After attending the stimulating “Is There Evidence for God?” debate last week, I left unchanged. Despite the fact that the evidence-for-God debate generates a thought-provoking mentality, the debate is inherently pointless. 

The God verses no God debate raises essential questions everyone should ask themselves, but for the Christians and Atheists, their viewpoints will not change. They have already shaped and assessed their views about God and Christianity; a debate arguing the evidence for and against God is not going to alter their mindsets. Despite which way the evidence points toward, people ultimately believe what they want to believe. 

Imagine that Adam is a Christian. Adam was baptized, confirmed, goes to church, attends youth group and takes part in missionary activities. His entire existence revolves around glorifying God and His grace, otherwise he would not be a good Christian. Adam’s life has been molded around the ideology and social construction of Christianity; he simply cannot imagine a life without God, prayer and repentance. 

Imagine that Eve is an Atheist. Eve spends her days not fearing God, but living existentially. She recognizes that this is the only life she has, so she lives it to her fullest. Eve has thought about the concept of God before, but she does not fret over it. Rather, she embraces the diversity of religion and acknowledges reality can be perceived in an infinite number of ways. 

Adam and Eve attended the debate last week and found the argument to be interesting, yet mind-boggling. Adam could not grasp what the theoretical physicist argued. He was listening to the theologian’s argument. Eve thought the theologian used too many philosophical terms for the average person to understand. Adam and Eve were content with their thoughts when they walked in the doors and they were not expecting any form of change in their understanding of life. Adam and Eve represent students across N.C. State’s campus who attended the debate.

A meticulous argument wrangling over the evidence of God leads to people ignoring the evidence even further and resorting back to beliefs that make them most comfortable. What does dark energy have to do with God? Why believe in Jesus when The Bible is historically a weak source? Why believe that Buddha reached nirvana? It does not matter. People believe what they want to believe, despite evidence, logic or reasoning.

Objective evidence plays a secondary force in our understanding of the universe. Most people commit themselves to subjectivity rather than objectivity. It is simply easier. If you believe strongly about something, nothing is stopping you; these strong beliefs bring comfort, tradition and routine to life. No matter what type of debates you attend that quarrel over God’s existence you will believe what you want to believe.