On the Sixth Day, God created man… yeah that sounds good, keep that part!

All right! This is my much anticipated, heavily criticized, and seldom agreed with “taking a look at God, religion, and the whole “spirituality of man” concept. I personally like this topic because it spawns seemingly limitless argument, fear, confusion, and any other emotional responses that you can think of. No matter where you come from and no matter where you end up in life, organized religion is never more than a holy stones through away from you, guiding your life through an endless search for something that can’t be found until your dead. How many people over the centuries have wasted their perfectly good lives hiding from the real world locked in a convent or monastery, reciting endless prayers in an attempt to gain the spiritual edge over the rest of us sinners and heretics? Religion has been the root cause for more wars, murders, hatred, acts of terrorism, and general public mayhem than any other pestilence to befall mankind. Famine? Disease? Pollution? They all pale in comparison to the devastation and civil unrest brought upon us in the holy name of God in his many forms. Truly, it is with great pleasure that I write this article.

A Quick Definition of Terms

God – an omnipresent, omnificent being, responsible for the creation of life, the universe, and pretty much everything.

Creationism – The belief that God created the heavens and the earth exactly the way the bible explains it, it 6 days, out of nothing, exactly the way we see it now, about 8 thousand years ago (pulleeesseee).

Evolution / Natural Selection – The belief that life, the universe, and pretty much everything evolved to it’s current state through a process by which particles formed together to create atoms, which formed together to create molecules, to macromolecules, to elements, and life, and so on. Furthermore, that this process is based upon a survival of the fittest principle, and is governed by a set a physical laws and principles that can be examined, tested, and in some cases proven.

Einstein’s Theories (there are more than one) of Relativity – E=MC², nuff said there.

Anthropic Principle – Principle that states that the universe must be more or less the way we observe it to be, because if it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be here to see it or to question it. For instance, if we observed a universe that was an average of 10,000 degrees Celsius, it would be too hot for us ever to have come into existence in the first place, thus no one would be here to wonder why it’s so hot.

Quantum Mechanics – A theory developed from Plank’s quantum principle and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. It’s what makes computers and DVD players work, so it’s probably a good theory, yes? Quantum mechanics takes up where relativity leaves off.

Ok, now we’re ready to talk about…. Proof of God!

I was recently watching the local God channel on TV, and happened to see a guy, I’ll omit his name (evidenceofgod.com) who claims to be able to prove, conclusively, that creationism is how we came to be here, prove the bible is true, prove evolution, and pretty much science in general is a bunch of bullshit, and prove that God is real, beyond a shadow of a doubt. What I find funny, sad, typical, and pathetic about this is the simple fact that God fans always seem to need to prove their theories by one-upping or by attempting to disprove any science or ideals that may disagree with his or her belief system. Let’s get out of the ether, and back to earth people. Evolution is not just a good idea, it happened, it’s well documented, it predicts very testable results, and it’s a very good theory. Get over it you fuckin fanatics. Even worse, using evolution, any good God fan could easily find a way to contribute the creation of the universe, of life, and man, to God. I’m a fan of Stephen Hawking, big bangs, black holes, you name it, I like it, it makes sense, and it’s a sound theory. As with most, this particular branch of science does not preclude the existence of a god, in fact it actually embraces the concept. Big bang…. Hmmmm, could have been caused by all the mass of the universe being compacted into a single point of infinite density which, through strong and weak nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity, exploded into what we call the universe today, or a “big bang” could have been set off by a bored, super intelligent alien race from another dimension, or it could have been God playing with fire crackers. Since there was no time or space, or anything before it happened, anything could have caused it, and any theory is about as useless as any other since it doesn’t matter what caused it to begin with. All that matters is that we’re here now; lets have fun and enjoy the moment a little. To me, absolute proof consists of data and facts that are indisputable, stand on their own merit, and are not open to any interpretation or conjecture. In other words, nothing can be proven absolutely, since everything we see, hear, touch, taste, smell, or otherwise experience is never beyond interpretation. Perception is reality, that’s the only thing that’ll ever be proven in our lifetime. Anyone who claims to have conclusive proof of anything else is a fuckin idiot, or maybe a holy roller looking to score book and video royalties.

It’s my opinion that religion was invented to fill the ignorance void that man has always had with himself and his environment. Why does the sun shine? Ten thousand years ago, it was because the sun god made it shine. Why does the ocean get stormy? Two thousand years ago it was because Poseidon was angry. Why do people kill other people? Four hundred years ago it was because the devil made them do it. Why can’t we just go with what we know, try our hardest to learn the rest, and deal with the fact that we’re nothing more than biological creatures, who don’t have all the answers, and who will someday die because that’s what biological creatures do? We’re lucky to have such an advanced intellect. Why waste it searching for answers to questions that, deep down inside, we really can’t or don’t want to handle the answers to? Life is complicated, and yet at once all so simple… we’re here because we are, someday we won’t be, until then, have fun and enjoy whatever it is you enjoy. Whether it’s partying you’re ass off, or searching to answer the fundamental questions of existence, do it because you like to, not because some “God” tells you that you have to. That’s the only part of reality that matters. If you dig God, so be it, go nuts in his name. If I’m wrong, put in a good word for me would ya? Until then, I’ll keep looking for snappy answers to stupid questions, and writing my findings down for no apparent reason.

Peace.

-Woody

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."

- Galileo Galilei (a pretty smart guy)

"I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure -- that is all that agnosticism means."

- Clarence Darrow, Scopes trial, 1925.