God teaches forgiveness and love: an idea universally agreed upon as good.

It’s very easy for lots of people to be wrong. Billions of people across time have believed in many things that turned out to be wrong. There was a time when people almost universally believed that the Earth was the centre of the universe and this turned out to be wrong. Also, the second largest religion is Islam. Christians obviously do not think the beliefs of Muslims to be true and yet there are almost as many Muslims in the world as there are Christians. Clearly, then, the number of people who believe in something does not ensure it has truth value. Further, Christianity has often been exported through ‘education’ of native populations – not exactly true believers, these new converts, just the ones smart enough to nod and smile and not get killed by their captors and conquerors. Numbers mean nothing when skewed like this. It is also extremely easy to import a religion when you are in a position that enables you to control the education of children. Might Scientology not be suggested as the example of a new religion that has attracted followers? Hoax Religions that were entirely and relatively recently made up: 1) L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer, invented Scientology in 1952 2) Joseph Smith, a convicted fraudster, invented The Church of Latter day Saints in 1830 (The Mormons) Suggesting that mass belief is a significant argument is a fallacy in itself. John Stuart Mill stated quite nicely that a million people might hold one view, and one person another, but this does not make the view that is held more broadly more valid in any way. All recollection of Jesus is recorded in a book that has been edited time and again by figures who never had any contact with him – the comparison to the game ‘Chinese whispers’ seems obvious, in which a phrase becomes reinterpreted to the point of gross inaccuracy. Following such a line of argument would seem to suggest that David Ike or Joseph Smith is more genuine. The ideas presented in Plato’s Socratic dialogues likewise supposedly paraphrase the ethics of a historically renowned figure, but it would seem foolish to assume such paraphrasing did not occur. Plato certainly bent Socrates’ arguments at very least. The worth of Jesuit ethics seems evident, but assuming that the very ethics of a single man have survived numerous translations without being altered is unrealistic to say the least. The attachment of a ‘religion’ to a sound ethical scheme seems unnecessary – one can hold such values without what is essentially the idolisation of a figure, the character and ethic of which is only understood through literary depiction. Even if Jesus existed, the quality of his contribution is very likely to have been grossly exaggerated. There is also no reason to assume that a belief in the Christian religion is the best way to live. The USA is arguably one of the more Christian countries on Earth (by which I mean the population as the constitution, obviously, does not allow the US itself to be). The number of atheists in the US is below the world percentage. In a recent UNICEF study the US came in directly above the UK for quality of life for children. The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark claimed the top three places – these are amongst the most atheistic countries in Europe. 85% of people in Sweden do not believe in a god, 80% of those in Denmark and 44% of those in the Netherlands. The percentage of the world that does not believe in a god is 16-21%. This is an impressive difference. Furthermore, when you look at divorce rates (in the US) amongst atheists, Christians and Jews, Jews rank highest and atheists lowest – so Christians and Jews are more likely to divorce than people who lack belief in any gods entirely. Of course, none of these correlations prove any causal relationship. However, they do demonstrate that Christianity does not correlate with a better life as defined by most Christians themselves. In addition it is important to realize that if all those people are wrong, they end up believing that the son of...an unfaithful wife is their savior. Couldn't they choose someone better to worship?!?