The God Question and the Richest Man in the World, Bill Gates

Bill Gates has still not replied to the question of “Do you believe in God” with either the words, “Yes,” or “I believe in God.”

The closest he has come was to say, “I think it makes sense to believe in God,” and immediately added, “but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don’t know.” IN OTHER WORDS Gates was not speaking in the first-person, though one can conclude from his statement that he does not think believers in God like his wife are deluded or unintelligent. “It makes sense to believe in God,” was all he said. What exactly does Gates believe? How firmly? How many questions does he have? Gates added that the view that the world was “generated by random numbers… seemed… sort of an uncharitable view.” “Seemed?” “Sort of?” Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it goes well with his statement that believers in God are not deluded or unintelligent.

Gates also used the phrase, “women who are doing Godʼs work” in the following context:

“The disease [polio] is still endemic in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and killing it off altogether has been likened to squeezing jelly to death. There is another, sinister obstacle: the propagation by Islamist groups of the belief that polio vaccination is a front for covert sterilization and other western evils. Health workers in Pakistan have paid with their lives for involvement in the program. “Itʼs not going to stop us succeeding,” says Gates. “It does force us to sit down with the Pakistan government to renew their commitments, see what theyʼre going to do in security and make changes to protect the women who are doing Godʼs work and getting out to these children and delivering the vaccine.”
Source: “Bill Gates interview: I have no use for money. This is Godʼs work”

Gateʼs use of the phrase, “WOMEN doing Godʼs work” is not equivalent to saying, “I believe in God,” since it could easily be an acknowledgment by Gates of how the women view their own work, and because he wishes the Islamists to view the womenʼs work as “Godʼs” in order to help “protect the women,” so they can “deliver the vaccine” rather than “paying with their lives,” i.e., executed as infidels working for a western infidel organization.

What Bill Gates Said In Answer To The Question…

Do you believe in God?

I agree with people like Richard Dawkins that mankind felt the need for creation myths. Before we really began to understand disease and the weather and things like that, we sought false explanations for them. Now science has filled in some of the realm — not all — that religion used to fill. But the mystery and the beauty of the world is overwhelmingly amazing, and thereʼs no scientific explanation of how it came about. To say that it was generated by random numbers, that does seem, you know, sort of an uncharitable view [laughs]. I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I donʼt know.

This story is from the March 27th, 2014 issue of Rolling Stone.

The Christian Post edited Gatesʼ reply above, putting Gatesʼ words in this order:

When asked if he believed in God, he responded, “I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I donʼt know.”

At the same time, he said he agrees with “people like Richard Dawkins that mankind felt the need for creation myths.”

“Before we really began to understand disease and the weather and things like that, we sought false explanations for them. Now science has filled in some of the realm — not all — that religion used to fill,” he said. “But the mystery and the beauty of the world is overwhelmingly amazing, and thereʼs no scientific explanation of how it came about. To say that it was generated by random numbers, that does seem, you know, sort of an uncharitable view [laughs].”

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Bill Gates Speaking About Religious Topics in Earlier Interviews

Gates, interviewed November 1995 on PBS by David Frost, transcript with minor edits:

Frost: Do you believe in the Sermon on the Mount?

Gates: I donʼt. Iʼm not somebody who goes to church on a regular basis. The specific elements of Christianity are not something Iʼm a huge believer in. Thereʼs a lot of merit in the moral aspects of religion. I think it can have a very very positive impact.

Frost: I sometimes say to people, do you believe there is a god, or do you know there is a god? And, youʼd say you donʼt know?

Gates: In terms of doing things I take a fairly scientific approach to why things happen and how they happen. I donʼt know if thereʼs a god or not, but I think religious principles are quite valid.

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Gates was profiled in a January 13, 1996 TIME magazine cover story. Here are some excerpts compiled by the Drudge Report:

“Isnʼt there something special, perhaps even divine, about the human soul?” interviewer Walter Isaacson asks Gates “His face suddenly becomes expressionless,” writes Isaacson, “his squeaky voice turns toneless, and he folds his arms across his belly and vigorously rocks back and forth in a mannerism that has become so mimicked at Microsoft that a meeting there can resemble a round table of ecstatic rabbis.”

“I donʼt have any evidence on that,” answers Gates. “I donʼt have any evidence of that.”

“Melinda [my wife] is Catholic, goes to church and wants to raise Jennifer that way. But she offered me a deal,” Gates says. “If I start going to church — my family was Congregationalist — then Jennifer could be raised in whatever religion I choose.” Gates admits that he is tempted, because he would prefer she have a religion that ‘has less theology and all’ than Catholicism, but he has not yet taken up the offer. “Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient,” he explains. “Thereʼs a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.”