'God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins suggests theists are deluded. If anyone is delusional, it's an atheist who thinks theists are deluded. I think people know very well that they are faking it. 

I am not saying there could be people out there who are actually deluded into the god concept. But, for the majority of human beings, they don’t really believe in God. They pretend to believe in God because belief in God and the religion of their birth is good stuff. 

They are not like all evil, some do believe that this lie is nice stuff, good shit. 

If there was no religion, how would people sanctify things and events such as marriage, opening a new business and death, etc? If there was no religion (as they say) from where do our morals come from? How can we prohibit bad things like rape and murder? Besides, people seek a feeling of inspiration, strength, and courage for difficult situations from God.

However, in general, people refrain from discussing the logic of God. Such discussions ultimately lead to discussing ethics which are more gray than t shirt of Mark Zukerberg. Other times they find the conversation boring, pointless and get annoyed because the acceptance of lie (God) has been deemed universally virtuous by society. A disagreement or breaking the status quo is stupid. And sometimes they are annoyed with the anxiety of facing the truth - that they are faking it, can be discomforting. They would want to bitch slap you so hard. 

There was a time, in the infancy of our species when religion was needed, there is no denying that. It made people come together, they created societies and laws. There was ignorance about everything, God was needed to fill the gaps. Over time, people started to understand things like, it is not the sun that revolves around the earth, its other way around, nature of diseases. Still, people were persecuted in the name of religion and God and it has not stopped. Wars, terrorism, genocides are the gifts of religion that we can't get rid of. And there are conflicts between religions (for example Jews and Muslims) and some within sects of a particular religion (Shia n Suni). 

I believe the foundation built upon lies is weak and it falls easily. We are social animals, we cannot survive in solitary. In any kind of society, it becomes mandatory to have rules and regulations, to avoid the bad, with or without religion. Fraternity, empathy, compassion, love, etc are in our genes. We are altruistic. We have social science, sociology to figure out things such as our social behavior and ethics. We have psychology to understand our thoughts and actions. If we were to live and flourish in society and cherish the bounty of nature, we better need to know, understand and follow morality/ethics. What is good and what is bad? and make natural laws. 

Religion is founded upon lies. God is a lie and what follows it often requires no logical construct, for example - don’t eat a cow (Hindus) or a pig (Muslim/Jews). Sins regarding women's clothes etc. That is the relevance of religion left in today’s world, it divides people who start hating each other. It becomes an instrument to seek proud, proud being born in a particular religion, which by the way, always happens to be the right one, better and truer than the others.

What is good is inherently good and not because God said so. If God gives his blessing to the act of rape, can it become good? God cannot do it, because it's inherently bad, God can justify it, but religious bigots can. ”Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions” - Blaise Pascal.

 

By saying it over and over again that God did it, God is great, and we are thankful to God and God knows all; prayers in the school and sermons in churches, religion kills the curiosity and hinders the truth. Scientific and logical pursuit of truth, truth, and understanding is a more potent source of inspiration and bliss. The truth about everything including the universe and life empowers us. So do art and all its forms. Being thankful to God, people give credit to God when good happens and when bad occurs people say it's God's will and God works in mysterious ways. We need to give credit to ourselves when we do good. We need to accept responsibility and take the blame when we do wrong.

Side note, it is funny to see shopkeepers open their shops with burning incense and waving it on photos of gods and goddesses and then go looting people with overpricing, selling bad stuff. They don't see the moral contradiction, they justify.

Let's talk about the concept of God. If God created everything then who created God? It is a valid question and needs to be asked. If we look at the universe and say, the universe needs a creator because of its intricacy, then the God who created it, should also need a creator. If God is created by a Super God then who created that Super-God? If the answer is that God doesn’t need a creator, then why refer to the universe as a “creation”. If God can exist on its own, so can the Universe and life. 

They say, God is omnipotent (he can do anything) and he is omniscient (he knows everything) 

So, can God acquire new knowledge? If yes, (because of his omnipotence) then, this new knowledge that he acquired was unknown to him, but it cannot be! because he is omniscient! If he cannot acquire new knowledge (because he already knows everything) then he cannot be omnipotent. 

If God is all good and wants good then, why is there evil? I am not talking about evil such as an earthquake that kills people, I am talking about the evil that a man does, because of God-given free will. Is it because without evil we wouldn’t know the virtue of good? Who are we kidding with this? God must be a lonely teen who permits evil just because, we could know good and praise him or thank him for it. 

Some say we are incapable of knowing things like God or soul. We can't know if they exist. And then they claim, only certain enlightened ones, however, can. God is a concept. When you claim God, you are putting forward a concept. We have conceptual minds. God's attributes are conceptual. Anything that can be asserted with logic can be discarded if the logic used to establish it fails. 

George Carlin had a show, in which he discussed God's plan. He asks, why pray? Is he going to change his plan for you? Let's say, there are two soccer teams, both praying for God to change his plan. Whose prayer will be more potent? Who prayed harder and stronger? Sure, they bought sought inspiration, but that's beside the point. You cannot change his plan. And yet, people in a crashing plane are advised to pray. 

While giving condolences, why do people say? "Keep your faith in God strong, dear". During an exam or an interview, we say "have faith in God", as if they have not already?

I think it's the majority of people, not a minority, who are pretending. In their hearts, they all are atheists. I have debated with many people online and offline from childhood. In the end, they all turn to agnosticism, to still hide the truth. 

A child may believe in God, costs, fairies, or Santa but grown-ups know better. They try hard, they walk to temples at hilltops, they stay "pure" by not eating meat on Tuesday. We outta think that they are deluded? No, they ain't! they are faking it, to others and themselves. This is why I wrote this blog. 

Also, religion can be used as a tool by which some people pretend extraordinary vision and control others and exploit them. But, that can be said about any cult. What is fascinating, is to think that these people don't know about this?!

I don't mean to offend anyone. I am an atheist but am not anti-theist. I believe in a secular state, where everyone is free to believe and worship and follow any religion they want. I believe in the separation of church and the state. I believe in liberty, freedom of speech and media. 

But, I stress that the majority of people in the world are atheists. Most grownups cannot and do not believe in God, they are faking it. Thanks for reading.