The foremost reason I avoid talking about religion, as a topic of normal conversation, lies in the mandatory requirement to discuss and agree-upon the definitions of words and to, then, go-back-over common misunderstandings (for every 'new use' of previously defined words).
Example: When someone begins a conversation with "I believe god created the universe." I have to interrupt / hit the pause button and reply:
Wow! A six word sentence and four words require extensive definition. Since you didn't preface the most confusing term god with the word a, I must assume you think there's only one? So . . . first question: what's your opinion of the other religion's gods? And, please explain what you mean when you use the term belief. I also need to know if our understanding for the label the universe is comparable. Finally, are you able to explain your use of the term created with more than the simple context found in the bible or quran?
When someone begins a conversation with "I believe the massive storm was created by La NiΓ±a." I do not have to interrupt. Instead, my internal dialogue goes something like:
I understand their use of the word belief was an alternative to think; the massive storm would be something empirically measurable (with human senses and machines) and I have a general understanding of the global, cyclic, climate pattern which has been labeled La NiΓ±a.
The actual creator—which I refer to as 'god'—is the effect commonly referred to as: Gravity.
No scientist, no
astro-theoretical-quantum-physicist, not Steven Hawking, nor Albert Einstein has
yet identified the mechanics of gravity. Nobody knows how it does what
it does. There are theories (think: conjecture, not actual scientific theory) as to the hypothetical existence of a graviton particle (similar-in-size to
a quark, which makes up protons and neutrons). So far, every experiment
has failed to locate an element or particle, contained within objects with
mass, which warps spacetime around those objects. [This is Gravity's
carefully-worded definition; it's no longer simply called an 'attraction
force'.]
We all know Gravity exists because we can empirically measure it with our senses and machines. It's all powerful. It is everywhere in the visible universe. Thru telescopes, we can see Gravity at work 14 billion-light-years ago/40 billion-light-years away (which, because of space-expansion, is the same distance). Without Gravity: the star we call The Sun wouldn't exist, the ball of rock we call Earth would never have formed, and oxygen and nitrogen molecules would not have collected to form our atmosphere. All life exists because Gravity exists.
Gravity has no awareness, does not think, and can not communicate. It does not plan. It has no agenda. It does not listen to prayers. Anyone who prays to Gravity, does so because they don't want to become hypocrites in their own eyes.
Your god—on the other hand—was 100% fabricated by humans. How do those of you who label yourself, christian, or jewish, or muslim, or hindu, (etc, etc, three bags full) come to terms with the hypocritical elements in your religion's dogma? Do you cherry pick the parts that you like and disavow the evil portions? How do you come to terms with the inability of your religion's books to document any facts or knowledge about the world, beyond that known by those long-dead humans who claimed to merely be transcribing their god's words? Is it hubris on your part?
At an unknowable time in the unforeseeable future, someone will identify Gravity's origin-particle or, specifically, they'll locate the element which, when present, permits spacetime to warp in the nearby vicinity of mass (or energy). To prove their theory, they'll remove it from a small sample of matter. And that tiny chunk of gravitation-less matter will either:
⁕ Instantly disappear from existence.
- or -
⁕ Grow
exponentially. Infecting every particle/molecule/atom it comes into
contact with, until everything with matter is without Gravity. In a few
short minutes the Earth will dissolve and dissipate. In a few short
millennia, the entire universe will become a quiet, dark, cooling-soup of
protons, neutrons, quarks, and electrons. (Similar-but-different to what happens with ice-nine in
Cat's Cradle
by Vonnegut.)
- or -
⁕ Form a new type of gravitation-less
category of matter. Immediately making all transportation (especially
space travel) exponentially more efficient.
PS: It's OK to look for god, but please don't remove the glue that holds the universe together when you locate it.
PPS: For those rare few who both read-to-the-bottom and are "science-savvy" you'll probably recognize some additional facts (not beliefs) related to my claim that Gravity is the origin of life: Gravity is inexorably intertwined with time (there are current hypotheses that time wouldn't exist without Gravity and, obviously, vice-versa) also, time is inexorably intertwined with space (thus the term spacetime). Extrapolation—at the same instant, Gravity is making it possible for objects with mass to experience a progression of events in Gravity's vicinity and a three-dimensional location for those objects . . . Gravity creates time and space.
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