Afraid of Why

TheHonestAtheistJuly 3, 2016

When was the last time you heard a religious person question god? I can't think of the last time, and I still spend time around the religious. Followers of religion seem to blindly follow their deity unquestioningly, to which I respond, "Why?" Is religion just afraid to ask the question, "Why"?

An ideology focused and reliant on a god figure must chock up the unexplained as "God's will" or "part of His plan." That which cannot be explained within their system of beliefs is marked as evil, regarded as demonic deception, shunned, or rejected entirely. This is one reason why religion so commonly butts its head against science and rational thought.

Religion seems to be satisfied with God as the explanation without looking further. There are numerous examples from history: tides, sea currents, lightning, storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, unknown diseases, the Plague, solar cycle, seasons, planetary motion, phases of the moon, death, paralysis, epilepsy, blindness, deafness, muteness, and crippling diseases.

I don't think religion is literally afraid of asking the question, but the practice of questioning God is shunned and forbidden in many religions. In Christianity, Job never blames God for his calamity but does question why he was picked and what the purpose is in it; to this, God does not answer Job's question--no. He belittles Job and mocks him by asking who made creation and knows this and that. With Jesus' temptation, he quotes Scripture as the reason not to put the Lord to the test, something which has been done by Biblical figures (Gideon, for instance). I'm not so upset that the question is not asked as the answer is never satisfied--for that's the point of a question after all. Curiosity does not always kill the cat. We need the curiosity to find answers and discover. How can we not find the answers if we are stuck on one that "answers" all unexplored questions? Philosophy is seeking to discover truth, and you can't do that sitting back and excusing your laziness.

Let me know your thoughts below. Thanks.