The Taboo of Questioning Religion and Irreducible Complexity

     Why is it that we are not supposed to question religion? Some one might get offended? I have personally never understood the idea of feeling offended. The most applicable definition of 'offend' from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary is exactly as follows:

"a : to cause difficulty, discomfort, or injury"


     Now why would honest inquiry contradicting a belief cause difficulty or discomfort? Well, I am quite certain I am about to test the boundary of offending a person. As it was discussed by Richard Dawkins in "The God Delusion", I contend that being offended by these questions is to be embarrassed by the answer.  These questions appeal to rationality, and highly irrational and inexplicable answers leave one feeling ignorant or unintelligent. I do not believe that of the vast majority of people I have encountered. They may be ignorant on the subject, but that isn't an insult, we are all ignorant of certain things. They aren't necessarily unintelligent though. More likely, they have never questioned these institutions and doctrines of faith because of the social stigma and negative connotation that goes with it. 


     Telling those close to me who I know to hold conflicting beliefs that I am in fact an atheist was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Being an atheist is a quick path to being laughed at and become the subject of anger and discontent. It can immediately render a person as unsuitable to enter a relationship with. You will automatically be considered a bad person to varying degrees by many people without a second thought. Family can instantly become appalled and ashamed of you. Simply because you view the universe in a rational sense. Your standing in a community and how people perceive you can change in an instant. According to the Bible you are instantly as sinful and bad as anyone on the planet for rejecting God. 


     Now, the theories proposed on the origin of life are still very simple. And they will always remain simple. Just as evolution is simple but results in complexity. The hypothesis of God requires God to be an extremely complex being, which then subjects him to the same question as life, what created it? The human consciousness is simply not capable of understanding the origin of life at this point in our evolutionary progress. Things like lower back pain are attributed to being overweight, sleeping in an odd position or lifting something incorrectly. However, we have evolved to walking upright over billions of years of walking on all fours. If we still walked on all fours, we wouldn't encounter this. These things will disappear in future phases of evolution, just the same way the appendix has become a non-essential organ that is more hazardous to us than anything. Our complexity is a product of something vastly more simple. For me it was an awe-inspiring and even life changing revelation when I began to understand evolution. Ultimately having concrete answers was very enlightening. And I find it eternally enlightening to know that even when my scientific heroes die, and even when I die that science will carry on in the quest for truth. 


     The fact that we are composed of the exact same elements that make up the universe is enlightening, and it's just further proof of these scientific theories. The problem is that it's not 'cool' to like science and math. For all of my lifetime and for quite a while before, those who take interest in these things are labeled as geeks. I certainly am a geek, and I am proud of that. Remember, without geeks you wouldn't be reading this right now. Because not only would you not have the internet, you wouldn't even have the computer you read this from if it wasn't for those with a great appreciation of science. 


     So if something can not come from nothing, what made God? More specifically what made such a complex God? Only a being even more complex could have created a being with such complexity. Shouldn't we be simplifying things as we trace it back (especially knowing all we know of how life evolves to be more complex not the other way around) rather than tracing it back to a more and more complex being? Shouldn't we avoid the infinite regress? Every thing in this world has a simpler origin, not a more complex one. There is no known exception to this rule. Creating one by inserting God as the answer to all of the universe's origin leaves you constantly scrambling to answer an infinitely more complex question with a more complex answer. This is contradicting to everything we know about how the world works and how life emerges.


     I don't ask you to change your beliefs, I ask that you think about it rationally and logically and subject every thing to criticism and questioning, and to remember that we are composed of the same elements as everything in the known universe. That isn't a hypothesis, it is proven and irrefutable fact. 

Observations of the World and Religion

The world around us is a confusing place. There is so much that we don't understand and we can not explain. As humans, we struggle with this. It is very hard for us to come to terms with all of these concepts that we simply can not understand. We don't understand how the universe came into existence (although we have some pretty solid theories pointing in a good direction), but we don't know and certainly do not understand ALL the science behind it. We don't understand all the evils in our world, of human or natural cause. Humans need to fill that gap, most of us are not content to say "I don't know".

Everyone is looking for something to fill that gap, something greater than themselves. Many turn to religion. Fantastical fairy tales from centuries ago. Although these stories defy logic and baffle the rational mind, many are content to live with in the confines of this, because let's be honest, it makes us feel good. People are comforted to think there is someone up there looking after us. That there is a plan to what appears as chaos around us at times. I can understand that. Sure, it's wonderful to have someone looking after you, protecting, knowing that your life is planned out so you don't have to worry.

However, none of that makes these beliefs true, or correct. Like a child creates an imaginary friend when they're bored or lonely, adults have done the same thing.  Imagine though, all the time spent praying. Imagine if you took that time and applied yourself toward what you were praying for. How much could you accomplish? How many hungry people could you feed, how many diseases could be cured? On the more personal, or selfish side, how many more job interviews would have gone better? Would your raise have been bigger? Who knows, the list of things people pray for is endless. The truth is these prayers are not going to be answered. 

I always hear, "it's just God's plan", and "everything happens for a reason", and that "all prayers are answered, just not in the way you think". But these are merely subjective emotions. Your prayer was not answered, you did not feel God. The reason you did not feel God is because nearly all of our experiences are experienced internally. What I mean is, the reality we see is not reality, it is only our reality. We do not see with our eyes, hear with our ears, or feel with our skin. All of this is done with the human brain. The brain has to process and interpret every thing we experience, everything we see, touch, taste, feel, and hear. So if your brain is kind of "programmed" to apply a feeling of being "touched by God" to these "unexplainable" circumstances and experiences, then you will "feel God". 

Personal experience can not be proof of God. It simply can not. All of our experiences and the subjective emotions we feel in reaction are only our own interpretation. Now, if you are willing to admit to that, and say I admit it is only my perception and it does not mean God actually exists, but I still believe he does. Then I actually take no issue with that. As long as you are not using a claim of personal internal experience to validate or prove the existence of a god or any specific God, then that is ok. If religion helps you, if it makes you a better person and makes you feel good, then more power to you. However you must always remember this does not make your claim absolute.

We can all benefit from these realizations. Atheists alike, must admit, although there is much to suggest that a god does not exist in our universe, we can not prove it. It is not absolute. That doesn't mean the discussion should stop. It doesn't mean that the pursuit for the truth and actual cause of our splendid universe should cease. In fact, it means even more that it needs to continue. I embrace science and the natural world for all that it is and all that it is capable of. The power is vast, infinite, that is to say beyond our comprehension as humans. Evolution is something to marvel at, and yes, it is true. It is not a theory that is merely dreamt up. It is a scientific theory. The reason it remains a "theory" is because the only absolute facts are those that can be proven through mathematical equations. To be very technical, I can pick up a rock and say "this is a rock". If you say, "no it's not", I have little to really refute that with. However the overwhelming majority of people would agree that it is in fact, a rock. Therefore it is accepted as fact.  A scientific theory is accepted as fact because it can not be refuted. The theory of evolution is as much a theory as the theory of gravity.

Basically what I am saying is, it's time we all stop and think things through. I mean Christians believe that God impregnated a virgin through immaculate conception, who gave birth to him, died to rise from the dead and forgive our sins. Really? Think it through. It just doesn't make sense. It's just, well, dumb. And people base their entire lives around this belief system. This doesn't end with religion, we need to think everything through. We have the ability to change the world, but we continue to stay stuck in the same routines, because it's God's plan. It is not God's plan. We are not predestined, we are not controlled by fate. We all make our own destiny, and the sooner we realize and embrace that, the sooner we can begin to change the world for the better, for everyone.