Why God is Imaginary

There is no god

The Basics:

My stance on God is in three parts:

1. Atheism: I am not convinced that a god exists. I am atheist to all gods in general.

2. Methodological Anti-Theism: the specific gods presented do not exist.

3. Moral Anti-Theism: I will not worship an evil god, even if it is proven to exist.

For atheism, there is no burden of proof on my end since it is simply me not being convinced of theism for the claims of theism have not met their burden of proof. The burden of proof is on the one making the positive assertion.

Moral Anti-Theism also lacks a burden of proof since I am unconvinced that I should worship a god who is evil. The burden of proof is on the theist to convince me that I should worship a god who believes in slavery, genocide, homophobia, etc. I cannot find eternal bliss or joy with an eternal relationship with such a vile being. Therefore, there is nothing for me to gain by having any kind of relationship with that kind of god.

Methodological Anti-Theism does have a burden of proof with it. So, how much proof am I required to provide? First, absolute certainty is useless and if any theist can prove that they have a reliable method for absolute certainty, they are free to prove it by solving critical problems better than science and human reason. Instead what has been presented by presupp apologist are dishonest circular arguments (TAG, etc) that are designed to shift the burden of proof, and are just lousy appeals to faith underneath it all.

There are in fact different levels of certainty and evidence: Some evidence at the low end followed by, Reasonable suspicion, Reasonable to believe, Preponderance of the evidence, Clear and convincing evidence, and lastly Beyond reasonable doubt at the high end.

Main Argument 1: Special Problem of Evil

I have experienced hate and vilification at the hands of religion and in the name of this evil god. I was lied and used in the name of god. Many Christians (thankfully not all) want a society where people like myself do not exist. Conversion therapy is most certainly guaranteed to make one an anti-theist. LGBT youth account for half of all homeless youth while the churches and Christian groups that vilify them make billions of dollars, pay no taxes, and enjoy great political and social power. My actual premises are next, this is just some context.

If there is a god who is good and just, then that god would be outraged if people were commanding or doing evil in their name for the only thing required for evil to win is for good persons, god or mortal, to do nothing. Afterall, didn’t this god say not to take his name in vain? If people were going around and promoting ISIS in your name, wouldn’t you take the time out of your busy day to make a public statement exposing and denouncing the imposter? I mean, what does god have going on right now? Is he not going to get paid or something if he doesn’t do anything about thus evil?

It is a fact that bible has an SOP for owning slaves, that it condones genocide among other atrocities; and as my context pointed out, it is a fact that fundamentalist Christians are hurting innocent persons and using people for profit in the name of this god, and then claiming to be persecuted.

This god however does absolutely nothing about it: does not bother to correct the bible, nor does he bother to come down here and speak out against it. Therefore, there are only two rational and logical conclusions: either god is evil and thus is unworthy of worship, or god does not exist. Our universe is simply not consistent with a universe where a good god exists.

Thus far, no theist has ever presented a good reason for the general problem of evil that we are all familiar with. Thus, none of those responses will be sufficient against this one.

Main Argument 2: One God More

I don’t have to scan the entire universe or all possible dimensions to say that the Abrahamic God is make-believe for the same reason why those of Abrahamic beliefs don’t have to do the same for santa-clause, pixies, or the thousands of other gods they believe to be make-believe.

We are all anti-theists on some level, most of us anyway, but I just go one god more for most of the same reasons minus idolatry. That is to say that if a Christian takes all of the reasons minus idolatry (which is intrinsically a theist-concept that an atheist would not have) for why they believe that all other gods are make-believe, those same reasons can be applied to the Abrahamic god as well. These reasons are expressed in facts.

The Bible and God are Copies

The first fact is that the bible’s stories and characters are all carbon copies of pre-existing myths from other religions, namely Mesopotamian religions. Myths such as the Epic of Gilgamesh make this very clear with its flood story. Even the three-tiered temple with the innermost chamber being only for priests is a direct carbon copy of Sumerian temples. Even Cuneiform predates Hebrew languages by centuries. Yeweh seems to be yet another copy as well.

Biblical Accounts are False

The second fact is that the biblical account of reality is false. Evolution and modern genetics debunks the Adam and Eve story, there is no evidence in favor of Creationism, Creationists constantly have to use dishonest apologetics and junk-science because Creationism is junk-science, and the idea of our species or any species coming from a magical garden with a talking serpent is just ridiculous.

The flood never happened either. Odd how there was a world-wide flood and yet no civilization anywhere in the world even noticed. No deaths, no storm damage, no economic disruption, nothing. That is because there was no flood. No creation, no original sin for us to be saved from, no flood or covenant, and that makes Jesus useless.

