The God Debate

It appears that the "God" debate is really heating up.  Sam Harris and others have written some very popular books and appeared on national shows to discuss God.  I am happy to see some discussion about religion because I think it is at the root of many current problems.  We do need to have much more discussion about religion but we need to do it in a constructive manner.  I hope that this discussion will spark more debate of ethics and morals that will evolve the world regardless of religious belief. 

Human actions and beliefs are driven by three basic mechanisms - (1) survival of self and "related DNA", (2) desire to procreate, and (3) pleasure seeking / pain avoidance.  Religion is a set of beliefs that are driven by #1, the desire to survive or more specifically, the subconscious desire to live forever (ultimate survival).  Religion does have some good aspects such as providing a foundation for morals and ethics, however we do not need religion to have ethics and morals.  I do not believe that God exists in any form described by any current religion.  I think that debating whether or not God exists is not a good use of our energy.  I think that we should be spending our time and energy defining ethical and moral principles for society and the world that everyone can agree on regardless of religious beliefs.  Our ethical principles should be designed to work harmoniously with people from all religions, including atheists.  There are two main reasons why I think it is a bad idea to only focus the debate on whether God exists.  (1) Humans have a strong desire to be “right” and this will ultimately create conflict and bloodshed.  There are psychological reasons for this which I will not go into for the sake of brevity.  (2) There is no way to prove whether or not God exists since the belief of God is based on faith which is essentially total belief without evidence.  An atheist will say “show me proof” and the religious person will talk about faith or reference the Koran / Bible or talk about a “miracle” that they have witnessed.  This debate will continue for the next thousand years if the context of the debate is not altered.

Instead of debating the existence of God, we need to have proactive discussion defining ethical principles and morals into society and across cultures.  This God debate is likely to turn into mental masturbation in the quest to be RIGHT.  When you encounter a version of the God debate, make sure to steer it in the direction of a non-religious based discussion of ethics and morals that will harmonize the world and eliminate conflict.