One God? Any God?

So, good day! It's been a while. Hope all is well with you and yours. People sometimes ask me why I don't believe in their, or anyone else's, god, gods, or goddesses. The simple answer is I see no evidence for any god. I see no evidence for any demon either. Humans can do evil things, sometimes individually but often in groups. That is the action of the people involved, not supernatural beings of any sort. Those wicked (or evil) actions are very often done in the name of some religious doctrine or god though. The Hindu pantheon of gods somehow justifies India's persecution of the Muslims, Buddhists, and others in that country. I am more familiar with the Abrahamic god (the so-called One God) and will limit my discussion to it. It's been said that rulers find religion useful for keeping the population under control. I believe that is indeed the case. As a social species, most of us want to belong to a group. This may be an evolutionary trait, safety in numbers and all that -- but that's purely conjecture on my part. 

The God of Abraham has spawned at least 4 different religions. The ones I'm aware of that do not accept "Christ" as "savior and son of god" are Judaism and Islam; the ones that do are some version of Christian. They all claim the same supernatural entity as the Father Creator God. [I am not addressing Scientology at all in this discussion.] Judaism's holy writings are the Tanakh (the word of God], the Torah, and maybe others. There are multiple "sects" of Judaism. The Islamic holy writings are the Quran (Koran), the word of God, and the Hadith (writings of the prophet Mohammed).  There at least two "sects" of Islam. The Book Of Mormon and the KJV of the Bible is used by the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), and dozens and dozens and dozens of versions of The Holy Bible for the rest of the Christians. The Christians are divided into Anglicans (mostly in England, I think), Catholics, and Protestants, though the Anglicans are sometimes grouped with the Protestants. The Protestants are further divided into Lutherans (at least 2 sub-versions), Methodists (multiple sub-versions), Baptists (many sub-versions), and many other named sects. Some other lesser known protestant sects are Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, Assemblies of God (may be a sub-division of Pentecostals?), the Unitarians, Pentecostals (talking in tongues, snake handling, drinking poison), Amish/Mennonite/Quaker (Anabaptists); probably even more. The Old Testament of all the Bibles is considered by its believers to be the Word of God or at least divinely inspired. Notice the length of the vertical scroll bar in Bible Gateway's drop-down list box of versions of the Bible available for chapter and verse look-ups. There are too many to count. I don't even know that the Catholic's unique version of the bible is in this list. 

Mythology

My own view is that if believers cannot even agree on what their god is, or what their god wants, or what their god expects, or what their god promises... why on earth would I believe any of it to be true? I know we're a story-telling people. We had to tell ourselves and our children stories to explain where the sun went at night, or why there was thunder and lightening. Later we made stories to remember when to plant crops and when to harvest. We noticed the world around us; gradual change in sunrise and sunset and deduced seasons. We gradually realized the earth was a sphere that circled the sun, not the other way around. The organized church of the time fought the discoveries all the way, but knowledge won out over superstition. We've been to the moon. The "church" is still fighting to keep us in the dark, in the caves, ignorant of reality; it wants to maintain its power and control over its followers. It wants our children taught fake science in public school. It wants its doctrine enshrined in our laws. It wants to freely discriminate against everyone not of their particular group. So, which 'god' will *you* choose? I choose knowledge over superstition. I like mythology, fantasy, and fairy tales as much as the next person. I do not live my life by such stories though. The Creation Museum or the Ark Encounter are just fantasy. The 'Flintstones' was an adult cartoon, not a documentary. 

Two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong - Industrial Disease, Dire Straits. If 4-6-8+ religions make different, contradictory claims about the same "god", what are the odds that any of them are right? We must throw off the chains of ignorance and move into the 21st century. Embrace rational thought!