Does God Exist?

Does God exist or not? Whatever humanity's answer to this terrifying question may be, it will completely change their life and confrontation with the world. What is the use of God's existence? What consequences will there be if God does not exist? How will humans be with and without God? Amin Bozorgian, a writer and researcher, and Amin Ghazai, one of the organizers of the Iranian Atheists' Association, sat down this week to discuss these questions in a taboo conversation. Bozorgian: In my opinion, although there are no strong and convincing rational arguments that God exists, sociologically, I believe God does exist. In fact, there are people who believe in God, so God exists. One can observe in the minds and behaviors of those who believe that God exists. Therefore, we can say that God exists. This existence is certainly different from philosophical existence. Of course, we know that great philosophers like Descartes, Hegel, Kant, and Spinoza have provided reasons for the philosophical existence of God. That is, just as there are reasons to prove God's existence, there are also reasons to disprove it. For this reason, I say sociologically that God exists. There is a God because it exists in the minds and actions of groups within societies. Therefore, it is better to ask whether God is useful to us or not, and what its function is. Yes, this could be our next question: Is God useful to us or not? Here, I would like to ask Mr. Ghazai, the other guest of the program, to join the discussion. Mr. Ghazai, Mr. Bozorgian said that because there are people who believe that God exists and that God exists in the behavior and minds of millions of people, therefore God exists. What would your response be to this question? Ghazai: Well, when we talk about existence in this context, we mean external existence. External existence means an existence outside of our minds. We know that God is a concept and is, in fact, one of the most poorly defined concepts that humanity has invented or created. The discussion is not whether God exists in people's minds or whether people believe in it. It is evident that there are billions of people who somehow believe in a God and think that the creation of the universe has occurred with the intelligent intervention of a being called God, consciously and with God's decision and will. The existence or non-existence of God is an ontological issue. We cannot say that because people believe, therefore God exists. This means erasing the issue of mind and reality. Reason dictates that we should not accept anything without evidence. Either these reasons are rational or empirical, and you have evidence and proof. Therefore, we should not accept the existence of God unless we have sufficient reasons for it. We do not have sufficient reasons to prove God's existence. What can I say about sufficient reasons? We have no evidence. You know that the burden of proof lies with the one who claims God's existence. Therefore, reason dictates that a wise and rational person should not believe in God's existence. I would like to see if Mr. Bozorgian has a response to these points. Mr. Bozorgian, you mentioned that God exists in the minds of humans and said that for this reason, God exists. How do you defend your viewpoint in response to the points raised by Mr. Ghazai? Bozorgian: In fact, my point was not that God exists in the minds of humans, therefore He exists. I actually said that sociologically and completely objectively. Sociologists like Simmel and Durkheim have spoken about this issue, who personally did not have much belief in God or religious belief. When we say God exists from a sociological perspective, it is not that it exists in the minds of a few people. It exists in the objectivity and behavior and rituals of people, in the institutions they create. First of all, reason, in the sense we understand today, is a social product. When we say reason, which reason? Reason where? When? In what era? Because the reason we talk about today is different from the reason that was one with religion in the Middle Ages and later gained another meaning in the Enlightenment and has a different meaning today. Therefore, we do not have a non-historical thing called reason to define a rational or wise human in general and then base an argument on it that will always work. Regarding the evidence and documentation that Mr. Ghazai mentioned; in fact, there is very concrete evidence that has led humans to believe in a metaphysical entity that has been given various names for God. You see, God is a human creation, created to answer the questions that humans have had. The point is that these questions still persist. Because these questions still persist, the belief in God or the existence of God still exists. Despite the growth of rationality and science and the changes that humans have reached in reasoning and understanding, because these questions still persist, the belief in God still exists. A secular society is also grappling with the same issues that led humans to create God. Mr. Bozorgian, why did humans need God and create Him? Bozorgian: In fact, I wanted to say that a secular