Not Really a Sacrifice

And, let us look at the absurdity of Jesus, setting aside the absurdities of rising of the dead and other things for a moment: he was prince of the universe for all of eternity before, living a life of cosmic luxury. He came down, had a bad weekend, rose from the dead, and is now living for eternity as the prince of the universe in his cosmic palace of luxury; making his death not really a sacrifice. If I am a billionaire and I spend one weekend as if I had zero dollars, and go back to being a billionaire for the rest of my life; where was the sacrifice?

God is Impossible to Begin With

As I mentioned earlier, before we can say that something is actual or probable, we must show that it is impossible. I don’t have to prove that I can’t walk through walls in order to say that it is impossible for humans to walk through walls.

Likewise, the bible asserts things that are not even possible: talking serpents, talking donkeys, a flimsy boat with thousands of animals and enough food for at least 40 days, a man walking on water, a man rising from the dead and raising others from the dead, a mind absent of the brain, existing yet not existing (timeless/spaceless aka existing at no place and at no point in time), a god that can think or will things into existence, etc.

So, the third fact is that god isn’t just improbable when compared to the thousands of other possible gods, he isn’t even possible to begin with. Before one can assert his existence, they must first demonstrate some kind of precedence that shows that it is possible for certain attributes to exist in the first place.

God is Useless

The fourth fact is that god is totally useless: he can’t build a boat worth a damn, he can’t write his own book at all since this holy ghost needs ghost writers to write for him, he can’t get someone if they are riding an iron chariot, and he couldn’t put that loaded gun out of reach of his own children in the garden.

The Templeton Foundation even did a study on prayer and it was divided into two groups of hospital patients: one that was prayed for and another that was not prayed for. The result? It is a fact that prayer works at the same rate as a coin toss. But there was one very important fact: the group that was prayed for was divided into two other groups: one where the patients knew that they were being prayed for, and the other where the patients did not know that they were being prayed for. The ones that knew that they were prayed for had worse recovery outcomes than all the others.

It is a fact that prayer doesn’t work and the other claims of prayers and miracles are not only not unique to Christianity and thus do not prove Christianity; they are also very poor “evidence” in general: they are not repeatable or verifiable, and are anecdotal at best. Also consider this: let’s say that your doctor diagnosed you with a tumor and people prayed for you and later the tumor disappeared.

What is more likely: that god ignored all of the 9/11 victims, holocaust victims, children with terminal cancer, amputees, etc. and suspended the laws of reality just for you in your favor; or that you and your doctor were mistaken: either your doctor misdiagnosed you (which does happen as all humans are fallible), or your immune system drove the cancer into remission as your immune system has evolved to do and does so regularly without us even knowing that our immune system is doing it.

The Bible clearly states that if two people are sincere believers and pray for the same thing that God will bring it to pass. And yet, terminal cancers affecting children, infants dying or being murdered, women being raped, POC and Native Americans suffering at the hands of those out of control with power, gays being disowned by families, being beaten to death, and subjected to conversion therapy, all happen despite millions of prayers.

And if the apologetic is “well its god’s will to not give you what you want, he has a plan” well fine. If god is going to do what he wants to anyway regardless of what we pray for, then as Carlin put it: Why the F**k bother praying in the first place???

God Doesn’t Explain Anything

The fifth fact is that god doesn’t explain anything at all. The reason why we don’t believe in pantheons of gods is because science gave us actual explanations for natural events. We still have questions such as “where did everything come from?” but god is not an explanation for the questions at all.

Most apologetic arguments are the same fallacious arguments they were centuries ago. They often go something like this: “science can’t explain it so goddidit.” Which is an argument from ignorance fallacy. Ill refute these more thoroughly later. But god does not explain anything.

An explanation is a detailed description, of specific processes and mechanisms by which something works or happens, which has been demonstrated to be true and accurate with sufficient evidence.

“God did it” is not a detailed description of anything at all, nor has it ever been demonstrated to be even remotely true. Such arguments also try to solve one mystery, such as the universe, by appealing to an even bigger mystery such as god.

God and Prayer are Appeals to Magic

Magic is the use of gestures, special words, and/or rituals to appeal to the supernatural in order for the supernatural to have an effect on the physical world or some supernatural thing such as the soul.

It is a fact that prayer and appeals to god as answers to questions such as “god willed it into existence” is the use of gestures, special words, and/or rituals to appeal to the supernatural in order for the supernatural to have an effect on the physical world or some supernatural thing such as the soul.

