Makers of gods

I have been in arguments and discussions about religion since I was 13 years old. That's when I started the journey that led to my becoming an atheist. It was an 11 year journey, because I didn't decide that I was an atheist until the year before my daughter was born. I was 24.

Many different things led to making that decision. One of them is the realization that we (meaning humans) insist on answers to all our questions. If we don't have answers, we make them up. Here's how I think it might have gone, long ago in a quiet cave late one night when a few of the folks inside couldn't sleep.

Tuggi: It's dark out there.
Farg: Have you noticed that that big shiny thing doesn't stay up there?
Tuggi: Well, Duh!
Farg: What do you mean, Duh? I'm just saying, it doesn't stay up there?
Garph: Where does it go?
Tuggi: That way. (Tuggi points west)
Garph: But why?
Farg: Don't know, do we?
Tuggi: Speak for your self. I have it all figured out.
Garph: Really?
Farg: No not really. He's full of beans, he is.
Tuggi: Am not. There's two of them, you know.
Garph: Two of who.
Tuggi: Two of the great and powerful beings in the sky.
Farg: Oh come on.
Tuggi: The one only comes out at night, and he's not as strong as the day other.
Garph: How do you know?
Tuggi: During the day, you can't look at the bright one. He is that powerful. But during the night, you can look at the face of the other. And he changes.
Farg: He's making this up you know.
Garph: Shhh! I want to know more.
Tuggi: Not making it up. You have seen his change from whole, to partly whole, down to nothing.
Farg: And where does he go when he's nothing?
Tuggi: He goes and gets his light back. The bright one steals it.
Farg: Does not.
Garph: That makes sense. The bright one steals it and the other chases him across the sky.
Tuggi: Exactly.
Farg: Buggers. Your full of bean gas.
Garph: (Hits Farg on head with rock.)
Tuggi: Why'd you do that?
Garph: He doesn't see the truth in what you say. Had to bash him.
Tuggi: Ah. He'll listen better when he wakes up.
Garph: Truth.

So there you have it. The beginning of the gods. The names were changed to protect the innocent.

Now think about it. There are a bazillion gods. Everyone has one, they make new ones from old worn out gods, and have been known to construct them out of whole cloth. Gods explain good and bad weather. Good and bad luck. Victory and defeat. Heck. Gods even explain ugly babies. Gods are everywhere. In trees. Rocks. Holes in the ground. Really good weed. (So I've been told).

I've been told that there is only one true god. Of course, I've been told this by people who define this one true god differently from the others who define him/it/her. Everyone is convinced that their explanation for this god, his history if you will, is the right one. And all the histories are different, too.

All these gods are there to explain things that we otherwise didn't (or don't) understand. Don't have an answer? God did it. And if you can make up answers for what gods did and didn't do, you can make up answers for other things you don't understand. Just ask the creationists. They make shit up all the time.

And all this wouldn't be so bad if people just kept it to themselves, but they don't. They want to teach it in the schools and pass laws.

Too thick to accept the fact that gays and lesbians are the way they are because they were born that way? No trouble, go to the Bible, Koran, or other book of ignorance and it will tell you they are bad. It may not say why, except that they are (insert something awful here) in the eyes of someone's god. Never mind that most of these rules were written by bronze age people who didn't have a clue about genetics, brain chemistry or development, or even the slightest understanding of what makes us tick.

Good god, these people thought a snake could convince a woman to eat an apple. They accepted stories of talking asses. Worse. They accepted stories from talking asses.

Really folks, it is time to put all these poor explanations for understanding away. We have science. We are getting more answers all the time, and these come with real evidence that supports them. Do we still have questions? Yes. What to do? Look for answers and not just say, god did it. In the mean time? Not a problem.

Just say, "I don't know".