Why belief in God is not irrational

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Some people say they can’t believe in God. They all may have different reasons. They may not think that scriptures are consistent, or they may not believe that a compassionate god would permit injustice and so on. They may say there is no scientific proof that God exists.

The fact is that all their reasons are based on their belief, and belief is based on prejudice. There is indeed no scientific proof that God exists. There is also no proof that He does not exist. The absence of proof is not proof of absence.

It is a fact that there are many things which exist which cannot be proved physically, but are universally accepted as existing. These include such realities as life, love, beauty, hate, fear, creativity, imagination, as well as dreams, ideas, thoughts and emotions. All of these realities can, and frequently do, produce effects which can be experienced in the material world, even though the existence of these realities cannot be subject to physical scrutiny. Belief is not required to know with certainty that these realities exist. If someone said, “I can’t believe in ideas because I can’t see or measure them,” he would be considered mad.

These non-visible realities are universal and timeless, but they are intimately connected to living beings. Without living beings these realities could not manifest.

Rationality requires us to suspend disbelief in the absence of evidence. In other words it is irrational to maintain that God does not exist when there is no proof that He does not. Science requires impartial examination of the evidence and an open mind until proof emerges one way or the other.

In the case of things which exist but have no physical manifestation, such as love, fear or hatred, we infer the existence of these realities when we observe the outward manifestations which appear as a result of their appearance in others. For example one person may hate another and cause them harm. We observe the harm and infer the existence of hatred. No rational person would say that we cannot prove the existence of hatred because it can’t be physically measured or even described.

Now the believer in God says that we can infer His existence because we can see the result of His creativity in the creation. It is generally accepted that the universe came into existence with a “Big Bang”. My understanding of the current theory is that an infinitely small object of infinitely great density spontaneously fragmented in an infinitesimally small period of time and expanded rapidly. To my knowledge, no rational explanation has yet been offered for why this should have happened. Scientists largely reject the entirely rational concept that the big bang was caused by an all powerful invisible being unlike any being known in the created universe, but have so far failed to present any universally accepted alternative explanation.

My opinion is that people who say they don’t believe in God have a limited idea of what or who God should be, derived from fantasy or descriptions in scripture. This is why the question of good and evil is a stumbling block for so many unbelievers. Scripture can only provide a pointer to God. God by definition is beyond all limitations, descriptions or conceptions.

It is not my purpose here to try to persuade anyone of the existence of God. Rather my purpose is to invite rationality in the debate about the existence or otherwise of God.

Personally I don’t need belief to be aware that God exists, in the same way that I don’t need belief to know that love exists.

Just as I can see hatred in the actions of some people, I can see the magnificence of God’s manifestation all around me. I can hear His voice in the sound of the wind in the trees as well as in popular love songs. I can see His face in the face of the beggar in the street. I don’t need to believe in a distant God because I find His manifestation in front of me as well as in the workings of quantum mechanics and in the far reaches of the universe and the secret inner recesses of my own being.