GOD IS SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

I have a question. What do atheists think people who believe in a divine spirit believe the way they do? The fact is that atheists are in a minority but that does not mean they are not correct in believing the way the do. I believe there is an answer to this question yet few avowed atheists have addressed this issue. They choose to cite the complete lack of evidence to support the belief in a God(s) but do not explain why such beliefs are universally pervasive in societies. Even atheists know, or should know, there is a sense of morality even in the most primitive societies: you should not kill; you should not steal, etc. Many equate morality with a sense of a “good spirit” or a God by saying you cannot have morality without having a God. For example, if you say it is wrong to kill someone you believe there is a God. My contention is that this is to so.

It is not fair for me to ask these questions without saying what I believe, which is, I believe there is an evolved sense of survival and it is real just as the cognitive and non-cognitive senses are real. The sense of the taste of salt, for example, or the senses of pride or shame are real but are specific. In contrast, the sense of survival dominates everything we are and everything we do. The presumption here is that the sense of survival can be extrapolated to biological zero—the big bang. It is common to all biological systems first as a biochemical fact and eventually as the strongest of all senses in mentally capable beings: the sense of survival. It evolved. If a biological system does not have it, it would not exist. You can name this sense anything you like. As a biologist, I name it life or sustainable high-energy phosphate bonds. You can label the sense of survival as God if that is what pleases you. Thus, I believe this is the common bond between those who believe in God and those who don’t. I also believe man used the sense of survival to created religion. Certain people muddied the biological facts of hierarchy dominance to organize innate gregariousness to gain fame and fortune, which led to substitution of moral group formation for individuals: witch doctors, priests, and tribal chiefs, for example. Thus, the transformation of justifiable homicide into war.

I enjoy the blog site Pharyngula—by the way, it true is an interesting one. Blogger after blogger steps forward on that site to confess they are atheist, like a gay coming out of the closet. They do this in a pleading way; this is what I believe but please do not condemn me for saying it, and by the way, aren’t I brave to tell you something so personal.  Like an evangelical minister confessing he believes in God as he is leaving a house of ill repute, he is guilty of being a normal human being but got caught at it. Religion is man made nonsense but Darwinian inspired survival of the fittest is not. Comments invited as is hate mail from both sides!