It’s inevitable that anyone who doubts the existence of God, challenges the Bible, or questions faith will be subjected to the pop psychoanalysis of one creationist or another. Observe:
“You doubt the existence of God because you’re depressed/angry/rebellious/incarcerated. Once you can get past that, you’ll come to see how wonderful and beautiful and comforting faith in Jesus really is.”
I despise when people use stereotyping and/or some psychobabble they heard on Dr. Phil to try to wrap their brain around a subject. Why not ask the person why they doubt God’s existence, rather than making a completely groundless assumption? So many people would rather be told what is correct than think. They’d rather put everything in a neat little box that doesn’t require much head-scratching to understand. The only good thing about stereotyping is that it’s the best way for an ignoramus to announce his or her ignorance.
I know for a fact that some people are comforted by faith in a particular deity. I am not. I don’t consider faith to be a virtue. I consider faith in a virtuous idea to be a virtue, but only because the idea is virtuous. Faith is an opinion, which means there must be a standard for whether the belief to which it’s applied is good or bad. Beliefs are not to be “respected,” as so many creationists like to say. We should respect good beliefs, not any belief.
That being said, I do not doubt the existence of God because I’m depressed. While I am not a particularly happy individual, it has nothing to do with a lack of faith. It is simply the result of being in prison – and knowing that even through I’ll be released one day, I may not deserve to be. There is no “hole” in my life that faith can fill. Further, even if faith in Jesus gave me comfort (it does not, speaking from experience), why should I seek comfort? It would be low-minded and hypocritical of me. I don’t deserve comfort; those whom I’ve hurt deserve it.
I do not doubt the existence of God because I’m young and rebellious, or because I think Christians are pansies, or because I’m unable to express heartfelt emotion. I don’t disagree that Jesus taught good moral lessons – I’m just not convinced they’re of divine origin.
I do not doubt the existence of God because I’m angry about all of the horrible things in the world. I am moved to anger by those things, and I would probably not worship the deity of the Bible even if His existence were proven, but that is beside the point. Convince me that He exists, and then we’ll talk about whether I should worship Him or not.
Finally, I do not doubt the existence of God because I want a universe without consequences. This is by far the most common idiocy I’ve heard. First of all, my like or dislike of such a universe says absolutely nothing about whether God is real or not. Secondly, I freely admit – and embrace – the idea that I deserve to be punished for my crimes. I am not skeptical of God’s existence because it helps me psychologically squirm out of being judged for my actions. If God is real and I am to face divine justice, so be it. I don’t fear that fate.
I doubt God’s existence for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most importantly, I’m capable of divesting emotion, hope, and fear from the question. Thus, it becomes no different than doubting the existence of Zeus, alien abductions, or Atlantis. It is an extraordinary claim like the myraid of similar extraordinary claims pervasive in the hearts and minds of human beings, and as Carl Sagan noted, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
If anyone has extraordinary evidence – and by that I means something other than personal experience or opinion – I’d like to hear it. My mind is open. I am not an atheist. I welcome the reevaluation of my skepticism in this matter if such evidence is presented.
