Belief is all around us; in the spoken word, in the written text and in the drawn pictures. It is sometimes a big question why so many peoples belief, instead of questioning and reasoning. My first answer to this would be, because it's easy. Simplicity makes peoples believe, as there is no need to ask why, to analyze or research. How often have I heard peoples reacting annoyed: “Why do you always ask why? Why why why?”. Belief as the least resistance, because it is just a thought without depth. This imagination can easily be adapted by others who also wont ask why. And although the picture in each believers brain will be different, they can still agree fast. For instance, a man or a woman was walking down the street. This person could have decided to take the footbridge to cross the street, and maybe was even used to do that nearly always, but today he or she decided to cross the road, using the xing, a bit further away. After having reached the crosswalk, and whilst traversing the road, out of the corner of the eye, the person observes a truck, exceeding the vertical clearance to drive under the overpass, hitting the footbridge at moderate speed. Many peoples crossing at that moment were injured and killed through this. For believers it is now easy to conclude, that god saved them at this day, leading the person away from the overpass, to cross the road elsewhere. And this is where the thought will stop, and a second reaction will kick in; emotions. When talking about this with friends or family, one can quickly agree on thanking god for saving the persons health or life even. Joy, mixed with tears of overwhelming emotions strengthen this entire psychological imagination. But isn't this very selfish and short minded? The rational approach is of course less emotional, and so it is obvious, how religion has used emotions as a tool to bind peoples into its setup. Peoples love emotions, and that is of course totally valid, but emotions, expressing our feelings, has no religious origin and no religious need, yet emotions are a deep routed reminder of situations. Accepting god as the savior of the occurrence, will make the believer react and think about this god, attached to the joy and tears he or she felt that time, always when the person will see or experience a similar situation. “Thank god the person was saved.” and maybe “Thank you god. I love you.” Not for nothing peoples used to say: “Love makes blind”, and this is not only applicable for humans, but for any love towards something real or imaginary.

Going back to the story, in fact it is clear what happened. It was a coincidence for the person crossing via the xing instead of the footbridge. A big cri de coeur would come out of the mouth of the believer now, saying that exactly that coincidence was the “hand of god”. Up till now, I have blended out the peoples who were injured on the overpass, just to demonstrate how selfish and egoistic belief can be. The god was not the savior of all, but just the rescuer of one, imaginary built up to a story looking like a wonder or miracle, a heavenly guide. The peoples who did decide to use the footbridge may have been believers to. Where was the god now? Some were injured, and the believer, who was spared from the accident may argue, that god saved their life. But why should he allow peoples to be injured in first place? For the ones killed, the believer may say, that for these peoples god has a special plan. Now isn't that a selfish thought too? This makes god a killer and savior at the same time, but even worse, a sadistic savior, because instead of sending the ones who got injured to the xing, he made them suffer. From what angle we may approach this accident, all believers will find an emotion fitting the situation they found themselves in, after the happening. All the survivors, be it uninjured or harmed, will find their expression of joy and tears, to thank the superstition, blending out the blame they should also voice out. The injured should blame the god for allowing them to be injured, but instead they will praise it for having survived. For the deceased, the friends and family, if also a part of the believers group, will also not blame the divine for the death of their beloved. If we now replace the god projection with a human, maybe a serial killer, that ran into a building, shooting into a crowed of peoples, leaving some to die, some to be injured, and others to stay unharmed, this person would be trailed and receive the biggest hate and blame peoples could show. And it will be exactly those believers, who will request for his death, his torture in prison. This serial killer is a result of his upbringing, the society and his own mental disorder, having come from something. The same for a god, it is also a result of mankind, having invented it to explain the unexplainable, never to blame but to always obey to. If this god would be so powerful and supernatural as always claimed, one could also ask why it guided one person away from the accident, instead of using its “divine hand” to avoid the truck driver crashing into the overpass. That would be more logical for an intelligent and all knowing force.

Belief is old and makes things simple, as it gives quick answerers, and comforts the mind of a person. It is easy to use in ones favor, as it excuses and gives a solution to all, even if that solution is irrational or unfounded, it draws a quick line, instead of dealing with analysis or research.

Peoples are praying for success and support, thanking a god, and telling their fellow humans, that they were healed or received an excellent result during their exams, following these infantile mind set day by day, whilst millions of praying humans are suffering and starving from hunger, and fail in their goals and biology. It is too simple, and that’s why so popular; thanking a god for all positive, and blaming the human for all negative, or even worse a devil, who now caused the bad to happen, whilst the all knowing and all capable of doing god, is up till now powerless in removing a devil, as without a devil, the boogeyman, which is always needed in totalitarian systems, it all makes no sense, in its senseless blown up house of cards.

By Thomas Fleckner