Nobody created God.
God, like the universe, has always existed.
I'm irreligious but at the same time don't worship at the altar of scientism either. I don't believe science holds all the answers, and yes, I tend to believe that there is a higher power. I believe in the soul and in the immortality of the soul. I believe in karma and rebirth, and believe that the human soul is a manifestation of the universal spirit, which we call God for the want of better word, so yes, in a manner of speaking, I think that man was created in God's image in that we both - as well as pretty much everything else in the universe - share the same essence.
To answer your next question - why doesn't God prevent evil... Inasmuch as I subscribe to the theory of karma and in the theory of self-autonomy of the soul - which essentially means that the soul determines its own destiny in accordance to its karma, I don't think our souls want God to intervene, since that'll put a spanner in the works, won't it?
That said, I have absolutely no truck whatsoever with organised religion of any persuasion or with Creationists. I think religion is divisive, hate-mongering, misogynistic and peddles bigotry and promotes segregation and superstition. As someone who believes in the concept of maya and how it shrouds the soul from our temporal self, I find it utterly baffling that people argue about things such as homosexuality, since, well, it's just another form of kama and if all sorts of sexuality are just another manifestation of the aforementioned maya, it seems daft to split hairs over which is the more acceptable sort.
It's akin to arguing about which of the two illusions is more real, when the fact remains that both are illusions. The same mainspring underpins my opposition to the moral police brigade who oppose things like homosexuality, promiscuity, prostitution, drug use and other multifarious things they consider 'immoral', when they remain beholden to a different sort of worldly illusion themselves - driving ultra expensive cars, patronising eye-wateringly dear religious functions in temples, churches etc, buying more houses/clothes/jewellery/luxury goods than they truly need, scoring at the unfortunate and the poor, demonising people who've been unfortunate in life as scroungers and welfare queens, discriminating people on grounds of sexuality, race, gender, class, caste and a whole host of other things.
It's like a pissing contest between two cheeks of the same arse, which is why religion is on the decline, at least in the Western world. We cannot save the humanity from itself and disabuse others of their illusions; that's a realisation people must come to of their own accord. But religion isn't the only vehicle that can lead to God. At the end of the day, it's more important to be a good human being - kind, generous, helpful, sympathetic, understanding, tolerant, inclusive and forgiving, characteristics over which neither theists nor agnostics nor atheists have an absolute monopoly. Just keep your beliefs to yourself, be nice to people, don't try to shove your idea of morality down others' throats.
Edited by joie de vivre - 11 years ago
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