On Disbelief in any Religion

"Philosophy does not promise to secure anything external for man, otherwise it would be admitting something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. For as the material of the carpenter is wood, and that of statuary bronze, so the subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life." (Stoic philosopher, Epictetus)

Religion is a type of philosophy. Like Stoicism, it goes beyond mere ideas and propounds a way of life. But every philosophy propounds a way of life, at least insofar as ideas affect behavior – some are just subtler about it than others. What separates religion from other philosophies (i.e. “secular philosophies”) is that religion breaks Epictetus’s cardinal rule – it admits something that lies beyond its proper subject-matter. But, the religious will retort, you have missed the point entirely! It is exactly that which lies beyond each person’s own life that is the subject matter of religion! Or, more precisely, Religion's subject-matter is both each person’s own life and that which lies beyond it.

Yes, and that is why no human should ever believe in a religion.

Let me explain. If I wrote a book and asked you to read it, but before handing it to you I said, “This book was written by my hand, but it is not my word – it is the word of God!” would you believe me just because I said so? Would you not ask for proof? Even after you read it, and you loved it, it was your favorite book you have ever read – would you yet dedicate your life to it? Even if the book had changed your life, had made you a better person, had helped you in times of need simply by appearing in your thoughts and causing you to invoke its name – would you believe that it was not my word but, in fact, the word of God?

Maybe. But, at that moment when you decide – “You know what, that young man was right! This really is the word of God! How could it not be when it has helped me so! When it has opened my eyes to things beyond this realm of existence! When it affects this realm from whence I cannot see!” – just then, you see another human, smiling brightly, confident yet sincere, walking with a book in his hand, too.

Curious, you ask, “Sir, what book is that in your hand? Is it the cause of your good graces?” And the man replies, “It is the cause of all good graces, my friend. It is no other than the word of God!” You ask to see it, flip through the pages, and realize it is not the same book. You ask to read some of it and, though it makes some similar general points, the details are different and it claims to be the only book that contains God’s word. All other books must be false, it says, just as yours does.

Immediately you doubt the sincerity of the man before you. He is a liar! He is a demon! He is against God! How else could one explain your book having its effect on you and that other book having the same effect on the other man? You know you are not a liar or a demon, and so he must be!

Or maybe you say, “There is more than one book of God, I suppose.” If so, how do know which ones they are? Are the only standards for judging whether a book is the word of God the following: 1) it claims to be, and 2) someone claims it has changed his life for the better in the same ways you claim your book has changed yours?

How do you know it is not all just in your head? How do you know you are not fulfilling the prophecies the fulfillment of which you believe is proof of something from beyond your own life?

The truth is, you don’t. You don’t know and you can’t ever know. So you have faith. But, remember, I AM THE ONE WHO WROTE THAT BOOK ABOUT GOD AND I DON’T KNOW EITHER! WHY WOULD YOU HAVE FAITH IN MY BOOK ABOUT GOD?

I AM JUST LIKE YOU!

And I, like you, can’t admit something that lies beyond my proper subject-matter, which is the here and now – my life, this life, reality, the material world, call it what you will. Any claim I make about what is beyond this realm of existence is a violation of the cardinal rule of philosophy – at best a feel-good fantasy, at worst a fatal fabrication.

And so it is with all revealed religions. The books were written by MEN who claim to speak for God. THEY CLAIM TO SPEAK FOR GOD. They ask you to have faith IN THEIR BOOK by telling you it is the WORD OF GOD.

They know not of what they speak because it is beyond their subject-matter. And you should not have faith in them because they are just as clueless as to what is beyond their subject-matter as you and I are. No matter how good it makes you feel, no matter how many times it has helped you, you know deep down that it makes you feel good only because you WANT IT TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD, not because it comes from some other realm; it is only “true” because you WANT IT TO BE, not because it really is. That’s why you have to have “faith.”

And this is no way for an adult to conduct himself in civilized society. Clinging to imagination is the stuff of children. As beautifully innocent as children are (and I would even go as far as saying we could learn a lot from them), ultimately their methodology for determining truth is flawed.

These philosophies called religion are flawed, too. They should be treated as high school teachers treat Greek Mythology – as instructional tales, full of wisdom and intrigue (and some things that should not be taught and should even be condemned), but not as true in any sense but for that which archeology and science have revealed (e.g. there were Jews in Palestine during the time of the Romans, etc.).

Taken beyond that, they lose their value and, in fact, become destructive, just as the book I wrote became destructive once you met the other man with his own book that made him feel just as “godly” as you felt.

(And this is to say nothing about the fact that Judaism and Christianity have taken tons of philosophies and “tales” from other religions and mythologies that followers of those religions obviously think are false!)