1. If you want to disprove God, don’t waste time talking about psychology.
Maybe humans do have a deep-seated desire to live forever, to see their
enemies receive ultimate punishment, to have a perfect parent, to have
someone omnipotent to thank for good things and to blame for disasters,
or something else along those same lines. But so what? That doesn’t
prove or disprove anything about God. It’s six o’clock in the morning, I
haven’t had breakfast yet, and I have a deep-seated desire for a
muffin; that doesn’t mean muffins are just a legend invented in the
mists of prehistory to which no intelligent person could ever assent.
Whether I want something or not is no proof of whether it exists. Maybe
we have a deep longing for God or maybe we don’t. Either way, it doesn’t
affect the question of his existence.
2. Along the same lines, if you want to disprove God, don’t waste time talking about brainwashing.
Maybe all religious people throughout all time have only ever believed
in God because their parents did or their friends did or their society
did, but again: so what? We aren’t talking about why people believe in
God, but about whether God exists, and God’s existence (or lack thereof)
is independent of why people believe or don’t believe in him.
John Ottens is a Roman Catholic seminarian in the Canadian prairies who
likes good philosophy and good literature and the occasional game of
chess.
