The answer to the above questions will automatically be very personal because there is no hard science to prove the existence of God. God exists on faith and belief. That argument will be challenged because some people will say there are many manifestations of the evidence of a god. We are back to a personal belief.
In respect of this website, the existence or not of God is relevant to animal welfare for numerous reasons one of which is that if you believe in God, you believe that he or she has a higher moral code which you can rely on to guide you and which includes how to treat animals.
Today in The Sunday Times there is an article about the Turkey earthquakes and poor planning permission resulting in defective buildings, 7,600 of which have collapsed when they shouldn’t have. The residents – those that survived – are praying to their God:
Allahim! Allahim! Allahim! which translates to My God! My God! My God! They are alone as a handful of rescuers have tome to help thousands of trapped, dying and dead individuals. The nights are -10 degrees Celsius. They pray for help from their God. An outside source. A being they’ve never seen but believe is there.
Personally, I don’t believe that God exists. I believe that humans have created the existence of God in their minds. This is how it happened….
We don’t know what existed before the universe. We might never know. Scientists generally believe that the universe began with the Big Bang when highly condensed matter exploded and radiated outwards from that central point at high speed.
The universe is still expanding rapidly and so the Earth is moving through space not only around the sun but also as part of the Big Bang explosion.
What created the earth? Gravity. It is made up of dust and gases and rocks. Gravity brought them together. Gravity is created by the movement of the Earth around the sun.
Because water was present on the Earth and because an atmosphere developed, the planet was able to create life through billions of years of evolution starting off with probably a bacteria.
The pinnacle of evolution is the human. What a shame!
The human is still going through the process of evolution. There is a constant refinement of human civilisation. We are only on that journey and far from its completion.
Humans are generally fearful. Humans don’t have sufficient control over society to the point where they feel comfortable. Countries pull in different directions. Competition is severe both between individuals and between countries.
Humankind has great difficulty in creating a settled, balanced society because currently their competence doesn’t allow them to create a society where they are fully in control.
Because humankind is to a certain extent out of control and this is felt by all individuals, they need to look for help.
They can’t find help from other humans who are equally lost and therefore they look to a higher being for that help. They call that higher being a God.
It is instinctive for a human to pray to a God when they are in trouble and their life is out of control. They pray for help. In praying there is no guarantee they will receive it but they feel better.
In feeling better, it is why religion has been called the opium of the masses because it quells anxiety.
God is a human construct, created because humans need help and they can’t find it on the planet so they look for it in the stars. This is an intangible assistance based on belief and faith and if I wanted to be a bit cynical it is also based upon superstition.
Humankind is highly superstitious. Superstition is akin to religion. There is not a lot of difference. Superstition plays a big role in the lives of many people. It is also not based in science but on belief, the belief that doing something or seeing something or eating something improves your life or has a negative impact upon it.
Superstition is born out of fear. Fear is born out of a lack of control of society and in many cases one’s life. Religion, too, was born out of fear because humans simply haven’t got to the point where they can manage their existence on the planet to a sufficient degree which removes that fear. In the meantime, God helps them.
