The ultimate answer for me is that belief in god lacks intellectual honesty. I wouldn't seek any argument on the existence of god - for me an answer either way is a rationalist fantasy - i.e. there is no answer. I reject most of the ideology I was brought up in as based in fables. The idea of scripture as revelation from god doesn't appeal in the slightest. Most of it is wrong and flatly uninteresting - one would expect any such conversation to reveal what we don't know and be less obviously made up by human beings. This doesn't make me unreligious, but does make me consider religion as person-made.
Much of the non-religious ideology of my youth fails for similar reasons. I once believed the British Empire was a fine thing and the world wars were the fault of rotten Germans and Japanese. I now know this was because more accurate history was denied me. As a kid, I thought the Opium Wars must have been about our brave Royal Navy chasing drug dealing Chinamen around, and our empire about bringing civilisation, fair-play and cricket to the 'undeserving'. I couldn't understand why Americans had been so dumb as to reject our rule. I thought our society was broadly fair and you got by on skill and merit. I know this was all bunk. The essential component of intellectual growth is belonging to a group free of infectious diseases - average IQ (however suspect a measure) is reduced by this kind of disease. Over the years I've found some solace in science, but it's clear this form of reasoning is only a starting place. We lack any proper account of what science is, and as usual the widely held ideas are plain wrong. Science is not value- free or intellectually linear and requires massive effort, passion and some clear-break thinking and a gereat deal of training on what evidence amounts to and how it fits with theories. Its quest is truth but a quest is not truth. My grandson (14) is having a hard time at school just now and like most teenagers knows more or less 'sweet FA' - other than how to get into arguments with his mother and into detention. He came home with s story that WW1
