50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God (35 page)

Now, if the Knesset and other Israeli government buildings rose
instantaneously from the ground, fully constructed and with a fresh
coat of paint, that would be something to get excited about. Or even if
Israeli flags had sprouted magically from the soil, that would be a
good reason to suspect that this was the divine fulfillment of an
ancient prophecy. But when the feat was accomplished by the United
Nations, the governments of the United States and Great Britain, and
many highly motivated Jewish people, it cannot reasonably be considered a magical feat. Maybe it was the work of a god but where is the
evidence for such an amazing claim? United States president Harry
Truman was a Christian and was well aware of the claim that God
promised the Jews a homeland. This probably influenced his decision
to officially recognize the new nation. There is no evidence at this time
that a god cast a magical spell on Truman to make him support the creation of Israel.

I wonder how Herzl, the visionary of Zionism, would feel about
Israel today. Undoubtedly he would be proud of the strength, productivity, and beauty of the nation and its people. But what would he say
about the violence, the growing tension between secular and orthodox
Jews, and the walls? Would he be heartbroken to see that still, in the
twenty-first century, there is no universal peace between Jews, Christians, and Muslims? Would he reconsider any of his beliefs about Zionism, religion, or his god? Or would he believe that this is precisely what his god wanted?

For me the bloody history and current conflicts between these
three religions seem more likely to be the work of imperfect humans
rather than an all-powerful, super-intelligent, and perfect god. Why
would a real god who knows the future set such madness in motion?
Anyone with a clear head and a good heart can see that hating Jews
because they are Jews is immoral. But how many people also admit
that it is wrong for some Jews to isolate themselves from the rest of
humankind in the name of loyalty to a god? There are neighborhoods
in Jerusalem that I was told not to walk in because the ultraorthodox
Jews who live there would throw rocks at me because they don't tolerate "others." One morning at the Temple Wall, I was approached by
a man wearing a little yarmulke and a big smile. I told him I was a visitor and he enthusiastically welcomed me to Jerusalem and wished for
me to have a wonderful visit. For a moment I sensed that I might be
making a new friend. But then he asked me if I was Jewish. When I
told him I was not, his smile vanished and so did he. It was extraordinarily abrupt and rude. He was only interested in knowing me if I was
Jewish. It was so shallow and shortsighted. Why should unproven
gods influence who we talk to, who we befriend? Why should it matter
if I don't belong to this god's tribe or that god's tribe? I am still a
fellow human. Turning our backs on one another, whether it is for
nationalism, race, or gods, is always bad for humanity in the long run.
Maybe the answer is not to build new nations and erect new walls.
Maybe the answer is to finally confront the problem of religious belief
as a dangerously divisive poison in our species. Is any religion really
so obviously true that it justifies separating people? Is any god so
obviously real that killing people is justified? For all our evils, for all
the killing we have done over land, resources, and gold, killing for
invisible gods that may not even exist may be the most unforgivable
crime of all.

Although I mentioned the Israel prophecy, there are, of course,
many more. And they are not just found within Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Numerous religions over thousands of years have made a
big deal out of their god or gods fulfilling predictions. But all of them
are so vague, flexible, or unconfirmed by credible sources that one
usually has to already be a believer to be impressed. I'm not Jewish or
a Christian. Therefore, the creation of Israel does not convince me that
their god is real. I simply think that it's far more likely that Jews
wanted their own country so they lobbied for it, worked for it, and got
it. I don't see a god in that process, whereas a Jew or Christian might.
Don't prophecy-believers understand that if just one of their prophecies were unambiguous and confirmed by credible unbiased sources,
it would convince virtually everyone in the world overnight? The fact
that no prophecies from any religion have ever done this is telling. If
just one religion had one clear prediction that could not be easily
explained away, there would be a rush of people to join that religion.
But it hasn't happened because no religion has such a prophecy.

The excitement about prophecies that we see in many diverse religions is likely a result of the fact that most people don't think critically. This is why Nostradamus still has fans in the twenty-first century. He never made an impressive prediction about anything that
came true but he still shows up in books and on television today. This
is also why astrology continues to be profitable, despite having no
basis in reality. This is why people give their money to psychics
despite the likelihood that they are frauds.

For those believers who are certain that some obscure prophecies
really did come true, even that is not good enough. People who believe
in gods have been making thousands of predictions for thousands of
years. Isn't it likely that at least a few of them would come true just by
luck alone? Even the bumbling psychics of today get a few things right
every now and then. Besides, anyone can predict the future accurately.
Try it yourself. Write down fifty predictions on fifty separate sheets of
paper and then seal them all in individual envelopes, and don't open
them until a year has passed. Assuming you are not the unluckiest
person in the world, you will get at least a few of them correct. Here's
the trick, only show your friends the ones you got right. A few of them will be convinced that you are a psychic or a religious prophet. They
might even want to give you money.

To really excel at predicting the future, always be vague-very
vague. For example, don't say, "A five-foot two-inch man named
Wilber T. McFurter from Gifford, Florida, will be elected president of
the United States within the next ten years." That is way too specific,
too risky. No smart prophet would ever paint himself or herself into
that corner. Instead, say: "A wealthy religious person of European
descent will be elected president of the United States within the next
fifty years."

