So You Don't 'Believe In' God?

(a Creator, intelligent design of the universe, a universe fine-tuned to allow for intelligent life with free-will, etc.), or believe religion is evil or cause for increased human misery.

Answer the following questions.

1. With regard to the relationship between religion and culture (behavior):
a) Religion is a cultural attribute;
b) Culture is (at least for religious people) a religious attribute.
and; a) People generally modify their religion when it conflicts strongly with what they perceive to be their best social and economic interests;
b) People generally accept a reduced social and economic situation if their religion so requires.
and: a) People generally interpret their religion according to their socio-economic position in society (for example, a rich man and a poor man can read the same scripture or other religious edict and come to opposite conclusions about what it means);
b) People generally interpret their religion according to scripture or the head priest irrespective of their socio-economic position in society, so that a rich man and a poor man get precisely the same message if they “believe in” the same religion.
and: a) People often use their religion to justify war, slavery, discriminatory treatment of women or minority groups, and all manner of evil deeds, but it matters little what religion they use for that purpose, or indeed whether or not they actually do subscribe to that religion;
b) Religious beliefs are a primary cause for war, slavery, discriminatory treatment of women and minority groups, and all manner of evil deeds, so that if religion did not exist much or most of that sort of evil would not exist in the world.
and: a) Religion is a “cultural universal,” which attests to the power of that idea so that adherents are best considered normal;
b) Religion is a silly idea subscribed to by morons and those who use morons to further their personal, political or economic agenda.

for example:
a1) The fundamental cause for the Crusades was Arab control of “silk road” which cut off the supply of luxuries from the East; had that economic motive not existed, Europeans would likely have known little and cared less about who controlled the “Holy Land” (which is not to say that individual Crusaders were not sincere in their beliefs that they were fighting for their “God”);
a2) The Catholic/Protestant conflict in Ireland was in fact a conflict between a relatively wealthy group that controlled most economic resources and a much poorer group that felt economic exploitation, such that religion was a convenient marker for which side one was on, but had virtually nothing to do with the conflict (which is not to say that individual combatants do not sincerely believe God is on their side) ;
a3) The Israel/Palestine conflict is between a relatively wealthy group of outsiders (mostly Europeans) who dominate the economy of the region and a relatively poor group of local people who were made second-class citizens by the invaders, so that had the Israelis been Muslims rather than Jewish it would have mattered little (except to the extent that differing religions make an excellent marker for knowing which side one is on);
a4) The current conflict between Islam and Western (secular) society was caused, and is sustained, by temporary oil wealth that encourages Muslims to believe (incorrectly) they can recreate the glory of their past without pursuing the Western urban-industrial development model (which is completely incompatible with fundamentalist Islam); absent oil wealth, Islamic nations would be scrambling to adopt the Western model of urban-industrial development regardless of the consequences to traditional Islamic values and culture;
a5) When adversaries share the same religion they find some other “marker” to identify their enemies, and both sides assume God is on their side;
a6) etc.

b) Religion is a fundamental cause for the conflicts listed above, and most other wars, so that had religion not existed those conflicts would not have occurred.

If you picked (b) on any of the above, go directly to #6
If you wisely picked (a) on all the above continue:

2. With regard to people with and without strong religious faith:
a) Those with strong religious faith have, on average, longer life expectancies;
b) Those with strong religious faith have life expectancies equal to or shorter than non-believers.
and: a) Those with strong religious faith are less likely to be criminals, antisocial, freeloaders, etc.;
b) Those with strong religious faith are equally or more likely to be criminals, etc.
and: a) Those with strong religious faith are less likely to suffer from depression, and are more likely to recover quickly from depression when it does occur;
b) Those with strong religious faith are equally or more likely to suffer from depression, and are equally or less likely to recover quickly from depression when it does occur;
Note: Studies are available (at least for the U.S.) on these issues, and they are able to statistically remove variations accounted for by a lower probability that religious persons smoke, etc., by comparing smokers who are religious to smokers who are not, etc.; however, without reading those studies you can probably guess the correct answer simply on the basis of common sense.
and: a) Societies where most people believe in God are more likely to be more civil, peaceful, and respectful of the rights of others;
b) Societies where most people believe in God are more likely to be more unruly, criminal, and disrespectful of the rights of others.
and: a) Those with strong religious faith are less vulnerable to charismatic individuals preaching odd-ball political, religious, or social lifestyles (for example, whackos who lead the morons out into the woods to have sex or whatever with them);
b) Those with strong religious faith are equally or more vulnerable than those without such faith to charismatic individuals preaching odd-ball political, religious, or social lifestyles.
and: a) Those with strong religious faith are more likely to be able to face tragic events in their life, and face death, with dignity and grace;
b) Those with strong religious faith are no more, or less, likely to be able to face tragedy and death with dignity and grace, than those without such faith.
and: a) There is great power in religion, sufficient to cause intelligent persons to believe in the “power of prayer,” and cause people to perform great acts of courage even in the face of certain death;
b) Religion is a farce that an intelligent person can recognize to be completely powerless and empty, and persons without religious faith are equally or more likely to be able to perform great acts of courage in the face of certain death.

