We often say that an atheist is someone who has given up believing in God. The prefix “a” indicates an action of negation. An atheist has freed themselves from a personal attachment to God and theology. One can only negate what exists. The atheist refutes the claim that God created the world. They prefer to say that it was man who created God.
Throughout the history of humanity, man has needed worship and divinity. In the past, it was out of fear of death and the unknown. Modern man needs God because of a rejection of chaos and the lack of coherence in nature but also because of a particular fascination with mystery, the miraculous, the metaphysical, and everything beyond our comprehension. Even the rational thinker is concerned with the universe’s origin: how did it all begin? They can easily conceive of infinity but struggle to accept the absence of a beginning. Is this why the Big Bang theory was born?
A revolutionary event on Earth between 14,000 and 8,000 years before our era could prove humanity’s natural need for worship and perhaps even for a deity. I refer to the archaeological site of Göbekli Tepe, located in southern Turkey near the Syrian border. The first known instance of worship in human history has been discovered at this site and its surroundings.
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It includes approximately 300 carved steles, ranging from three to five meters in height, arranged in about twenty circles. The site was built thousands of years before Stonehenge and the pyramids when humans were still hunters and gatherers. Therefore, the need for divinity preceded the agricultural revolution and man’s need to live under a roof. Thus, the cultic revolution preceded the agricultural revolution and perhaps even the discovery of fire. Does this cult include a belief in the very existence of a deity? It is plausible to assume so.
From the 6th century BCE, pre-Socratic philosophers conceived one of the most fundamental intellectual revolutions in history, which profoundly transformed the worldview. Until then, all civilizations, from the Sumerians to the Persian Empire, were primarily focused on their gods and the heroes of their mythology. Hellenistic philosophy radically altered this perspective. It considered divinity as an integral part of nature and its elements, thus adopting a rational view of the universe. These philosophers stripped the gods of their human attributes. They observed the universe, its constituents, and its structure, ultimately removing divinity from the supernatural realm.
In the ancient world, the relationship with divinity differed from what we now call religion. Official worship concerned only a tiny portion of society. In the Hellenistic-Roman world, power was used to worship only to strengthen its rule. The main goal was to ensure a coherent overall policy that would maintain political power over the various regions of the empire.
The Greek poet and philosopher Xenophanes of Colophon (c. 475-570 BCE) is often considered a precursor of monotheism. He criticized the idea that God created man in His image, a fundamental concept in the Genesis story. He contested the multiplicity of gods and opposed the anthropomorphism abundant in the mythical narratives of Homer and Hesiod. In his view, these myths endowed the gods with weaknesses or desires only to justify human behavior: “If cows and horses had hands and could create works of art like humans, cows would depict gods as cows, and horses would depict gods as horses. They would describe the bodies of the gods exactly like their own.”
Modern man approaches the idea of divinity differently than the polytheistic world, which he pejoratively labels as “pagan.” Monotheism, on the other hand, has deeply indoctrinated historical religions. Polytheism, in contrast, did not give rise to any religious structure or canonized dogmatic texts as monotheistic religions did. Therefore, polytheism is not a religion in the strict sense of the term.
In the eyes of monotheists, the polytheistic era was nothing more than a period of darkness for primitive peoples who had not yet reached understanding. The defense of a single God served as a pretext for the supremacy of European colonialists to conquer new lands. One might even wonder if the belief in a single God, claimed by each religion, is preferable to the idea that everyone would have their own God. Or, in what way is a single God preferable to a god with his consort Asherah?
Monotheistic peoples have killed millions of individuals to impose their religion on other nations, even when those nations also believed in a single God. In the name of religion, many believers have met their demise because they did not strictly adhere to sanctioned precepts. Interestingly, these religions are not founded on beliefs, convictions, or moral principles but on complete dogma obedience. Rabbinical Judaism has even stripped religion of faith, favoring strict obedience to commandments instead.
The wrongdoings of monotheism are actually the wrongdoings of its representatives. They created God in their image and made divinity an instrument to serve their interests. To achieve this, they invented the concept of divine providence that watches over and controls individuals.
Strangely, God punishes those who break the laws written by those who created the deity in the first place. So, the problem lies not in the existence or non-existence of God but in the intentions attributed to God by its creators, mainly to impose constraints on those indifferent or opposed to these laws.
No harm exists in a person in distress turning to a virtual entity. Some even argue that they follow the commandments not out of conviction or due to divine surveillance but out of personal will. Yeshayahu Leibowitz followed religious commandments even though they often contradicted his moral principles and scientific reasoning. This seemingly irrational behavior, in my opinion, stems from human frailty.
Rabbinical Judaism revolutionized the relationship with divinity by placing the Righteous above God. It established a new hierarchy: “the Righteous decide, and the Holy One, blessed be he, executes,” or “the Holy One, blessed be he, decides, and the Righteous annul.” In other words, divinity is nothing more than a tool in the hands of the Talmudic sage.
The audacious Talmudic narrative known as the “Achnay Oven” concludes with a solemn proclamation by God: “My children have triumphed.” This essentially means that rabbis are not the servants of God; rather, God is the servant of rabbis, executing their will. So, who is the master of humanity? God or His representatives?
Atheism and secularism are concepts originating from the religious realm. Statements like “I don’t believe in God” or “God does not exist” belong to the religious domain. For the secular individual, the question of the existence or non-existence of God is crucial. They believe that proving the non-existence of God would undermine the religious world.
From a purely philosophical perspective, God exists. God exists because it is one of the abstract concepts that have preoccupied humanity intensely throughout history. The undeniable importance of his existence cannot be doubted. God exists just as the soul exists; consciousness exists, the mind exists, love exists, jealousy exists, or hatred exists. All these abstract concepts are difficult to prove scientifically, but do we make efforts to prove their non-existence? Therefore, efforts to prove God’s non-existence are futile and lead nowhere.
The religious-secular divide is far from simplistic. Secular individuals are aware of the weight of religious sentiment. Despite the hateful statements of some extremist rabbis in the political sphere, it is becoming increasingly clear that most religious individuals admire science and the appeal of the secular world. Conversely, some secular individuals feel self-conscious about the “shelf of Jewish books.” Historically, thought, science, and research have flourished when humanity has liberated itself from the grip of religion.
Religion has harmed human progress. It has taken significant effort to free ourselves from myths and popular beliefs. The harm that religions have caused to society and morality necessitates an appropriate response. To do this, engaging in a critical study of religions is essential.
Their origins and canonical writings deserve an impartial scientific examination. If religions have placed divinity at the center of the world, today, moral humanism places man at the center of its existence. Therefore, it is not necessary to fight against God but against those who use him for harmful purposes.
The author Yigal Bin-Nun, published two books. The bestseller “A Brief History of Yahweh.” His new book “When We Became Jews” shatters some basic facts on which Judaism rests.