Dan Barker, the man who went from Christian preacher to atheist,
was deeply immersed in biblical prophecy claims during his days as a
believer. It reinforced his conclusion about Jesus being a real god and
he used prophecies to convince others that Christianity was true.
When he allowed himself the freedom to think critically, however, it
all fell apart. This was a man who studied the Bible from cover to
cover. He learned it, loved it, preached it, and believed in it completely. But critical thinking popped the bubble. Today, Barker knows
that there are no predictions made by the Bible that are so specific,
accurate, and otherwise inexplicable that they can stand as evidence of
a god's existence. Barker writes:

Christians, if they want to be consistent, and if they desire to convince us unbelievers, should welcome a close examination of their
holy scriptures. Perhaps the reason they avoid close scrutiny is that
such inquiries only show that the claims of the fulfilled predictions
are either gross exaggerations or downright lies. The refutation of
prophecies can be arranged into five general categories: vagueness,
forced fulfillments, post-dated predictions, nonprophecies and
chance fulfillments.

Some predictions are so vague or general that any number of situations might be made to fit. "For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." (Matthew 24:7). There
have been twenty different centuries since Matthew that could have qualified as fulfillment of that situation. Christians for two thousand
years have consistently considered that the world is ending. The
world is "always ending." The imprecision of this "prophecy"
makes it impossible to nail down. (Barker 1992, 190)

What about Jesus? His appearance on Earth was "prophesized" and
then he came, right? Well, not exactly. Where was it predicted and
where was it fulfilled? It all happens in the Bible, one book. There are
no historical records that verify the events of Jesus's life beyond the
Bible. No other sources collaborate the story of his virgin birth and
resurrection. The Bible is the only source we have for predictions of
Jesus's life so it is not sensible that the same book can be cited as proof
that the predictions it makes came true. Suppose I handed you a book
and said it was obviously a true story because something is predicted
in chapter 1 that later comes true in chapter 25. Based on that alone,
would you be convinced that the book is factual? Of course you
wouldn't. You would be more likely to conclude that the author wrote
it that way in order to make the story work like she or he wanted it to.

Anyone who thinks it is reasonable to accept claims of predictions
and fulfillments in the same book or story would have to swallow a
whole lot more to be consistent, including the gods of ancient Greece.
Ever heard of the Oracle at Delphi? A priestess accurately predicted
future events many times, at least she did according to stories written
more than two thousand years ago. By the standards of contemporary
prophecy believers, then, she must have been magically tuned in to Mt.
Olympus, which can only mean that the Greek gods are real.

For some reason, however, followers of one religion transform
into hardcore skeptics when followers of other religions hit them with
their prophecy claims. That's why Christians aren't converting over to
Islam by the tens of millions when they hear about the Prophet
Muhammad and Islamic predictions that the end is near and signs of it
are all around us. This is why millions of Muslims aren't converting
to Christianity, despite all of the "fulfilled" prophecies contained in
the Bible and "clear signs" that Jesus is about to return.

Like most other atheists, I am not insane and I don't like pain.
Believe me, I don't want to suffer in anyone's hell for all eternity. If
there were just one precise and detailed prediction that came true and
could only be explained as the work of a god, no matter if it were in
the Bible, Koran, Torah, Bhagavad Gita, Dianetics, David Koresh's
diary, and so on, I would not ignore or deny it. If gods are real and they
want to impress all of us with their prophecies, then why don't they
make the predictions obvious to everyone, including well-meaning
skeptics? Imagine, for example, if a holy book was discovered in the
1990s and contained the following ancient prophecy confirmed to
have been written down more than three thousand years ago:

In a year to be called 1969 by the people of tomorrow, two men
named Neil and Buzz will ascend to the Moon and walk upon its surface. A metallic bird named Eagle will serve as their chariot and they
will do a thing called EVA while wearing white. Upon their heads
will be large sturdy hats. Shields of gold will protect their eyes. The
people of the Earth will cheer them from afar. Upon the return of the
two men, plus one named Michael, many will shout the name
Apollo. As the Lord saw their flag standing in the stillness of the
lunar landscape, he did smile.

Now if a believer can show me a prophecy with that kind of detail, I'm
on board with their religion. Sign me up. But such predictions simply
do not exist. The ones we have are vague or too easily explained as
events that could have occurred without the involvement of a god. To
make matters worse, some believers defend the murky nature of
prophecies. They say that their god wants it this way so that faith will
be required of followers. If the god made it obvious, then it would be
too easy to believe, they say. But why would a god only want gullible
people to believe? Why would a god make his or her existence so mysterious and so unlikely as to trick those who think critically and ask
questions? Why would a god give us powerful minds and then bar us
from heaven if we use them?

Barker, Dan. Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist. Madison, WI:
Freedom From Religion Foundation, 1992.

Callahan, Tim. Bible Prophecy: Failure or Fulfillment? Altadena, CA: Millennium Press, 1979.

can't prove that there are no fairies living in my backyard. Maybe
they are there. They could be there. Why couldn't they be there?
No matter how strongly I may doubt that tiny winged humanoid creatures are buzzing around in my garden, I can't prove that they aren't.
I never see them when I look out the window or walk around in my
yard but maybe that's because they see me first and hide. They could
be highly evasive thanks to hummingbird-like wings that make them
fast and agile. Perhaps they are so well camouflaged that I often look
in their general direction but fail to recognize them because they blend
in with the bushes and flowers. It is even possible that these fairies can
read my mind and know when I am about to look in their direction.
This advance-warning system allows them to fly away just before I
spot them. Even if I set up a video camera in my yard to record images
of them at night when I'm sleeping, it might not work because these
fairies could have a magical force field that renders them undetectable
to cameras and other electronic equipment. Even more frustrating is
the possibility that they are invisible all the time. This would mean I
have no chance of ever seeing them.