Looking at the two pictures I posted at the beginning of this article, you recognize a special kind of advertising. It is not selling you illusions, but truth, as we can observe it. You may find your sense of life or be happy if you are a believer, but there is no guarantee. The same is true for atheism. Nearly all people in the western world nowadays accept evolution and science, only few small groups of society deny it. Some religious groups try to use god as the power or person who planned and guides the process of evolution. But fortunately we have come to a point where religion and science exist side by side and respect each other. For a long time it seemed, they both can exist next to each other without major contradictions. But the more science evolves, and especially when it comes to the question of truth, more and more people doubt it’s attitude. Many philosophers have come to the conclusion of atheism, many scientist do the same. It seemed that what was going on in the mind of a believer was a myth, something science could no explain.
But modern psychology can explain how religion arises, what makes people belief (Of course it is can only partially explain what can be observed. Using the scientific method of verification and falsification onto the supernatural, the only solid conclusion is, that cannot be proofed that it exists. “So, but why should we use the scientific method?”, one may ask. Isn’t it arrogant to say this is the only method to find truth (as far as human beings can come to “truth” of course)? All the success of society, from medicine, to engineering, aircraft, computer, car, internet etc. and the better understanding of the universe, have come from using the scientific method. There was no other, we owe our advanced life 100percently to science. Since the beginning of enlightenment and successively declining influence of religion on society, life has become better and better. This method is working and it is the only one which is working properly. All other attempts to see reality base on evidence-less accepting, because of laziness of thinking, tradition or authority. The scientific method does not care for tradition or authorities, it gives science the power to self-correct itself, which is what religions never does – it sticks to the same ideas over centuries, whether they are right or not. The dogma is more important than truth, power is more seductive than knowledge. Right and wrong can be found by human reason, not by old scriptures of which authors and origins are very doubtful (not to say considering the political and social reasons, why they exist). So why does the observation of the world lead to other results than the scriptures describe?
Religious ideas are to some degree by-products of cognitive processes, of thinking. It comes from our ability to imagine worlds and people, which is an important ability for planning our lives. We can build up whole universes in our mind, but that does not make them real. The world does absolutely not care, for what we think is true or not. Looking at little children you see many of them have imaginative friends. God becomes such an imaginative friend (often a father-figure) for adults. Humans make compromises between, what they expect and what is interesting. Wishing for god very easily leads to believing in god, especially when you get social support. In some way whole societies stay children in there mind and they criticize the ones who become adults, what means being mature in mind, and think it is abnormal. Humans, as mammals, have a strong attachment-system, they sick to other group-members, not only when they are in trouble. And being part of a group is more important than truth. Therefore it is so hard to leave a group, you feel lonely and quickly start doubting your decisions. But there is good news nowadays. Society is fragmented that much, that everybody can leave majority and find his or her group. It may be as small group, but you do not have to be lonely. The majority of people is not thinking rationally, but to find people who think outside of the box is possible, everywhere.
But what about moral? Isn’t atheism immoral? The killer argument of the religious is that Hitler and Stalin, Mao and other dictator where atheist. Stalin and Mao where Atheist, Hitler a modern pagan, but there is no connection between Atheism and there deeds. They would have done there genocides, violations of human rights, crimes and inhumanity even if they had been religious people. Crime is a result of character, not of religion or unbelief. It is very often religion which deforms the (natural) moral feelings of people into obedience to a dogma or authority. Moral feelings are natural to humans, apart from religion and very often they are far better than religious dogma. Human beings are mature enough to know what is right and wrong, they do not need an “instruction manual”.
But this is where we come to another assumption of the religious. They think moral comes from religion. Without religion, they say, the result will be anarchy. So even if god does not exist and even if there is no supernatural, we could still use religion as a moral and ethical code. This argument is nonsense (and by the way a weak point of view, if you give up the claim for the supernatural and leave it to a simple code of behaviour). Moral means doing what is right, no matter what dogma says. Religions means to do what the dogma says no matter it is right or not.
Religions present supernatural, as “truth”, but that is often, a way to delude people. Religion is a social issue. It is about human societies and groups and belonging to a religion, especially to the dominating religion in a certain country, fulfils social needs, not the need for truth, or what is really going on in the universe, how was is created an the like. More intelligent people have always known for this. Many of the religious leaders are nonbelievers, they just use the faith of people for their own power – and as history shows it has always been working and it is still working. And that is a shame!
Some people say that religion has helped them. In most cases it is not religion which helped them but the social connection with other people. If it was the dogma it is the delusion, which fulfils personal wishes, which recognizes data, which confirm an opinion and closes the eyes before contradiction and opposite data. Religion may help, as alcohol helps a depressed person to feel better, the emptiness inside gets filled with an idea. Of course that may feel better and some may even get “happy” about that, but it is a happiness far away from truth. There are better ways of getting a happy and clear mind and that is a worldview based on reason and observation, a sceptical approach towards everything and true belief (make sure whatever I say about religion is about the human institution not the true and honest belief or the supernatural!). Skepticism is nothing negative, it is not pessimism, don’t mix that up, it means you test, what your are told, what you read – even be sceptical toward your own thoughts and especially feelings. Feelings make human beings vulnerable and they are very often nothing by lies. A life based on trusting feelings is not a life of success and high worth.
But what about the sense of life and happiness? Yes there are surveys which come to the conclusion that religious people are happier and the conclusion is that religion and belief are the reasons therefore. But that may be an illusion. In fact people are happier, when they are socially more integrated and in a society where religion, or in most cases a certain religion, is predominant, most people feel more happy when they join this religion, but of social reasons, not because religions has something to do with truth or the supernatural. We humans suffer from over-interpretation about many things in the universe. We think things are there with a certain goal; as egotists we often think all things where created for us. For example the naïve belief (of children) that the stars are there to lighten up a dark night. We have problems with random processes and rather think of an intention. We will not have any future using superstition instead of reason.
