Avris

From a scientific point of view, of course I care for the god hypothesis. Its existence and nature are facts about our universe that are definitely worth knowing. But since we have absolutely no hard evidence supporting the existence of any god, anything we say about it and its nature must be either an uneducated guess, or just shamelessly made up.

From my personal perspective, however, should I care about god at all? Would it change anything in my life? Would I become a better person, if I just started believing against all reason?

1. There might be no gods.

In this case I can just freely live my life as an atheist, without wasting time for any superstitious nonsense, and without fearing death – since I won’t even notice I’m gone already. I’d be trying to be a good person just because I don’t want others to suffer.

2. There might be a god that doesn’t care about us at all.

Then why would I care either? Cool, it created us, it is some deistic or pantheistic force of nature, maybe there’s some afterlife, but we simply don’t know it. In this case I can just freely live my life as an atheist, without wasting time for any superstitious nonsense, without fearing death – since my actions won’t affect my potential afterlife anyway. I’d be trying to be a good person, just because I don’t want others to suffer.

3. There might be a god that watches our moves and punishes or rewards us after death.

3. a) It rewards us for our good deeds and morals.

Well, without it telling us beforehand, in a straight-forward matter, what’s actually good and what’s bad, it doesn’t really seem fair to get judged by it, does it? Still, I think it’s safe to assume, that a secular morality, based on simply not being a dick and not wanting other people to suffer, should be enough, shouldn’t it? (Seriously, I refuse to adjust my sex life or my menu to what some primitive bronze age book says!)

In this case I can just freely live my life as an atheist, without wasting time for any superstitious nonsense, without fearing death, since I did my best to be a good person anyway – just because I don’t want others to suffer.

3. b) It rewards us for our faith or some other stupid, arbitrary trace.

Then why the hell would I want to be a pet of such a god? Being a mindless puppet, bullied into faith by a threat of hell, created for the sole purpose of worshipping its creator, not given enough information to make a wise decision, but being accounted for that decision anyway – that’s not what I want to be. If god is really so unimaginably cruel, then I chose to be a rebel, no matter the consequences.

Unless the punishment is hell as pictured by some sophisticated theologians: a state of soul when it’s separated from god. Then hell yeah! I’d be happy to get as far away from such monster as possible.

Summing up

So if I, somehow, managed to make myself believe in a god, no matter what kind of god would that be, would anything change for me?

I’d still be as good a person, as I can. I’d still refuse to base my morality on unverified sources and self-proclaimed authorities. I’d still try to base my life on reason and evidence, as much as I can.

Just one thing would change for sure: how other people see me. Some would like me more, some would like me less. My parents might even start treating my like a son again (if I also started pretending not to be gay). But hey! If they all care about my faith more than even I do, is there any reason why should I be bothered by their bigoted opinions?