There are many different religions, each claiming to be the 'true' one, with
the obvious implication that all the others are false. Most religions even
include many different sects with mutually incompatible doctrines. Each
religion is defended by its followers just as ardently as all the others.
Obviously they cannot all be right, but they can all be wrong! It is well
known that young children raised in a family of any particular religion
almost invariably end up adhering to that religion. Such indoctrination is a
form of child abuse. If the same children were raised in different families,
the results would undoubtedly be different. Thus, the particular religion
adopted by most individuals is purely an accident of birth. Even if the
doctrines of one particular religious sect were correct, all the others
would be wrong. It follows logically that any person's religion is almost
certainly not the true one. In the absence of objective evidence, it is more
rational to reject all religions than to adopt one at random. If God
existed, he/she/it might not approve of people following a false religion!
[Note. Since all religions have different ideas about their
god(s), for simplicity in what follows we shall refer to all such gods
generically as 'God', using the personal pronoun 'he' for definiteness.]
2. Where is the evidence?
There is not a shred of evidence in favour of any religion. Ancient books
written at a time when people had little scientific understanding of the
natural world, with no independent evidence to back up their claims, are
unworthy of serious consideration, even if millions of people revere them.
There are just as many people who follow other superstitions which the rest
of the world would regard as completely unfounded and even laughable. The
ancient Greek and Roman gods were based on time-honoured beliefs and customs
followed fervently by innumerable people. Why should the modern ideas of God
be any better? Logically, there is no difference - there is simply no
evidence. Religious apologists, who have no rational arguments to support
their beliefs, often challenge atheists to prove that there is no God.
Obviously, it is not possible to prove the non-existence of God, just as no
one can prove the non-existence of the tooth fairy, unicorns, or other
imaginary beings. If someone claims that some improbable entity exists, the
onus is on that person to provide evidence. Belief in things for which there
is no objective evidence deserves only ridicule, not respect.
3. God is a despicable evil monster
Where is the great compassionate God on which most modern religions are
based? If such a God really cared about the people of the world and were as
powerful as modern religions claim, he could certainly make himself known to
everyone in an unmistakable manner, thus dispelling doubt and at the same
time revealing which religion, if any, is the true one. Is he ashamed to
show himself? Where was this God during the Holocaust and other genocidal
massacres throughout history, not to mention countless natural disasters
causing untold suffering among the innocent? Was he asleep? Away on holiday?
Simply enjoying the show because he's a sadist? Too bored by it all to
bother to intervene? Punishing good and bad people alike in revenge for some
people's misdemeanours? Such a callous, vengeful and spiteful God would be
beneath contempt, more evil than Hitler. But of course there's no rational
reason to think that God exists.
4. Why bother?
It is ridiculous to imagine that a God having the character claimed by most
modern religions would really be so selfish or egoistic as to demand or even
expect that people would pay constant homage to him. Would he even care
that intelligent people didn't believe in him in the absence of any
verifiable evidence? In fact, to a being that created the entire universe,
the whole human population would hardly be noticeable! On a cosmic scale
there is nothing 'special' about our planet. The Earth revolves around the
Sun, which is a fairly average star at an outer extremity of the Milky Way
galaxy containing many billions of other stars, many with their own planets,
and there are 100 billion galaxies in the known universe. Scientists
consider it likely that countless other planets could harbour life. If a
super-intelligent being could observe the entire universe, the tiny speck of
human population on Earth would be of no more significance than the ants in
a particular garden would be to any one of us. Since there is no evidence
that God ever interacts with the world, why would he have any interest in
the strange rituals of modern religions?
5. Religion is a waste of time and energy
Think of all the time and energy expended by religious people preaching,
praying, singing hymns, chanting, mumbling, bowing, kneeling, genuflecting,
making unnatural movements of the hands, donning religious garments or
amulets, fasting, visiting shrines or 'holy' men, making religious
pilgrimages, performing circumambulatory rituals, etc. There is no evidence
that any of these activities ever produce positive results. Indeed, there
have been numerous incidents when natural disasters or brutal murders
occurred while large congregations were attending religious services in
churches or temples. Imagine how much could be achieved if all the time,
energy and resources devoted to meaningless religious rituals could be
diverted to productive purposes!
6. There is no need for the God hypothesis
The ancients invented gods to account for natural phenomena which they
could not explain in any other way - lightening and thunder, volcanos,
weather and climatic patterns, floods, plagues, the apparent motions of
celestial bodies in the sky, etc. Nowadays, every one of these natural
phenomena is understood by science. The general principles of Darwinian
evolution account for the great diversity of life on Earth and explain
convincingly how complex life forms, including the human species, evolved
from more primitive life, and indeed there is increasingly abundant evidence
for this. Modern cosmology enables us to understand how naturally occurring
physical processes lead to the formation of stars and planets like our
Earth. There is no need to invoke supernatural explanations for any known
phenomena. Physicists now even have plausible theories for the origin of the
universe itself. Even though many of the details remain uncertain, the fact
that modern science offers possible natural physical explanations of all
known phenomena means that God is redundant. The "God of the gaps" is dead!