If you picked (b) on any of the above, go directly to #6
If you wisely picked (a) on all the above continue:

3. With regard to belief and disbelief in God (a Creator, a purposeful universe, intelligent design, etc.):
a) Persons with belief have nothing more (or less) than faith to support their beliefs—there being no objective, definitive evidence of the existence of God;
b) Persons with belief base their beliefs on (what they believe is) objective evidence.
and: a) Persons who reject belief in God have nothing more (or less) than faith to support their disbelief—there being no objective, definitive evidence of the non-existence of God.
b) Persons who reject belief in God base their non-belief on objective evidence.
and: a) IF a Creator designed a world in which some beings were to have free-will, the free-will beings had to be denied definitive evidence of the Creator because such evidence would automatically negate free-will—[If you can see the mountain standing before you, you could not possibly deny its existence!].
b) Lack of definitive evidence of the existence/non-existence of a Creator does not suggest purposeful design because, there IS definitive evidence of the non-existence of God, or because there are other issues, concepts, and ideas that no human has ever been, or ever will be, able to grasp, such as _______ (fill in the blank).
and: a) Many of the greatest intellects (Einstein, Franklin & Jefferson, among others) often rejected formal religious faiths, but did “believe in God” and had great respect for formal religions, holding that “free thinking” was best left to intellectuals, and that most “normal” people need religion;
b) Intellects of the past mostly had nothing but contempt for religion and belief in God, or they greatly underestimated the wisdom of “most normal people.”
and: a) People with strong religious values sincerely believe sharing their belief will benefit non-believers with greater happiness in this life and salvation in the afterlife;
b) People with strong religious values who want to share their beliefs with non-believers do so for power or profit, or because they want other people to share their own misery.
and: a) Atheists who attempt to convince believers that we live in a mechanical universe do so because they are completely ignorant of the consequences for that person, or because they want to share their own misery;
b) Atheists who are motivated to share their disbelief with believers sincerely believe that if believers abandon their religion they will benefit with greater happiness in this life, and/or greater satisfaction in knowing the truth.

If you picked (b) on any of the above, go directly to #6
If you wisely picked (a) on all the above continue:

4. The fact that evil exists in the world, and that bad things happen to good people, proves:
a) The Creator understood that there could not be good without evil, any more than up without down, and wanted people to have a choice between good and evil so that we could choose good over evil, right over wrong, and thereby have heroes as well as villains (in other words, have free-will), and understood that there could be no joy and fulfillment without disappointment, no true love without the possibility of loss, no good health and contentment without sickness and sadness, etc.
b) The Creator (if He exists) is an evil guy, who needs to have someone jerk on his long white beard.
and: a) In the absence of “evil” human society would be akin to the society of ants all working together to eat and reproduce, with little or no individuality or concept of free-will and human happiness;
b) In the absence of “evil” we would all be just happy as hell.
and: a) People who think God is “bad” because He created a world where evil exists (is precisely equal to the amount of good) just haven’t thought about it very much;
b) People who think God is “bad” (or does not exist) because evil exists, are correct.
and: a) Our goal in life must be pursuit of truth and justice for all, with the understanding that it is that pursuit, rather than attainment of those goals, that gives a good life meaning;
b) Our goal in life must be the achievement of truth and justice for all, because anything less means failure and triumph of evil.
and: a) Young persons often rejects religion because they decide that any God who created a world filled with so much evil does not deserve their attention; most get over that angry young man syndrome when they mature sufficiently to understand that “good” could not exist without evil, delight without disappointment, happiness without sadness, etc., and free-will requires the possibility of a real choice, including the choice for evil;
b) Any God who created a world filled with evil must be an evil God; the existence of good, delight, happiness, etc., does not require the existence of evil, disappointment, sadness, etc., and if free-will requires the existence of choices that can lead to evil, we would be better off without free-will.

If you picked (b) on any of the above, go directly to #6
If you wisely picked (a) on all the above continue:

5. When I die:
a) I have no way of knowing (other than by faith) what, if anything, will happen to my individuality;
b) I know I will be in oblivion and my individuality will cease to exist.
and: a) In the absence of any definitive evidence regarding any sort of awareness after death, it is wise to assume such an afterlife will exist, there being no penalty for being incorrect;
b) It is wise to assume there will be no afterlife because I have hard evidence to prove that, or the penalty for being incorrect (while alive or in oblivion after death) is too great to bear.
and: a) Notwithstanding absence of definitive evidence of a Creator, everything I observe and understand suggests to me that it is most improbable that the universe, life on earth, and especially my ability to reason and have free-will, could have evolved by chance in a mechanical universe;
b) Science explains (or is capable of explaining) how the universe came into existence and how life evolved on earth, and my ability to reason along with everything else I observe appears to be a logical consequence of evolution and other known (or knowable) mechanical processes.
and: a) Given that I was born ‘out’ of this world and will die ‘into’ it, my perception of individuality is likely to be a fantasy;
b) I was born ‘into’ this world as a unique individual, and when I die ‘out’ of it, that individual will no longer exist.
and: a) The most logical explanation for human reason, good and evil, and free-will, is that the Creator is enjoying a game of hide and seek with Himself, playing the parts of billions of human beings, and multi-billions of other lifeforms, rocks, clouds, raindrops, etc.; and when ‘the lights go out’ I will know that all the wrongs I have done in my life were done to myself, and I will rejoice in all the good deeds and regret all the bad deeds that I have done to myself;
b) The most logical explanation for human reason, good and evil, and free-will, is a mechanical universe that is purposeless and meaningless (except for possible personal satisfaction for individuals while alive), so that when ‘the lights go out’ I will be in oblivion and it will not matter if I have done good or bad deeds to anyone (except for the personal satisfaction I might derive from living a good or bad life while I am alive).

If you picked (b) on any of the above, go directly to #6.

6. Go back to #1 and this time THINK ABOUT IT!

If you wisely picked (a) on all the above then: Go directly to Goal and collect 200 dollars.