The Fellowship Hall

Philosophy, apologetics, even casual discussion, all have given the world so many reasons why people should believe in a god (or a specific god). Many of these are pretty familiar

• Everything must have a cause, so something must've been the very first cause; this is god,
• Goodness exists; if goodness exist, there must be some immutable standard by which actions are judged so that goodness exists in the first place. This is god,
• and so on.

But all of these have issues which render them pretty, well, untenable.

Perhaps the best reason to believe in a god, and the one which no one can really argue against, is "Because I want to."

It's simple — it makes no unnecessary assumptions.

It's truthful — no one can deny your own wants.

It's personal — it relates god-belief to a wholly personal sphere which keeps it away from science, education, healthcare, and public policy.

Through the millennia as we learned more about the world and failed to find our gods reigning high on their mountains, theistic religions lost a lot of appeal, leading to their leaders inventing more complex reasons to continue to believe, to bolster the veracity of their religion against secular alternatives.

But ultimately? "Because I want to" should be enough. Anything more seems to entirely miss the point. What do you think?

As a Christian, I completely agree. We live in America, which was a country partially founded on *religious* freedom (not to be confused with Christian freedom). Each individual should be allowed to practice whatever religion, or no religion at all, as they see fit, so long as they are not physically hurting anyone.

I’d also mention, “as long as they are not infringing the rights of others.”

A pastor can refuse to marry anyone other than heterosexual couples who have never been married before if they choose to, but they should never be allowed to impose those restrictions on other marriages performed by anyone else, especially representatives of the state.

...but they should never be allowed to impose those restrictions on other marriages performed by anyone else, especially representatives of the state.

This. Exactly this.