I Love Thy Heavenly Old Man

It seems that people who heavily rely on God, who need his guidance to make it through life, have problems. Usually mental problems. Everyone else just does it out of habit; plodding off to Church every Sunday and not paying much attention; praying for something good to happen once in a while. These people can definitely do without it — it's not making any difference to them except in regard to their Sunday mornings. The only reason they are religious in the first place is usually because they were brought up that way and have never questioned it. If you, for instance, actually sat them down and asked them why they believed in God, they really couldn't provide a substantial answer.

For the mentally ill or traumatised, God can have a placebo effect; they use him as a beacon of hope and righteousness to overcome their problems. They think that he is the answer; and, even though he doesn't exist, he is. This belief has helped many troubled people in the past. But "help" is too strong a word; assist, maybe. Because, while the person in question may no longer be messed up on drugs or abusing their spouses, they inevitably become boring and stale. Sometimes they just become plain annoying. You have to place it in the Grand Scheme Of Things and say: "sure, we've gained a law-abiding family man, but we've lost an interesting psychopath".

Most of the God-believers in the Western world will have committed at least one sin in the eyes of God, so even if he does exist, they still won't go to Heaven. That said, I still think we should invade foreign countries in his name and sacrifice atheists.