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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that God doesn't exist and is a manmade concept

569 replies

Perimama · 07/12/2023 01:42

As it is taboo to talk religion politics with people socially, I often wonder whether many people think like me. As a species we have dismissed all the other "Gods" ie Greek gods etc. What makes the Christian God any different? I wasn't born into a religious household although I was baptized Christian. The whole concept seems so unbelievable to me.

OP posts:
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Clarinet1 · 07/12/2023 18:27

I’m not particularly religious but I have to offer another quote - “If God did not exist, we would have to invent Him” - Voltaire.

BigMandsTattooPortfolio · 07/12/2023 18:34

Apparently, though normally a quiet baby, I screamed my head off when the vicar baptised me.

JustAMinutePleass · 07/12/2023 18:37

Nothing dies in the universe - it just changes. So we are the stardust and the fresh green shoots and everything in between. When you think of our universe like that you almost don’t need god.

x2boys · 07/12/2023 18:41

BigMandsTattooPortfolio · 07/12/2023 18:34

Apparently, though normally a quiet baby, I screamed my head off when the vicar baptised me.

I think most babies do.it must be a bit of shock having water poured on your head.

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2023 22:00

I think a lot of Christian churches teach that it is the devil who is working evil in the world.

I've forgotten how 'the devil' fits in with other standard parts of Christian theology ... inconsistently, probably.

Guesswho88 · 07/12/2023 22:04

Why does God HAVE to be good?

yoteyak · 07/12/2023 22:44

Guesswho88 · 07/12/2023 22:04

Why does God HAVE to be good?

A god CAN'T be good as well as omnipotent and omniscient, given the evil in the world.

So if any god does exist, we better hope it's not omnipotent and omniscient either, or things will likely be bad for us.

(Luckily, there are no gods, good or bad. Phew!)

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2023 22:54

Guesswho88 · 07/12/2023 22:04

Why does God HAVE to be good?

No necessity- many gods haven't been, or there are properly dualistic systems with a good and a bad one slogging it out.

But some religions - particularly monotheistic ones I think - seem to need a good god. I guess if you're going to have a religion with one god, and scriptures laying down a moral code supposedly from this entity, then you've pretty much got to claim your god is good.

Meadowlands · 07/12/2023 23:02

This wil probably sicken non believers, but my faith makes my life complete , gives me inexplicable inner peace and meaning.
Even if there is no god, then my life has been a whole lot richer for believing there is.

TheKeatingFive · 07/12/2023 23:12

This wil probably sicken non believers, but my faith makes my life complete , gives me inexplicable inner peace and meaning.
Even if there is no god, then my life has been a whole lot richer for believing there is.

I'm a non believer and I totally get what you're saying. It would be a lot nicer to live life with faith. I just don't have it.

yoteyak · 07/12/2023 23:15

Meadowlands · 07/12/2023 23:02

This wil probably sicken non believers, but my faith makes my life complete , gives me inexplicable inner peace and meaning.
Even if there is no god, then my life has been a whole lot richer for believing there is.

Or, perhaps, you think your life has been a whole lot richer, when actually it has been of less worth than it might have been had you discovered the truth.

Maybe that's good enough. I'm not sure. (Where ignorance is bliss ...?)

XDownwiththissortofthingX · 07/12/2023 23:20

Meadowlands · 07/12/2023 23:02

This wil probably sicken non believers, but my faith makes my life complete , gives me inexplicable inner peace and meaning.
Even if there is no god, then my life has been a whole lot richer for believing there is.

There is nothing "sickening" about this whatsoever, as it sounds exactly like the peace, tranquillity, confidence, surety, and total ambivalence towards the prospect of death that my Atheism gives me. From that perspective it is entirely understandable and relatable.

Laurendelaney1987 · 07/12/2023 23:21

I believe in God.

You are equally as entitled to not believe in God.

ErrolTheDragon · 07/12/2023 23:38

Laurendelaney1987 · 07/12/2023 23:21

I believe in God.

You are equally as entitled to not believe in God.

Yes... I'm so glad I was born in a time and place where this is true.

CurlewKate · 08/12/2023 03:12

@Laurendelaney1987 "This wil probably sicken non believers, but my faith makes my life complete , gives me inexplicable inner peace and meaning."

Why would anyone be "sickened" by this?
What I am sickened by is Christians claiming and getting special privileges. And also having the unmitigated gall to claim persecution. In the UK. If you do neither of these things, then it's obviously none of my business what you believe.

