The late Christopher Hitchens (Journalist and atheist: Source) and John Lennox (Mathematician: Source)
On a serious note, I usually refrain from sharing my perception towards religion because I consider religion to be a sensitive topic which shapes people's lives and hopes. Well, one thing that I struggle to comprehend is why religious beliefs are mainly in countries that have low social security. I mean if you check the distribution of poverty and that of religious beliefs you will realise that third-world countries which have a poor economy are at the forefront when it comes to religion. This gets me to question if there is any connection or if It is just a coincidence. Whatever the answer may be there is no doubt that those people can maintain their hopes and thrive through religion. There has to be some sort of explanation as to why it is so. When I look at history I also cringe at how religion has been used to gain power and control, as a guilt trip, and for dominance in the past.
It is pretty clear (at least to me) that religion could have been created by people who had self-serving agendas. Of course, some had good intentions to install morality, hopes, values, consciousness and ways to care for their spiritual being. I think the important thing to realise as individuals is not to confuse God and Religion as one thing. I do not think there is anyone in the world who has acquired enough wisdom, life experience or enough scientific evidence that validates their dispute about the existence of God and spirituality. People like to say God doesn't exist because there is enough empirical evidence from Bing Bang or Evolution theory on the origin of the universe and life on earth. But these two concepts only give us a logical understanding of the material world, not human experiences. They also limit our understanding to discoveries meaning anything that has not been discovered and tested remains an assumption.
With this kind of logic, we will always invalidate that there is an external force beyond the material world until we can discover and prove it. Unfortunately, our current advancement in science still can't explain the order of the events that get fed into the universe which shapes our nature of consciousness, subjective life experience and our unique identity beyond the DNA. It cannot even give us a logical understanding of the timing and circumstances of an individual's birth - like why are we born in a particular century and why are we still alive. Surely the century and era we are born in cannot be determined by our genetics and environment. To me, using science to invalidate God's existence is just pure scientism which is probably designed to also serve its agenda.
Be careful of both Religion and scientism!
I do not have enough wisdom to invalidate God's existence, but you and I have the opportunity to see further by standing on the shoulders of giants in science. If you study history enough you will realise that about 65% of Nobel prize winners in science believed in God. To me, the progress in science is not evidence that God doesn't exist because it still doesn't answer the purpose of life. Amazingly, science would rather aim to answer what is happening outside earth in exoplanets but it is not driven to answer simple questions like why the universe feeds different events for me and you to go through our certain life experiences. Most of the explanations we have are just philosophical.
We can proudly say we believe in science and there is no God. But the same science suggests that there are over five million species on earth that are not yet discovered. If you check how scientists know - you will realise that their methods are limited to existing nomenclature like fossils and specimens meaning if science decided to name the exoplanets "heaven" then probably there could be theories of God outside earth. I do not see how "God or Angel" logic differs from the one supported by science that there could be intelligent forms outside earth who may be more advanced than us.
If one can dispute the morality of religion aimed at acknowledging God and spirituality based on science- then I would also expect logical thinking to question the morality of science in disputing God's existence but chose to believe in the existence of things they have not even discovered. Some "believe" that humans can potentially inhabit Mars and there have been efforts to make it habitable yet we have not even finished exploring and understanding the earth we live in. If you watch the movie "Let it lie-" you will know that where humans are concerned - we need to question the motive for everything and in this context be it religion or science. For religion, it is clear that a lot of doctrines are now used for personal gain. But what if Science also have its agenda when it comes to our psychological being?
Thank you for stopping by!
I think that this project has successfully been carried out. With the way things look, journeys to Mars would be for only the elites of the world...
Like you mentioned,the topic "religion" is a very sensitive one. Many people are using their religious superiority for their personal benefit; twirling and twisting the masses.
I like the fact that you pointed out that "religion and God" are not the same thing. People mistake this a whole lot and that one of the causes of the major rivalry between different religions
You are right, if it was for everyone would you consider moving to Mars?
Exactly my point and it's amazing how they are able to use their doctrine to exploit others in times of desperations.
True confusing God and Religion causes rivalry between different religions especially when others think their religion superior to others beliefs.
Just to visit. I prefer it here on earth. How about you tho?
Same I prefer earth. 😊
That makes the two of us then 😃
Yeah true!😀