If there were no God...

If there were no God...

If there were no heaven... no hell below us... and no religion too...

Would you act any differently?

Would you be a different person?

For me, I think that would be a yes. What would be different about me?

Well, since I'd have no reason to save myself for marriage I'd probably have slept with someone by now. (On the other hand, since I'm a skinny nerd, and since I've never had a girlfriend, perhaps not.)

I'd probably go into crime. I mean, given that everyone has insurance these days I can just waltz into any store, take what I want, and leave; and the poor store owner won't be any less wealthy because of it. The insurance people, maybe, but does anyone here actually think insurance people aren't criminal with the rates they charge? Someone I know was once charged $6,000 a year in car insurance for a car that was worth $4,000. I have no pity for insurance brokers.

I suppose there'd be the risk of getting caught and spending some time in prison, and the rest of your life with a criminal record. Was reading the story of some poor bloke who was charged with possession of marijuana 35 years ago, received a pardon 25 years ago, and now is flagged whenever he tries to enter the US, arrested, and swiftly deported.

But police don't have the resources to protect everything. A cautious criminal should be able to get away with a lot. I'd probably need martial arts training and a steady supply of rubber gloves, but it's doable. Isn't stealing things so much more profitable than earning them yourself?

Maybe if someone made me angry I could go kill them. There'd be the threat of turning them into a martyr, which would be very bad. But if you pick your spots and are careful you probably won't get caught.

See, without a God, there's no reason to be moral. You have to be moral to the people more powerful than you, yes, or else you risk getting taken out yourself. But to people weaker than you? People who have no ability to exact revenge? Absolutely no reason, if you're quiet about it and it doesn't affect your reputation. Am I wrong here?

So if the only reason I am moral is because there's a God, and there's a heaven awaiting those who make good decisions in life, doesn't that make me selfish? Aren't I just doing good just to get into heaven?

And if you're a good person out of selfishness, are you really a good person? If you're doing good just for a reward, are you really a good person?

But no, I say, I'm not doing good just to get into heaven. I'm doing good because we're in a war, and I'm just backing the winning side. Isn't that just a desire to be right? That same way people don't back down from arguments because they want to be right? Is that really any better?

It's easy to love people close to you. It isn't that hard to love people you know. But a complete stranger? An empty organizational entity? It's easy to cheat something when it doesn't affect you.

Can anyone, truly, love? Can anyone be good for good reasons? Would a world without religion truly be at peace?