society, despite the scientific growth after the Enlightenment and social revolutions, can now tell us why, for example, humans die and what the mechanism of the heart stopping is and what the mechanism of body cells and aging is, but regarding the issue itself, it has not found an answer. The most important issue for humans and the most real phenomenon of life, that is, their own death and the things they produce, such as loneliness and anxiety, these have been reasons that have created a phenomenon called God. This issue still persists, and human knowledge has not been able to find an answer to it. Let us return to Mr. Ghazai. One of the analyses that exists is that humans need God because of their fears. Now, the primitive human fear of nature has given humans the feeling that they need a supernatural and higher force to resort to. Mr. Bozorgian says that this fear still exists in today's modern or secular world. Therefore, the need for God's existence exists, so God exists. What will your response be? Ghazai: You see, Mr. Bozorgian refers to the theory of consolation, which is a very flawed theory that has been rejected and has no seriousness. The issue of human confrontation with death as one of the certainties of existence is not something that I think has been rejected. Ghazai: Yes. I understand. I am aware of this issue. I do not think this has been rejected. Ghazai: Why should we create a concept that we know does not exist and live with it? This means a lack of will for truth. It means irrationality. In the end, we conclude from this that we should not always be rational, meaning that when necessary, we should deceive ourselves and strangely want to console ourselves with self-deception and feel that our world and life have meaning. Happiness and wisdom are interdependent. You cannot be ignorant and pretend to be ignorant, deceive yourself, and use beliefs and ideas as opium, drugs, and alcohol and say that I do not know if it exists, but because I want it to exist, I say it exists. Humans must stand against this issue at some point in history. Only reason and wisdom are what happiness depends on. [Humans] should not accept anything unless they have sufficient reasons to prove its existence, and if they do not recognize something or something from reality, such as death, is unpleasant for them, they should not create stories and fall into imagination, delusion, and self-deception, because happiness and wisdom are interdependent. Mr. Bozorgian, after all, the lonely human is the author. Humans are responsible and authors of themselves because they are alone. Human loneliness was initially in confrontation with nature, and this loneliness has been carried with them; for example, in the form of a sense of responsibility, which can be an anxiety-inducing feeling. Can the belief in God that you defend be a kind of alleviation of individual responsibility? Bozorgian: It can be both. There are many examples and cases that can illustrate this occurrence you mentioned or the opposite. Essentially, I am not saying that humans should believe or not believe in God. Or that belief in God or disbelief in God is the truth. I am describing why the phenomenon of God exists. Mr. Ghazai mentioned the theory of consolation; it is not related to the theory of consolation at all. The relationship between death and the existence of God is not consolation; that I believe in God and find consolation for my death. No, the issue is meaning. These are two different things. The issue is finding meaning for death. Ghazai: What you said is called the theory of consolation. Now, if you want to give it another name, go ahead. Bozorgian: No, no. In fact, the theory of consolation is a psychological theory and has nothing to do with anthropology. The main issue is meaning. How can I control and guide my meaningful relationships, social relationships, and social life with the acceptance of my own death? Mr. Ghazai used the term truth. Now, without going into how truth can be given meaning and what multiple and diverse meanings it can have, I agree that yes, we should seek the truth. But the issue is that many of those who believe in God are also seeking to understand the truth, and they consider disbelief in God to be a departure from the truth. Here, I want to return to Marx's statement that our situation shapes our thoughts. You should see what situation individuals are in that leads them to find these beliefs, not the other way around. What we are facing today is that God still exists in the lives of human beings. We should seek to understand why it exists. Did all these people want to deceive themselves? Well, if everyone wanted to deceive themselves, this deception has had a function. What is that? Mr. Ghazai, I will ask you this: If you take God away from humans and deny Him, what will you put in His place? Ghazai: Well, first of all, commitment to truth and confronting reality is beneficial for humans. If we accept this, we reach the next point. [We should see] what humans need for happiness in this world. Rest assured, there is no need to put anything in place of God. Because we do not need a divine master.