Why Does Belief in God Persist?
Q: Is belief in God simply the result of religion fulfilling human needs like community and purpose? Isn’t it more about culture and tradition than truth?
A: Belief in God persists because God persists.
The question itself is loaded with assumptions—as if belief in God must be explained away by psychology, sociology, or tradition. But that reasoning presumes that truth changes with time. It doesn’t. What was true a thousand years ago is still true today. Our understanding of truth may shift, but truth itself does not.
If science and theology appear to contradict one another, then one—or both—must adjust. The standard is always truth, not consensus.
Yes, religion can create community and a sense of purpose. But so do families, careers, friendships, sports, art, and countless other activities. Religion is simply one kind of cultural activity. Faith in God is different.
Faith is not about tradition or ritual—it is about recognizing reality. It is the recognition that we are not cosmic orphans but children of God, intentionally created. Technology can give us machines that fly, weapons that level cities, and computers that mimic intelligence, but none of these erase the miracle of life itself. And a miracle, by definition, points to God.
Cultures, philosophies, and religions change with time. God does not. People can reinterpret Him, ignore Him, or deny Him, but His reality remains constant.
Belief in God endures in the twenty-first century for the same reason it did in the first century: because God endures. God is truth. God is life. Belief in God endures not because people are gullible, but because people sense there is more—something true, eternal, unshakable.
The challenge is not simply to believe in belief, but to BELIEVE GOD—to trust truth as He really is, not as religion redefines Him.
Belief in God persists because truth persists. To reject that truth is your prerogative—but truth denied still carries consequences, and those consequences remain your responsibility.
Modern Relevance: In today’s world, belief is often treated as a matter of personal choice—like a playlist or a political opinion—while science and technology are seen as the arbiters of truth. But rapid advances in artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and global communication raise deeper questions than science can answer: Why are we here? What is life for? Who defines right and wrong? These questions cannot be settled by algorithms or machines. They lead us back, again and again, to the enduring reality of God.
