50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God (15 page)

Honest Christians know that these verses are false. It does no
good to claim that many prayers are unanswered because they are
not "according to his will." Even prayers that are clearly in line with
the expressed "will of god" are rarely successful. Even if this reasoning were valid, it makes prayer useless as a means of changing
nature. (Barker 1992, 108)

If prayer worked as well as many believers claim it does, it should not
be so difficult to confirm even for those who are not predisposed to
believe in it. The fact that it seems to work at about the same rate for
all believers, regardless of which gods they pray to, suggests that this
is probably about the human tendency to misinterpret chance and
coincidence as something special. The Christians and Muslims, for
example, who see their "answered" prayers as proof that their god is
real must face the fact that hundreds of millions of other people say a
different god answers their prayers. Of course, all gods cannot be real
and all religions cannot be true. Therefore, it is more likely that so
many "answered" prayers from so many sources shows that we have
many problems but also an abundance of hope in our hearts. This is
not necessarily a bad thing, but there is nothing about prayer at this
time that provides a good reason to believe that gods are real.

Avalos, Hector. "Can Science Prove that Prayer Works?" Free Inquiry 17, no.
3 (Summer 1997). http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/avalos
17_3.html.

Barker, Dan. Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist. Madison, WI:
Freedom From Religion Foundation, 1992.

Carlin, George. "You Are All Diseased." HBO TV special, February 6, 1999.

State of the World's Mothers 2006. Save the Children, 2006. http://www
. savethechi ldren.org/publications/mothers/2006/SOWM_2006_final. pdf.

A religion can no more afford to degrade its devil
than to degrade its god.

-Havelock Ellis

ore than once I have encountered believers who were certain that all atheists are loyal followers of the devil or at
least sympathetic to his mission. Simply because a person is unconvinced that Nanabozho, Hermod, or any other gods are real, some
believers jump to the bizarre conclusion that he or she must be one of
Satan's soldiers. This is related to the strange notion held by some
believers that it is impossible to be a real nonbeliever. These people literally deny the existence of nonbelievers. To them, nonbelievers are
nothing more than believers who switched sides and now serve Satan.
Apparently they cannot imagine how anyone in their right mind
cannot believe in at least one god. In an attempt to explain atheists
these believers will insist that nonbelievers are enemies of god. They
are not denying a god's existence. They know the god is real and they
are fighting against him. All talk about nonbelief is a smokescreen
meant to obscure their real agenda.

Yes, for those who doubt it, there really are people who hold this
view. I have met several of them. And people wonder why so many
atheists keep quiet about their lack of belief. It is, to say the least, awk ward and uncomfortable to be thought of as a Satan worshipper. How
does one even begin to respond to such an accusation? Such careless
thinking can't be excused, of course, but I do understand how
believers might not want to carpool or live next door to an atheist
when they start out with this assumption. It's sad, however, to think
that many believers would keep a fellow human at arm's length for
this reason. It's a problem that is more common than most people may
imagine. I encourage any nonbeliever who doubts this to go to Syria
and strike up a few conversations at the souk about how wonderfully
liberating atheism can be. Travel the "Bible belt" in America and see
how warmly your atheism is received. Visit rural Tanzania and give a
few public speeches on the merits of secularism. Good luck.

The worst thing about devil paranoia is that many believers are
unwilling to consider that their god or gods might be imaginary
because of it. They see the slightest movement away from belief in
their god as a step toward Satan. Questioning religious claims is seen
as being disloyal to their god and a dangerous flirtation with ultimate
evil. The result is that many believers never analyze or challenge their
beliefs. They may go through their entire life clinging to baseless
beliefs because of this irrational fear.

Believers can relax, of course. Atheists are not Satan worshippers
and they are not working to fulfill some evil supernatural agenda.
Atheists do not believe in evil supernatural beings with pitchforks any
more than they believe in good supernatural beings with halos. The
devil is just another god to atheists. He can be dismissed as most likely
fiction like all the others because there is not one speck of evidence or
a single convincing argument that supports claims for his existence.
Believers, please take note: one can be skeptical of gods-even disbelieve in them entirely-and still manage to elude the grasp of
Beelzebub.

Anyone who really does worship Satan has far more in common
with Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and other believers than they
do with atheists. Satanists are believers, so anyone who is worried
about rubbing elbows with a Satanist should check out their spiritual peers first. There is an odd exception to this, however. The late Anton
LaVey, founder of the "Church of Satan," promoted a version of
Satanism that did not claim Satan or any gods were real. Apparently,
LaVey was an atheist who ran an organization dedicated to Satan, even
though he didn't seem to think Satan existed. Whatever he was
thinking, LaVey was not a typical atheist. Virtually every atheist in the
world would consider praying to Satan as pointless as praying to any
of the popular gods.

