Why Does Humanity Always Need Gods? A System-Broken Rant

Why Does Humanity Always Need Gods? Let’s assume, for a hot second, that history books got it right. From the cave paintings of shamans to the pyramids of pharaohs, gods have been humanity’s sidekicks since day one. Every civilization, from the Sumerians praying to Anu to the Romans bribing Jupiter with goats, seems to have needed an outside force to make sense of the mess we call reality. Sun gods, moon gods, war gods, rain gods, fertility gods, and the all-seeing, all-knowing god of organized religion. If the official version of human history is even halfway true, then the belief in some divine being has never been optional. It’s been a feature of humanity. Built-in and hardwired. The names change. The rituals evolve. But the underlying need remains: to believe there’s someone (or something) out there, greater than us, watching over it all.

Fast forward to 2025, and billions, yes, billions, still cling to some deity, rejecting Santa Claus or woo-woo vibrations but holding tight to their heavenly VIPs. Why? The world is unpredictable. Nature destroys and people betray. Death is permanent around us. And the human brain doesn’t do well with that kind of chaos. So, we invented order and we assigned meaning. And we outsourced our deepest fears to invisible forces that could give us comfort, purpose, and a reason to keep going.

Gods became cosmic therapists. They knew more than us and saw further than us. And most importantly: they had a plan. Which meant we didn’t have to.

History tells us gods were born from necessity. When the harvest failed or the neighbor’s tribe raided your stash, blaming a moody deity was easier than facing the chaos head-on. The Egyptians had Ra steering the sun; the Greeks had Zeus throwing tantrums from Olympus. Even monotheism, like Judaism, Christianity, Islam, streamlined the chaos into one big boss, but the pattern held: humanity needed someone upstairs to take the wheel. Archeologists dig up temples older than time, proving this god-obsession predates Wi-Fi by millennia. It’s like we’ve been outsourcing our coping mechanism since we learned to grunt.

If you look closely, the divine has always functioned as an external parent figure. We suffer; they console. We sin; they punish. We beg; they forgive.

This dynamic is deeply familiar to the human psyche. Because it mirrors childhood. And many of us, quite literally, never grow out of it. We just transfer the need from mother to messiah.

Today, with 8 billion people on the planet, estimates suggest over 5 billion believe in some form of God Christians, Muslims, Hindus, you name it. Yet, mention crystal frequencies, and you’re met with eye rolls. The selectivity is wild. We’ll accept a bearded man (like Zeus) in the sky but draw the line at a jolly fat guy with reindeer? It’s not about logic, it’s about comfort. A god gives us a script: pray, obey, and maybe you won’t starve or get speared. But here’s the kicker: that script’s been running on repeat, and the plot’s gotten stale.

Here’s where it gets juicy. Humanity doesn’t just want gods we want saviors. Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, pick your prophet, and there’s a story of redemption attached. Even secular folks have their messiahs: political leaders, tech billionaires, or that one influencer promising crypto riches. We’re addicted to the idea that someone – anyone - will swoop in and fix the mess.

It would almost be comical if it weren’t so tragic: two armies, standing on opposite sides of a battlefield, both praying to the same god to bless their victory. And no one sees the irony or pauses to notice the absurdity: if God’s on both sides, someone’s getting ghosted. The Crusades, the Thirty Years’ War… blood’s been spilled to crown the “true” deity, as if the winner gets a heavenly trophy. This paradox should’ve clued us in by now our gods aren’t picking teams; we’re just too stubborn to admit it. This isn’t about one faith being right or wrong. It’s about the collective blindness that happens when people are more devoted to symbols and saviors than to truth. If God is good, why do so many claim his name while doing harm? If God is love, why is religion so often used to divide? These are not new questions. But they remain unanswered because to answer them would mean questioning the very structures we've built our identity on.

Here’s my take, and don’t get me wrong, I’m not throwing shade at belief itself. Belief can be beautiful. Belief can heal.

I feel there’s a divine spark out there, a cosmic hum that connects us all. But here’s the plot twist: we’re not just spectators we’re part of it. Quantum physics hints at interconnectedness; ancient wisdom talks of inner light. Yet, we’d rather kneel to an external savior than flex our own strength. It’s like having a superpower and begging someone else to use it for you. What if the divine isn’t just above us, or outside us, but within?

Every act of kindness, every moment of truth, every instinct to protect or create maybe that is the divine spark. Maybe "God" is a mirror we haven’t been willing to look into it.

In 2025, we’ve got AI generating art, rockets landing on Mars, and still, billions wait for a heavenly hand. Why not channel that faith inward? Meditation, community, grit, these are our tools, not some bearded judge in the clouds. The system’s broken because we’ve handed our agency to gods, governments, or Elon Musk’s latest tweet. Time to reclaim it. Imagine if those two armies dropped their guns and built something together less divine drama, more human hustle.

So, why do we need gods? Maybe it’s fear, fear of death, failure, the unknown. Maybe it’s laziness, letting someone else write the script. Or maybe it’s hope, a desperate grasp for meaning in a world that feels like a glitch. But here’s the rub: that hope doesn’t need a middleman. We’ve got brains, hearts, and a knack for surviving ice ages and floods. The divine force? It’s in us, not above us.

Next time you catch yourself praying for a miracle, pause. Ask: what can I do? Start small, help a neighbor, plant a tree, roast the system on X. Billions believing in gods is impressive, but billions believing in themselves? That’s a revolution.

The paradox of warring faiths fades when we stop outsourcing our power. It’s easier to wait for a savior than to become one. It’s easier to pray for peace than to embody peace.

But humanity doesn’t need another doctrine. We need courage. The kind that says:

I carry the spark. I carry the responsibility. I am the vessel.

When we stop outsourcing our power to imaginary thrones in the sky and start owning what we’re capable of that’s when things change.

Not because a god descended. But because we finally rose.

This article is not here to take away your faith. If your god gives you hope and anchors your soul, hold on to that. But also: look closer. You are more powerful than you think. Maybe it’s time to stop just asking for miracles and start becoming one.

Written by Euphemia van Dame

"Behold the divine might of a god-like figure, symbolizing humanity’s age-old quest in 'Why Does Humanity Always Need Gods?'a reflection on our reliance on external saviors."