Why God Doesn't Exist: An Atheist's Argument

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Recommended: Role of religion

The belief in Gods has always existed throughout human’s recored history. Whether it be the Greek Gods: Apollo, and Zeus, or the Judeo-Christian God, believed by Christians in modern day society. The belief of God has always existed among humans, however, assuming God does not exist, what explains the cultural evolution of such a false belief, namely religion? I shall argue that the reason this false belief is successful is because it manipulates human nature better than any other belief by these three points: an avoidance of death (the soul), a sense of worth (knowledge), and a sense, or need of belief (faith).

This question is inherent in clarifying the undoubtedly success this false belief has had through human’s existence. However, as Malcolm Murray argues in his book: The Atheist Primer, “But why do so many people believe in a god if it is a false belief? This is an interesting question so long as it is not intended to be used as evidence for God’s existence.”1 Professor Murray’s question is crucial in this essay’s discussion. Regardless of the answer given in this essay, if an answer can be justifiably found, the answer to the above question will not be any supportive evidence towards the existence of a god.

Furthermore, a brief preface will be helpful in guiding the reader throughout this essay, as the argument is structured in a way which examines three critical reasons to why such a false belief, namely religion, has had such success. The first section of this paper will discuss how religion has manipulated the idea of avoiding death; which happens with the creation the soul, and having to follow specific rules, in return, getting into heaven, thus avoiding death. The second section will examine human beings own nee...

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... their own nature, victim to their own vanity, and need for knowing more. For this is truly sad, as an individual lives their life on the hope of falsehood, until they die, where they cannot even realize they lived a lie that is the crime religion has done.

Works Cited

Dawkins Richard, “Viruses of the Mind,” in B.Dalbom (ed.), Dennett and his Critics (Oxford: Blackball, 1993).

Harris Sam, “Letters to a Christian Nation.” Quote used from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/16593.Sam_Harris

Kraut, Richard, "Aristotle's Ethics,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .

Murray Malcolm, “The Atheist’s Primer,” Broadview Press 2010.

The O’Reilly Factor, featuring Richard Dawkins (2007). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FARDDcdFaQ

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