Some Questions on a Few of the Myths of God

Just a couple of days back on Facebook, I saw a status update from a friend. The status update appeared to be another one of those copy and paste memes so popular in social networking. This is what it read (The all-caps portions are his.): "A College Professor got up and said, 'If GOD really exists then let him knock me off my chair.' Nothing happened. The class was quiet. He said, 'Now, I'll give it 2 more minutes.' A Marine stood up, punched him in the face, knocking him out and off the chair, then sat back down. As the Professor came to, he looked at his student and said, 'WHY DID YOU DO THAT?' The Marine said,'GOD was busy protecting my brethren still fighting for your right to say and do stupid stuff like this so, HE SENT ME.' "

Now, I have a lot of respect and admiration for this un-named friend. So I'm not trying to trash him in any way. But still, I have questions (besides the obvious one of why he said "...knock me off my chair," after he had "got up." If he got up, he was no longer in the chair, right?). Nobody seems willing to answer them.

First question: Is this story somehow suggesting that just because someone doesn't believe in a god, it's acceptable to assault them? This isn't the only case wherein the religious of society have implied a threat to us atheists. There's this case, as well. Is it alright to commit violence on those who are not convinced on faith alone? How about those people who believe there's something "out there" but they don't believe in your particular brand of faith? Might this ever-so-well-liked meme be the perfect example of religion being the root of most of this world's troubles? Okay, that was four questions. But in all fairness, they were related to the ridiculousness of assaulting someone for not believing in a god of any sort, here in the Land of Freedom.

My next question is, if this Marine in our hypothetical scenario truly believed "God" is "protecting his brethren" then why is there such a rift between Christianity and Islam? Aren't the members of Al-Qaida claiming their god is on their side too? And, if this "God" is so all-knowing and loving, what's he doing in the war business, anyway? Throughout history, military commanders have told troops that "God" is "on their side." American troops were told it during World War II, just like the German soldiers were. (Don't believe me? Here's a German soldier's belt buckle from WWII. Somebody please tell me what "Gott mit uns" translates to in English?) How could both sides have been right? I did it again. That was like...five questions. Sorry. But seriously, God is a literary device at best, and a terrible reason to kill others, at worst. If he did exist, he's a narcissist for demanding our worship, and a psychopath for ordering the murder of so many for things like worshiping another imaginary sky-daddy.

Finally, here's my last (set of) question(s): In this little story, everyone is talking about or acting on behalf of this God character. The word "God" is a title, and not a name. If I'm not mistaken, it means "mighty one." (There was a time in the Middle East, when every superior was called "god," and even wives called their husbands "master.") So, which particular "God" is being challenged, and responding by sending a hallucinating soldier to punch a professor? Is it the "love-thy-neighbor" version of Jesus or the one who endorsed slavery? Might it have been Yahweh? Could it have been Allah? Hare Krishna? Zeus? C'thulu? Bill Gates? Which one? Whichever it was, if he's so all-powerful, why couldn't he have taken care of it, himself?

I actually have the answer to that last question, already. See, God is not real. All you will ever encounter is other people, claiming to act on his behalf. We can be terrible to one another, and good to one another, whether we believe we're doing it on God's behalf, or not. I'd like to suggest we humans give being good to one another a try, for our own sake, and for no other reason. When we've been good to each other in the past, God wasn't there then, either. So, what's the difference?