I thought I would share an answer I provided to a question on Quora. The question was, essentially, Why do we have to believe in a god? My response:

You do not. Many of us do not:

“Most U.S. adults now say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values (56%), up from about half (49%) who expressed this view in 2011. [Only 42% think belief in a god is necessary.] This increase reflects the continued growth in the share of the population that has no religious affiliation…” [[pewresearch.org]]

If you want or need something to believe in, I suggest that you believe in man’s ability to reason.

We have reason, which leads one to critical thinking, common sense, understanding and ultimately, belief that we are all in this together, which gets us to an ethics that surpasses that practiced by many religious people. We, therefore, have the freedom to think and to act in accordance with man’s greatest distinction from all other forms of life on this planet.

"Reason is God's crowning gift to mankind,” said Sophocles. I love the dichotomy that this quote forces us to consider. Think about it: Reason - THE ultimate gift to us, from God! I believe it is reasonable to believe that he would expect us to develop and use this 'gift' to our maximum potential.

It is certainly true that Man's fundamental distinction from other life forms on this earth is that man is a rational being. Only humans have the ability to make types of conceptual judgments. No other lifeforms do. I do agree that there are many examples of other animals that show empathy and cooperate (in varying degrees) within their social groups. Some also show a fairly sophisticated use of crude tools, but this is not the same thing as forming concepts of non-physical things - Concepts, like “morality, freedom,” “democracy” and “truth” for example.

If God created us with this unique gift, wouldn't he expect us to be all we can be? I believe he would, therefore, expect us to use our minds to the fullest and not accept anything on faith alone.

To accept ANYTHING on the basis of faith alone (that is, with total disregard for rational thought) seems contradictory to the unique gift that we humans have.

Reason does not provide any evidence that God exists. I prefer to err, if indeed it is an error, on the side that demands absolute evidence on such an important matter.*