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?

The Search for God

I recently spent the day attending a massive concert based event, called The Warped Tour. The day was pretty normal for the event, but the thing that stuck in my head-and caused me to write this article-was a little insert by a vocalist between songs. He suggested we should constantly "...Search for god in our lives." According to him, we can and will find our own personal connection to god if we search long enough. I believe this idea is a pleasant fiction, as is religion itself.

It is easy to wish for something. The idea of having a greater being that is always smiling down on you, will always forgive you, and has given your life a meaningful purpose is great. Also, the thought that after you die in this life you will go on for eternity in total bliss is appealing to most. Those are great reasons to want to believe in a god, and religions give you a structured belief system to make all that wishing easier.

Problem? I'd say having to search for a connection to god is one if them. Besides blind faith in something drilled into your mind by both a church and your parents from the time you were born, or in a book written thousands of years ago (which i could go on about but that is for another post); you have to search your life for something that you do not wish to rationally explain via science to connect to god. Some may bring up "miracles," but that is large enough for another post as well.

Why do we have to search for god? Why doesn't he show himself, or make evident his existence? We are to believe he exists, based on hopes and dreams rather than actual evidence. What is the point of hiding his identity? Is this great being too shy, or too pompous to show himself to us? Why do people believe that god has given our life meaning beyond our comprehension? Why do we not accept the fact that when we die, it is over? Why must we create something to look forward to after death in order to be happy today in life?

In reality, any connection you may make with your god is a fallacy. You wish to believe there is a solid connection to your god so you have a greater meaning to your life. You want to find that connection so badly, that you are blinded to the truth and create the connection in your own fantasy.

A Short Story Called Bullshit

Let me tell you a story:

      You get a phone call.  A man informs you that the government has deposited $5000 in your bank account.  He then informs you that you must put in 40 hours of work at a government facility because they paid you. 

How do you react? 

You ask why the government paid you and than man responds, "they are kind." You tell the man that you don't want to work at the government facility.  He then tells you that you will serve life in prison if you do not work.  You then ask the man to remove the money from your bank account.  He says that taking the money back is not an option.  You have only two choices, do a weeks worth of work or go to prison.  

 How do you feel?

This story is analogous to a tale called the bible. 

In the the bible a power-hungry god creates man.  This god, if he exists, created you.  Once you were created, god demanded that you praise him.  

How do you react?  

You ask god why he created you and he responds, "I am kind."  You inform god that you do not want to spend eternity praising him.  He then tells you that you will spend eternity in hell if you do not praise him.  You then ask god to un-create you.  He says being un-created is not an option; you have only two choices, praise god for eternity or go to hell.

How do you feel?

I feel pissed.  As humans we realize that it is wrong to force a 'gift' upon someone and then demand something in return.  Linkin Park summed it up, "The sun doesn't give light to the moon assuming that the moon is gonna owe it one - so find another place to feed your greed while I find a place to rest".  That is exactly my attitude towards god - piss off and feed your greed else where.  If god did exist, is he really the type of entity you wish to praise?  Do you really want to go to heaven only to spend eternity praising a pompous spirit with an inflated ego?  When measured by human standards, god is a jerk.  

Of course I am well aware - we can't impose human morality upon god because he is god.  Or maybe it is because Christians don't enjoy their god being a tool. 

Denny Burk, a Christian, wrote: 

God is love. Therefore He must exalt Himself so as to draw people into worship. This is not narcissistic because it is no vice for Him to exalt the beauty of His own perfections for His creatures’ enjoyment and blessing.

I totally forgot that god is love!  Sorry, I must have lost the loving somewhere along the story of the great flood, no wait - it must have been when I was reading about god killing the first born of each Egyptian - No! I know, I forgot that god was love while I was reading my old favorite, the bible, and these two girls got their father drunk so he would have sex with them and they could bear offspring!  Silly me.  It cannot be narcissistic for some being who was here before us to conveniently label himself as the definition of perfect and demand that we praise him for being the epitome of love.

Try finding god's love in a hospital room where his plan for a newborn was to strangle to death on its umbilical cord during delivery.  Think about all the Christian mothers who had stillborn babies.  God is love.