Therefore, it is a fact that that prayer and appeals to god are appeals to magic. No different than any other kind of magic and no more reliable.

God as an Imaginary Friend

The sixth fact is that god is indistinguishable from imaginary friends. If a kid talks to an imaginary friend, the child will learn nothing new. Nothing comes from the imaginary friend that the child a) didn’t already know or believe or b) the child cannot reference from sources such as books or tv shows.

God has the same exact pattern: when people talk to god, god never gives anyone any new or useful information. When people tell me their god’s message that he gave them, it was always the same prejudices and superstitions that they a) already believed in or b) was in their environment such as the bible or church.

The bible is no different, it has zero new information or useful knowledge. All it has ever had is the same prejudice, violence, and superstitious nonsense that was common during the ages that the books were written in. No useful messages or new information was ever presented in the bible.

Now, had the bible predicted atomic theory, general relativity; or said things like “thou shall not own slaves”, “though shall not steal land from indigenous people”, “women and men are equal”, “there are no superior or inferior races”, or “homosexuality is not a sin and you shall not hate queers”; then I would be very likely to take the bible seriously as a source for truth, knowledge, and morality.

Instead, the writers of genesis didn’t even have the first clue as to what the stars and moon were, thought that leprosy was caused by thoughts about boobs and other “ritual impurities”; and advocated for slavery, genocide, sexism, murdering gays, and many other atrocities that were commonplace at the time. God doesn’t answer prayers and never reveals anything new or useful. Science has discovered more in the last 5 months than religion and this god ever have in the last 5 thousand years. This god has only ever revealed to people the same savagery, prejudice, ignorance, and superstitions of the times in which the bible was written.

Indistinguishable Universe

The seventh fact is that our universe is indistinguishable from one where there is no god, and very distinguishable from a universe where there is a god. I could assume that I have absolute knowledge that there is no god and never was, and the universe under that assumption would still work all the same just as it does now.

The Idea Spread by Ill Means

The eighth fact is that the idea of the Abrahamic God, Christianity in particular, spread(s) by ill means such as coercion, deception, indoctrination, and manipulation; as opposed to education. Roman emperors forced Christianity onto the masses and later kings did the same. Children are forced to believe before they are able to think for themselves. White Christian Europeans murdered millions of indigenous people and forced Christianity on the survivors and on slaves as well. Kids in school were forced to pray to this god well into the 1950’s, etc. Today, anti-LGBT churches, like all cults, use the same methods and techniques that psychics use to deceive people, including actively targeting the vulnerable in order to exploit their weaknesses.

This is not how truth spreads. Truths can stand on their own merits and don’t require the above tactics. My math professor never had to do the above things to teach me math, they just showed me the math and allowed me to test it for myself.

The Non-truth Multiplies Forever

The ninth fact is that there is an infinite loop of excuses and apologetics for all of the above facts and problems. No apologetic has ever been able to explain any of the above items and all of them tend to be more absurd than whatever it is that the apologetic is supposed to be defending. This creates an endless loop of lousy apologetic one after the other. If this god is so real and true, why the need for so many excuses. Normally absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, except when the evidence should be there; and there exists a very glorious absence of evidence for the existence of god.

Evidence is a body of facts that points to only one conclusion at the exclusion of all others. All of these facts combined paints one clear picture: there is no god. None of these facts are compatible with the view that a god exists, let alone a good one. The infinite regress of excuses and apologetics pretty much proves this.

And all of these infinite regresses are fallacies of special pleading since the apologists only apply them to their own god and not to any other gods of any other faiths. The lie and non-truth multiplies but the truth sets one free. And the simple truth is that there is no god.

Main Argument 3: The Razor

That which is indistinguishable from make-believe and imaginary friends can be dismissed as such. God is, based on the previous two arguments and related facts, indistinguishable from make-believe and imaginary friends: god is impossible to exist, god is useless, god explains nothing, our universe is indistinguishable from a universe where there is no god, etc. Therefore, I can dismiss god as make-believe and an imaginary friend. The above facts are a body of evidence that is indicative of one and only one conclusion: that god was never real.

The facts speak for themselves and alone are Clear and Convincing Evidence to anyone who sets aside theistic biases. But, when the infinite loop and regression of excuses and apologetics, along with how ideas of this god are actually spread via dishonest and manipulative means, are considered; that seals it Beyond Reasonable Doubt. None of the apologetics are ever reasonable and never answer the question, instead apologetics only beg the question. Therefore, god is imaginary, and that is a fact.