Curse of the Imaginary Friend

Many children playfully create imaginary friends, but these friends tend to only last a couple minutes. Many adults create a permanent imaginary friend, god. To an atheist our world seems stricken by a massive mental disorder in which people project their desires onto an abstract being in order to give their life guidance. Our species is so imaginative that people become bitterly afraid of the unknown and feel lost without a grand purpose. To quell their fear and assign purpose people create an imaginary friend, but at what cost?

Looking at history we can find instances in which religion/god(s) have both helped and harmed humanity. Perhaps religion has played a strong role in bringing people together to build civilizations. However, humans have progressed to the point where their imaginary friend(s) are no longer a necessary glue and are rapidly becoming burdens. How many people turn to a god because of their ineptitude in dealing with reality? How many people place a spiritual entity before their fellow man and their family? God is never seen he interacts mysteriously, mysterious in that we must first assume belief in him before being able to see his hand in the world. If we assume no god exists the world appears in perfect agreement with us. God functions in the same way as an imaginary friend or many scientific views, by changing the theoretical assumptions we completely alter the results.

If god(s) exist, why would they choose to remain so amorphous? If the god(s) honestly love humanity they could live amongst us or at least regularly appear to offer guidance. Humans would still have free will - god(s) would merely offer input on important topics, helping us provide food/shelter for all, avoid war, and combat disease. However, it seems that any god(s) is(are) not all powerful or intrigued by needless suffering. If we assume god is an imaginary friend he can only act through people. Delusional humans feel empowered by their projected friend and harm humanity by slowing important progress (medical, scientific, moral) or even reversing progress (banning gay marriage, overthrowing governments an enforcing inhuman policies leading to poor quality of life - as in Afghanistan).

When cured of the imaginary friend we can put humanity before spiritual entities, leading to an enriched quality of life. If god were real you would expect those of us who do not recognize him to suffer in some form. But without an imaginary friend we still have motivations, morality, love for one another, everything a religious individual has - except for valuing faith over reason. Without a god we do not feel empty or lost, we do not need additional solace when we lose loved ones, we do not need a meaning for life. I would argue that my life has greatly improved since abandoning faith.

There are people who do good in the name of their imaginary friend. That good is coming from their own decisions and convictions. Without god they are still fully capable of doing the same good. Doctors Without Borders is a secular organization that gives medical aid to impoverished people in underdeveloped nations. God fearing people do the same, only they spend a lot of money on scriptures and a lot of time preaching. They go seeking to convert while healing and they may spread inaccurate information about STDs by not delivering honest information about condoms and slowing the spread of AIDS. Think about what god has done for you, think about how your god compares to the biblical god. Everyone forms a god that fits their life and who helps them in ways that they could have helped themselves (really you do help yourself). Why do you feel that someone with a different holy book and different god(s) is less correct? Do you not realize that they observe the same healing, the same amount of 'miracles' that your god provides?

Those of use without imaginary friends are frightened by the amount of you who do have them. Presidents, Generals, Senators, all these people have power and responsibility and yet many believe creationism over evolution and seek god's approval more than their constituents. How do we build a better tomorrow while clinging the the superstitions of 2,000 years ago?