Someone on social media posed the question: “Do you love God?”

I responded in the negative. The concept of “god(s)” is a human construction in the realm of concepts like “race” and “gender roles.”

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Some people may claim that their conceptualization of God helps them cope with the struggles and changes in their lives in an uncontrollable world. That’s fine for them. But I think that the concept of was constructed to divide us by imposing a hierarchical positioning of people and groups into “us” (the “ingroup”) versus “them” (the “others,” the marginalized, the heathens, the unbelievers, the “outgroup”).

That question on social media could have asked whether we like the concept of “race” or “gender roles,” and I would have given the exact same response. All of these concepts divide people into hierarchical positions, creating a dynamic of power and privilege versus marginalization and oppression.

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“God” is certainly not in the same category as the natural elements of earth, water, fire, and air, which all living things on this planet have discovered uses for to sustain and enhance life. Gods, on the other hand, were invented by humans in their attempt to explain the mysteries of life and to justify their supposed place in the cosmos.   

Humans have raised major questions as the world spins around. Individuals and nations since recorded history have attempted to explain the mysteries of life through spiritual and religious consciousness. As people have come to believe their way as the right way, with all others as simple pretenders that could never achieve the truth or right connection with the deity or deities, individuals and entire nations are raped, pillaged, enslaved, and exterminated for believing differently.

How many wars are we going to justify in the name of “our” God versus their so-called “false gods”?

Someone said to me once that throughout the ages, more people have been killed in the name of religion than all the people who have ever died of all diseases combined.

I doubt whether this is actually true, but I do think it highlights a vital point: We continually kill others and are killed by others over concepts that humans can never prove.

Throughout history, Jews and Muslims have killed each other, Christians and Muslims have killed each other, Christians and Jews have killed each other, Hindus and Muslims have killed each other, Catholics and Protestants have killed each other, Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims have killed each other, many faith communities have killed Atheists and Agnostics, and on and on and on.

In psychology, there is the notion that insanity is doing something repeatedly while expecting different results. The insanity of the world continues because human beings do not know their history. They do not understand that we are doing something over and over again while expecting different results, namely, that peace will break out.

Individuals and entire nations continue to believe that their reality fits all and that it is proper and right to force their beliefs onto others. They all claim to have God on their side.

In reality, all religious doctrine stems from uncertainty and conjecture, from multiple gods and hybrid gods, to Adam and Eve, to the burning bush, to the parting of the Red Sea, to the immaculate conception and resurrection, to Muhammad’s rising to heaven from the rock, to the golden tablets. And it all began with the human creation of gods. 

So, rather than asking the question on social media, “Do you love God?” I prefer to ask instead: “What do you think about any religion that justifies discriminatory treatment of other human beings?”

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