7. The God hypothesis raises more questions than it answers
Religious apologists often say that God, as a creator, provides a simple
explanation of why we are here, and that it even explains the origin of the
universe, as a 'first cause'. Exactly the opposite is true - it explains
nothing! A God who designed all observable entities, including the many
complex forms of life, would have to be an even more advanced being. Who or
what created that God? This merely leads to an infinite regress. The answer
that God always existed is absurd. What did he do for all eternity until he
finally decided for some reason that it would be a good idea to create the
universe? The alternative hypothesis that God just suddenly sprang into
existence is equally absurd. The nature of the world clearly contradicts the
character of the God of modern religions. If God is infinitely good,
omniscient and omnipotent, why is his creation so imperfect that it produces
constant natural disasters and dreadful diseases resulting in indiscriminate
suffering, even among the most devout or innocent people? The cliché
"God works in mysterious ways" is merely a cop-out.
8. Religion is a source of evil
Throughout history, religious fanatics have waged holy wars and crusades,
plundered, tortured and murdered 'heretics' and 'infidels' simply because
they had different beliefs. Hitler, who was privately a committed Catholic,
tried to annihilate the Jews. The Jewish state of Israel imposes apartheid
policies on its Arab inhabitants. Sunni and Shia Muslims kill each other
indiscriminately in Iraq. Tensions between Hindus and Muslims accompanying
the creation of Pakistan by the partition of India led to the loss of
hundreds of thousands of lives. Bloody conflicts between Protestants and
Catholics in Northern Ireland continued for decades. The Catholic church has
never apologised for its close links with Nazi regimes in Europe. The Pope's
bigoted stance on birth control and abortion is responsible for untold
suffering and deaths. Some Muslim countries practise barbaric punishments,
such as beheading or stoning to death, in the name of religion. Various
religions preach genital mutilation, inhumane methods of slaughtering
animals, etc. Religion fills some people with such hate for others that they
become suicide bombers. The list of atrocities and crimes against humanity
due to religion is endless. Defenders of religion like to say that all these
things are not in keeping with the spirit of their religion. But the 'holy'
books on which their religions are based are no better. Anyone who peruses
the Bible attentively can read that God has sent plagues, ordered murders
and genocide, commanded human sacrifice, sanctioned slavery, etc. The Qur'an,
just as viciously, promotes looting, torture, rape and murder.
9. Religion is dehumanising
Religious people follow various dogmas unthinkingly and are taught not to
question the unsubstantiated claims of their religious leaders. In contrast,
atheists are more likely to have an inquisitive mind, to think for
themselves, and to form beliefs based solely on the weight of evidence. A
scientific understanding of natural physical and biological phenomena is far
more awe-inspiring than a naive belief that God is responsible for
everything. How can anyone fail to be impressed by modern cosmology, which
explains the formation of galaxies, stars and planets, by Darwinian
evolution, which accounts for the amazing diversity and adaptation of life,
by modern biology, which explains how cells divide and organisms function,
or by quantum mechanics, which governs the structure of the atom? Atheism is
also superior in the sphere of morality. It is far more noble for people to
do things because they feel that their actions are right than to obey
religious rules based on the threat that some invisible vindictive being is
watching their every move. Rational people are masters over their own lives,
not slaves to serve some non-existent God. Religion is an insult to human
dignity.
10. Religion impedes progress
Nearly all religions teach their followers to accept their dogmas
unquestioningly, and this inhibits free and original thought and innovation.
Examples abound throughout history, up to the present day. A good example is
provided by the Catholic church. Galileo Galilei, one of the most brilliant
scientists of his time, was denounced to the Inquisition and persecuted for
the rest of his life because he taught that the Earth revolves around the
Sun, which contradicted the church's dogma that the Earth sits immovably at
the centre of the universe. Even worse, the great philosopher Giordano Bruno
was burnt at the stake for 'heresy'. In modern times, the Catholic church
would rather condemn countless women to misery and suffering than allow them
to control their own bodies by simple and harmless methods of contraception,
and it discourages stem cell research, which might improve or even save the
lives of millions of people. In the US, religious fundamentalists have
forced many schools to restrict the teaching of evolution and other
scientific theories, and instead indoctrinate children with ideas of
'creationism' (nowadays relabelled as 'intelligent design'), thereby killing
scientific curiosity and understanding in thousands of young minds and
inhibiting future scientific progress. In many backward countries, poorly
educated people are brainwashed by religious leaders into believing that a
better afterlife awaits them. This spreads defeatism and dampens the
struggle for social justice and a better standard of living.
Conclusion (especially for those stuck in the dreary old rut of
religion): There is no God. Stop worrying and enjoy your life!
A final note
Any one of the ten reasons cited above is sufficient to reject religion. I
wrote this page to record my own thoughts on this subject as a scientist,
and of course the overwhelming majority of scientists are atheists. Much
more could be said on this subject, but this essay has been kept as short as
possible in the hope that it would be more readable.
A much more comprehensive and lucid account of why most scientists reject
religion can be found in the book The God Delusion by Richard
Dawkins, which I recommend wholeheartedly for further reading.