason to acquire knowledge and truth?
- If you answer #19 with “faith” then why are there so many competing faiths in the world?
- Is comfort more important to you than intellectual integrity?
- Is there anything that could convince you that you are wrong?
- If no rational argument could convince you of your error, then why should anyone with a different point of view your faith as anything other than a cult? And why should they waste their time arguing with you?
- If an atheist lives a decent, moral life, why should a loving, compassionate god care whether or not he believes in him?
- Why is believing in something without evidence, or in the face of conflicting evidence (faith) considered a virtue and not a vice?
- What does faith really prove, other than that you are gullible?
- Should any religion that insists that reason is limited and that we should “just believe” be trusted?
- Why do so many religious people thank their gods when they survive a disaster, yet fail to be angry with him for causing or failing to prevent the disaster in the first place?
- If you insist that atheists disprove the existence of YAG, are you prepared to disprove the existence of Zeus, Odin, Brahma, Ran, and all the other gods of antiquity?
- Why is the number of atheists in prison dis-proportionally smaller than their numbers in the general population?
- Is the brutal, vengeful and murderous god of the Old Testament still a loving god? Or is the Old Testament, which Jesus said was to be upheld “every jot and tittle” wrong?
- How can the same god that, according to the Old Testament, killed everybody on earth except for four people (Noah’s Flood, or, more correctly, God’s Genocide) be considered as anything other than evil?
- Is the acceptance of religious mysticism, magic and miracles consistent with good mental health?
- In order to be good Christians, must we really do as Jesus commands in Luke 14: 26 and hate our families and ourselves?
- Since the ancient world abounded with tales of gods who were said to be resurrected after their deaths to save humanity, what makes the Jesus story different? In other words, why should this legend be considered true while the others, which pre-date it, be considered false?
- If the Bible is the standard for moral behavior, why isn’t there a single word in it condemning slavery? Why doesn’t it say anything against war?
- Why wasn’t the Bible written in a straightforward manner that leaves no room for misunderstanding? If you maintain that it was, how do you account for all the different sects it has produced?
- What is the difference between the prophets of the Bible and those who claim similar powers today? What are the standards for determining religious “truth?”
- The last time Christianity attained total, absolute power, it resulted in the Dark Ages, so why should we expect anything different from Christian fundamentalists today?
Categories: America, Atheism and Religion, Christianity, Religion In America