CurlewKate · 08/12/2023 03:14

Oops, that message was meant for @Meadowlands . But it applies to all believers.

dangerrabbit · 08/12/2023 06:29

cheezncrackers · 07/12/2023 11:11

They do say that the best way to raise an atheist is to send them to a Catholic school Grin

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It happened to me

TheBeautifulMoors · 08/12/2023 07:21

CurlewKate · 08/12/2023 03:12

@Laurendelaney1987 "This wil probably sicken non believers, but my faith makes my life complete , gives me inexplicable inner peace and meaning."

Why would anyone be "sickened" by this?
What I am sickened by is Christians claiming and getting special privileges. And also having the unmitigated gall to claim persecution. In the UK. If you do neither of these things, then it's obviously none of my business what you believe.

what special privileges do christians get in the UK?

HRTQueen · 08/12/2023 07:28

That the most religious Christian in the UK days are bank holidays

so that for most is a guaranteed day off that Is not part of their annual leave

HRTQueen · 08/12/2023 07:28

*Christian days

CurlewKate · 08/12/2023 07:53

@TheBeautifulMoors "what special privileges do christians get in the UK?"

The choice of a third more tax payer funded state schools. An unelected block of 25 in the House of Lords all likely to vote in similar ways on many issues including end of life care and women's reproductive health.

crikeymikeydoyoulikey · 08/12/2023 08:29

yoteyak · 07/12/2023 10:59

If you want a list of old-style gods, H. L. Mencken is a good starting place. See for example Funeral March: "Where is the graveyard of dead gods? ..."

"... Huitzilopochtli, like many other gods, had no human father; his mother was a virtuous widow; he was born of an apparently innocent flirtation that she carried on with the sun. When he frowned, his father, the sun, stood still. When he roared with rage, earthquakes engulfed whole cities. When he thirsted he was watered with 10,000 gallons of human blood. ...

"... Speaking of Huitzilopochtli recalls his brother, Tezcatilpoca. Tezcatilpoca was almost as powerful: He consumed 25,000 virgins a year. Lead me to his tomb: I would weep, and hang a couronne des perles. But who knows where it is? Or where the grave of Quitzalcontl is? Or Tialoc? Or Chalchihuitlicue? Or Xiehtecutli? Or Centeotl, that sweet one? Or Tlazolteotl, the goddess of love? Or Mictlan? Or Ixtlilton? Or Omacatl? Or Yacatecutli? Or Mixcoatl? Or Xipe? Or all the host of Tzitzimitles? Where are their bones? Where is the willow on which they hung their harps? In what forlorn and unheard of hell do they await the resurrection morn? Who enjoys their residuary estates? Or that of Dis, whom Caesar found to be the chief god of the Celts? Or that of Tarves, the bull? Or that of Moccos, the pig? Or that of Epona, the mare? Or that of Mullo, the celestial jack-ass? There was a time when the Irish revered all these gods ..."

A few more? ...

"Dagda
Robigus
Pluto
Ops
Meditrina
Vesta
Tilmun
Ogyrvan
Dea Dia
Ceros
Vaticanus
Edulia
Adeona
Iuno Lucina
Saturn
Furrina
Vediovis
Consus
Cronos
Enki
Engurra
Belus
Dimmer
Mu-ul-lil
Ubargisi
Ubilulu
Gasan lil
U-dimmer-an-kia
Enurestu
U-sab-sib"

... And so on. And so on.

Often people say, regarding their children, something along the lines of, "I don't want to tell them what to believe; I think they should be taught about different religions and then left to make their own minds up."

Similar thoughts are often expressed about R. E. in schools.

I'm still waiting for someone to mention Huitzilopochtli or any of the others in this regard.

I told my children the truth. Religions (plural) are nonsense - all of them. (Sometimes interesting nonsense, to be sure, but nonsense all the same.) We'd all be better off without them. My children grew up to be happy, successful, and - I dare assert - decent moral people who smile at the superstitious beliefs of theists (of all stripes).

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This is fascinating and I will follow those up - I love reading this kind of thing.

crikeymikeydoyoulikey · 08/12/2023 08:30

Perimama · 07/12/2023 01:42

As it is taboo to talk religion politics with people socially, I often wonder whether many people think like me. As a species we have dismissed all the other "Gods" ie Greek gods etc. What makes the Christian God any different? I wasn't born into a religious household although I was baptized Christian. The whole concept seems so unbelievable to me.

You may find this site helpful and interesting.

QuizzlyBear · 08/12/2023 08:34

100%! I honestly can't understand how people still have unwavering belief (which they are willing to die and kill for!) in THEIR God, when the other 4000 worshipped in human history are obviously bollocks.

Critical thinking is obviously not a human trait!