Believes

I can't say I believe in a god... But i can't say i disbelieve him/her/it, either. That is to say, i don't know whether there is a god or not. In fact, i don't think that dilemma is at all relevant to anything. And i do have faith. I have simply placed it elsewhere, not in a god.

If i were God i wouldn't want people to believe in me. At least, that's what it seems to me from observing the world around me. After all, if God wanted belief, he would make his existence indubitable, right?

Yes, i know that many believers would disagree with me here, that God requires "a leap of faith", or that s/he/it doesn't want to take away our freedom by imposing his existence on us, or that there are people out there that, no matter what God did, would still not believe -- the last of which would mean, incidentally, a not omnipotent God. But that's not my point. Just bear with me a little longer.

If there is a god that created everything we perceive, what we can be certain about is... everything we perceive! Trees and animals don't come stamped with a "Made by God" seal, yet trees and animals like us are here. And so are rocks, water, vacuum, fire...

I think if God exists at all in this universe he wants us to believe in his creation... That is, in each other. That is why he/it/she doesn't boom out of the sky or has neon signs that point to him/er/it. You see, believing in certain types of god allows us to discard some of those who surround us, if they're deemed to be ungodly. If it is seen as unholly, we can violate nature, too (although, if truth be told, apparently we don't need to think it unholly to violate it; that it is not God seems to be enough for us...).

But if you put your faith in life, in the idea that people can be good to one another and protect and manage their environment, in the intrinsic value of everything that exists, then you HAVE to think and BE AWARE of the world around you. And if i were God and had put a brain in people, that is precisely what i'd want people to do with it! Hence, i'd arrange things so that i became as inconspicuous as possible, so that people did not have me there to look up at all the time. Forget about what i'd want! What is best for YOU?

You see, whether God exists or not, i believe people as a species have the power to learn. We can eventually learn that we individually are safest when the largest possible number of us is safest. We can eventually learn that variety is fertile ground and that its lack kills. We can eventually learn that allowing individual ambition to soar above common rights is dangerous and must never be allowed in ourselves.