What If No One Believed In God? | Unveiled

What If No One Believed in God?

Humankind has believed in the existence of deities for longer than civilization has been around. These divine beings are thought to influence and guide us… and are often viewed as the heavenly creators of life, the universe and everything else. But, what if that belief never came to be?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question: What if no one believed in God?

There’s a couple of ways this particular hypothetical could go, but we’re not so concerned with whether God is or isn’t real, and we’re not proposing that everyone who does already believe in God suddenly wakes up no longer believing. Rather, we’re focusing on what the world would look like had humanity’s belief in (or acceptance of) divine beings never happened at all.

Human history would’ve certainly played out differently, as various gods have proven significant influential forces across our timeline. The European dark ages, for instance, saw Christian churches act as a primary place of education, in some way shaping the minds of everyone - from common people to royalty. The Divine Right of Kings and Queens could never have been a concept by which to hold - or gain - power, and so the whole of society might’ve shaped itself differently had no one believed in God. In general, it’d be Ancient Greece without the Olympians; Christianity without the son of God; Islam without Allah and Hinduism without the Brahman. Whole nations and empires may never have emerged, or at least have built themselves differently.

There’d be similar, but perhaps more surprising, upheaval in the scientific world, too. On the one hand, as Gods have historically been used to personify or explain natural phenomena - such as Zeus or Thor with thunder and lightning - without belief in higher beings people might’ve been more inclined to seek other explanations for things that occur in nature. And so, we may have seen science and technology progress at a faster rate. However, it’s also suggested that in some cases our religious beliefs have in fact led to (or spurred on) scientific developments… that the two are in-part linked because science seeks to prove another perspective. The creation story is a good example, as scientists have effectively been motivated by it to try and make scientific sense of the universe. When viewed in this way, if no one believed in God then perhaps fewer people would be inclined to ponder life’s biggest questions in the first place.

We can see the long-lasting impact of theistic religions in general culture as well. They’ve often served to preserve our knowledge of the ancient world - recording it via scripture, sculpture and art, as well as simply by the telling of stories - usually in languages such as Latin that are (or were) in some way influenced by our religions. Much of what we know about Ancient Greece, for example, has been carried through history thanks to Islamic translations. Belief in various Gods has also inspired centuries of music, with traditional songs going on to influence and shape various contemporary genres, from gospel to country and rock ‘n’ roll.

Perhaps paintings and sculptures are the artforms most obviously linked to a belief in God, though. Much of Western art from the Middle Ages through to the Renaissance was shaped by religion - with artists trying to capture the divine and extraordinary. Without belief in some form of higher power, even millennia old cave paintings might’ve looked different - with the history of art now firmly (perhaps exclusively) aiming for realism. For a more contemporary effect, even modern world movies and television would cater for a different audience… For instance, without the backdrop of mythological Gods, heroes and monsters, perhaps the superhero genre would never have taken off quite so spectacularly.

Architecture is another creative pursuit that would’ve no doubt developed differently. We’d likely never have had hundreds of thousands of religious buildings like churches, mosques and synagogues. And, therefore, we’d never have learned the various building techniques that creating these structures demanded of us - or, at least, we’d have learnt them at a slower rate. Westminster Abbey, the Pyramids of Giza, Vatican City… We’d never have seen any of them, given how they’re all built in some way upon a belief in God, divinity or the afterlife. The primary, human need for shelter would still of course be there, and the wealthiest among us may still have preferred our homes to look in some way beautiful - but places of worship they’d no longer be.

It’d be part of a general psychological shift, wherein we’d all be answerable to only ourselves - with no godly teachings to sway our actions. Without God there’d be no traditional concept of heaven, either, while we’d also lose one significant line of argument when even trying to determine “the meaning of life”. On the other hand, it’s often suggested that humanity’s belief in various Gods can bring about division, intolerance and war… So, while we could still see violence for other reasons, without anybody believing in any God we’d perhaps see much less by way of religious persecution.

In general, the overriding concept of religion may still have come about, though, even without belief in any actual Gods. Sure, we wouldn’t see theistic faiths, but we could still see wide-reaching social groups defined by other belief systems, teachings and traditions. A religion might instead celebrate nature or the human spirit rather than deities, while religious texts would primarily focus on life lessons, rules and human wisdom.

In this way, we’d still see the emergence of religiously influenced laws and legislation - only something like the Ten Commandments would never have been issued by God. And so, it’s perhaps unlikely that such a religion could avoid a hierarchy altogether, as leaders and preachers would still attract followers. Humanity may well have developed its moral code by some other means, without the guiding light of a god to show the way. But, if you subscribe to Voltaire’s philosophy that “If God did not exist… we would have to invent him”, then even a Godless society would wind up creating some kind of supreme being.

All in, it’d clearly be a very different world. One without faith, and without the various theistic influences that today appear all across the planet. But life’s seemingly unanswerable questions would still require us to at least try to figure them out. And that’s what would happen if no one believed in God.