• Question: why do people think there is a god? and do you?

    Asked by izzyb98 to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 25 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by webbo21, hophappy.
    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Great question, lots of sensitivities around this one too.

      Firstly, I don’t think there is a God. I think that people love to find ways of explaining how or why things happen and there is a lot of fun to be had in giving these things a personality.

      At some point, this idea could be used to have power over people. For example, I could tell my children that lightening is a spear from a giant hunter god and if they don’t brush their teeth, he will come and eat them in their sleep.

      As with any brand, those with a single image (e.g. coca-cola, nike, McD’s) are the most effective, so we get the world religions with one God. They’re still a great way to control people (e.g. don’t do that or you will go to hell, go and do this and you will go to heaven).

      So, people believe there is a god because they want an explanation for things and it seems like a simple one, because it is the interest of the people who have power over others and also because they are afraid that it they don’t believe, they will be tortured for an eternity when they die. But I don’t.

    • Photo: Philippa Bird

      Philippa Bird answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      I agree with Tom that you can scientifically explain the existence of “a god” for many reasons, both evolutionary (a sense of “belonging” and tribalism, a sense of hope), and, when man became more sophisticated in his thinking, for control over others.

      However, I believe in God. I think of God as a force of goodness and love that lives in all of us. I don’t think He makes as many strict rules as other people think, just basically respect and be kind to others and yourself. I still also believe in evolution and the big bang. But I believe not everything can be explained by science (for example, our capacity to love and be selfless), and I don’t believe we are meant to understand the way it all works (of course some people would say that’s just convenient).

    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      I think that it’s in our nature to want to understand the world around us, and to think about what happens after we die. For some people the belief in God gives them an explanation for why we are here (because science is still working to answer that question), and gives them some comfort for the future.
      For the record, I do not believe in God.

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