Ken Larsen’s web site - my views on religion
Religion has never made any sense to me. Maybe some day I’ll meet someone who can explain it to me, but from what I know about it currently, I don’t want anything to do with it. With all the bloodshed worldwide caused by religious fundamentalists and political warmongers who exhort their masses by preaching “We will win because God is on our side”, I get thoroughly disgusted.
Proof that God does not exist – the speed of light argument
September 14, 2006: I attend a debate entitled “Does God Exist?” in Carrboro, North Carolina. It featured a videotape of a 2004 debate between William Lane Craig, an evangelical Christian, and Austin Dacey, PhD and secular humanist (euphemism for atheist) and was followed a question and answer (Q&A) period that was handled by a local secular humanist, Randy Best, and a local pastor, Mark Acuff. The event was reported by the local Chapel Hill newspaper. See: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/106/story/2362.html
During the Q&A session, I asked of Pastor Acuff:
Ken: “Is God just for the earth or the entire universe?”
Acuff: “For the entire universe.”
Ken: “If something happens on the far side of the universe and something else happens on the earth, does God know about both events simultaneously?”
Acuff: “Yes”.
Ken: “That’s not possible. According to the laws of physics, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. Given a choice between your answer and the laws of physics, I believe the laws of physics. That’s why I regard religion as just a bunch of rubbish.”
In retrospect, I regret my rubbish remark. It was rude. However, the fact is that the speed of light (186,282 miles/second) is an upper speed limit on how fast information and matter can travel in the universe. See: http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/guidry/violence/lightspeed.html This prohibits any entity from “ruling” the entire universe. Therefore, there cannot be a god. God does not exist. QED
Some theologians contend that God exists outside of nature, space, and time and therefore is not constrained to comply with the laws of physics. To me, that's ridiculous. But, if there's a remote possibility that that were true ... and that these theologians communicate with God (as they all contend they do), then they should be able to ask God where else in the universe does life exist. They could get God to tell them where astronomers should point their SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) optical and radio telescopes. But, the theologians can't do this, because there is no God.
October 17, 2005: On this day I played nine holes of golf with Lonnie Bell, the pastor of a nearby Baptist church. It was a chance encounter. As we strode down the first hole we asked each other the usual questions like "What do you do?", "where do you live", etc. After Lonnie introduced himself as a Baptist minister, he asked me what church I belonged to. When I responded "I'm not a believer", that piqued his curiosity and what followed was two hours of amicable debate on religious tenets. One of the questions I asked Lonnie was "Is Jesus the only child of God?" Lonnie replied "yes". I then asked him, "Then why would God put him on the earth?" I explained that the earth is a small planet orbiting a small star (the Sun) on the outskirts of a mediocre galaxy. Putting God's only child on the earth would be like Donald Trump putting one of his children in the Yukon. It didn't make any sense. I then followed that question with "and why would God put Jesus on the earth 2000 years ago?" I explained that God should have waited until the late 20th or 21st centuries when video technology could capture his deeds. I also explained that if I had I been born around the year 1500 (pre-Copernicus) I might have been religious, because in those days the prevailing view of the universe was that it was geo-centric - meaning that everyone believed that all stars and planets orbited the earth. Under that view it was plausible to regard the earth as the most important place in the universe and being "God-created".
Lonnie's parting words to me were "If I want the truth I should read the Bible.". My parting words to Lonnie were "If I want the truth, I'll read scientific journals".
It should be noted that during my 9 holes of golf with Lonnie we strongly agreed on one thing: Man has done and is continuing to do a lot of damage to the earth and his fellow man.
The central argument used to support the existence of God is "Look at all that exists around you. It obviously must have a creator. God is the creator." My response is "If everything has a creator, then who created God?" You can't say "Everything has a creator and then exclude God from your questioning."
For the above reasons, I prefer to exclude religion from my life. However, I don’t advocate that others follow my lead. Religion provides comfort to many people and gives them a moral compass by which to raise their children. So long as that compass permits tolerance of opposing views, that’s fine by me.
I wish that the tenets of religion were true. It would be great if there were a divine ruler who presided over our universe and meted out punishment to evil doers and rewarded those who serve the less fortunate. That’s what our violent and chaotic world desperately needs.
What do I regard as the best and worst things about organized religion? Here are my answers:
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Best aspects of religion |
Worst aspects of religion |
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Prior to the mid 1960s, Blacks in the United States were a very oppressed minority. Under the leadership of luminaries such as Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. they organized themselves in their church congregations to launch nonviolent demonstrations that culminated in the attainment of long overdue civil rights. Dr. King won a Nobel Peace prize for his efforts. |
Some religions (Catholic and recently the Protestant “Quiver Movement”) prohibit birth control. This is completely irresponsible!
See my comments on Population Control under my Views on Politics. |
November 30, 2006 update: I just finished reading Richard Dawkins's "The God Delusion" (2006). Richard Dawkins is a biologist and an atheist. "The God Delusion" is a refutation of religion. To my surprise, "The God Delusion" has spent 24 weeks (as of March 16, 2007) on the New York Times Best Seller List. That tells me that we may finally be shedding our last vestige of the Bronze Age. Science is the present and future; religion is the past.
December 14, 2006 update: I recently finished reading Carl Sagan's "The Varieties of Scientific Experience - A Personal View of the Search for God" (2006 compiled and edited by Sagan's widow Ann Druyan). Carl Sagan was a scientist and an atheist, and this book explains his atheism.
July 13, 2007 update: I just finished reading Victor Stenger's "God - the Failed Hypothesis - How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist" (2007). I don't think the Pope could read it without shedding his religious beliefs.
I agree 100% with these books and highly recommend them to anyone who believes that religion still has value.