Even if Satan was real, Satanism seems like the wrong team to join
if you think about it. If one were convinced that Satan existed, then he
or she would probably have to agree that the Bible is accurate because
that is the primary source for this character's existence. But, according
to the Bible, Satan loses in the end. So why would anyone want to join
up with him? Whether it is real or fantasy, Satanism makes no sense.

It is important to add that, despite the preoccupation with the devil
that some believers have, there has never been any evidence of a large
modern movement of devil worshippers. Stories of Satanists and their
human sacrifices are great fodder for campfire stories and sensationalist news reports but the truth is that the devil has never won the
hearts and minds of believers the way other gods have. He is little
more than a plot ingredient for scary movies and a reliable scare tactic
for religious leaders who want to keep the flock on their toes.

I once had a weird and frustrating encounter with a believer who
suspected I was in league with the devil. She said that if I wasn't on
her god's side then I had to be on the devil's side. According to her, I
was a participant in some great spiritual war that was being waged
even as we spoke. I politely explained that I was not now nor had I
ever been a member of the devil's party. I assured her that I don't wear
a pentagram pendant, don't own a ram's head mask, and never even
once plunged a dagger into the belly of a sacrificial virgin to appease
the Lord of the Underworld. But she shut me up fast when she suggested that I could be an "unwitting" agent of Satan. This was difficult
to respond to. In fact, I couldn't. How do you reassure someone that
you are not unconsciously serving Satan? If you were, you wouldn't know it. Of course you will deny it because the devil is controlling you
without your knowledge. Sometimes you just can't win.

Undoubtedly some believers will see this book as a tool of the
devil, filled with his lies to fool believers. But my goal is not to trick
people into abandoning their gods with clever arguments. I only want
to encourage readers to think for themselves and reconsider their justifications for believing in gods. I am only promoting a little bit of
doubt, not declaring some definitive truth. People have to walk away
from belief in gods on their own. I can't do it for them nor would I
want to. If some believers want assurance that this book is not
designed to turn people away from their god and into Satan's arms,
then let me state clearly that I want people to think just as skeptically
about Satan too.

Why do so many people believe in the devil anyway? I suppose
with many religions it is a package deal and he comes with the god.
The case for the devil's existence, however, is as weak as any god's.
Many believers will disagree, of course. To them the devil is very real.
They see evidence for him everywhere. It is astonishing how some
believers see the devil's hand in just about everything bad. Drug
addiction, murder, bank robberies, illness, and so forth are all the work
of Satan, they say. I know that this seems to make perfect sense to
believers who have heard it all their lives, but I encourage them to
consider an alternative view. Bad things happen all the time and there
is no evidence that any of it is linked to a supernatural being named
Satan. Yes, humans misbehave. But there are explanations available
for these events that are far more likely to be true. Drug addiction is a
problem for many people because of the way the brain reacts to some
chemical substances and creates a powerful craving for more. Some
people commit violent acts because aggression is a standard feature of
the human mind. People rob banks because that's where the money is.
Don't these explanations for bad behavior seem more likely to be true
than the claim that we are being manipulated and tempted by the
magic spells of an invisible being who lives in a fiery dungeon somewhere?

Why do so many believers worry about this Satan character
anyway? The whole story about him trying to take over the world
seems highly unlikely. Why would he still be chasing that ambitious
dream anyway? If Satan is a "fallen angel" and knew the god of the
Bible up close and in person while he was in heaven, then wouldn't he
know how this story turns out? Why in the world would he still be
playing the game? According to the Bible, he loses in the end. Can't
Satan read?

Believers can be assured that embracing skepticism and reason
does not mean one is siding with the devil. Skepticism and reason not
only tend to make gods go away. They chase away the devil, too.

he man in the white suit softly sings, "Hallelujah ... Hallelujah
... Hallelujah ... Hallelujah." His song floats on the breeze of
a cool Caribbean night. The mood is changing. After an hour of
preaching, everyone knows that something very special is coming to
Grand Cayman. Each word he sings seems to penetrate every believer.
Most are standing now. They have come to this open-air sports stadium to see faith healer Benny Hinn call down miracles from heaven.
And now he is about to deliver.