if there were less suffering, would there be fewer religious believers?

Question

Please consider these details too, thanks:

i am often heart broken by the immense suffering and struggles people are confronted with in their lives. for many people, life is a terribly harrowing experience.

at the same time, i appreciate religions for trying to help these people, for volunteering as NGO's, for running soup kitchens, for starting organisations like world vision. the more i look at religion, the more i see it as providing services of emotional, social and moral support to those who are needy, who suffer, and who struggle against the sometimes enormous unfairness of life.

so this makes me wonder about religious belief. people who are in such hard circumstances may subscribe to a religion because it, essentially, boosts their morale, or shields them from the psychological impact (at least).

does this explain why, in the West (for example), christianity has, er, suffered (hehe), because we have become affluent and suffering is not a primary part of life?

i guess overall, i have only seen people decide to believe in god and become religious when they have suffered greatly.

i have not seen someone become a religious believer after they have had a tremendously happy experience in a life context in which there has been no recent or present suffering.

god may be seen to make people happy when there has been recent suffering or when there is present suffering however. imho

Answer 1

Yes, I think less suffering would mean less religious believers.

You also have to think about the suffereing in people's own lives. If they had no problems, they would be content with their life, and would not need to look to the church for help.

Answer 2

You should read some of Mother Teresa's stuff (just do a quick yahoo search for it - you'll get the idea) Basicially she taught that greed and the lack of love are the worse kind of poverty - and the worse type of suffering. Physical pain and deprivation are terrible, yes, but worse is the person who has all they need and fails to recognize this and be happy.

The "unfairness of life" you speak of is existent for only one reason: somewhere another person wanted more than everyone else. Sure, natural disasters happen and other random "acts of god" - but most of these are caused by our own direct self-destruction and abuse towards our planet, which so very few people care about. Yes, we all die. But shouldn't we live while we're here? My favorite Mother Teresa quote of all time: "Let no one come to you without leaving better and happier". If we could all just live by that and not care about who believes in what or who does what - it would make a significant difference.

Sure, you could blame emotional suffering on distance from God. But really - it is a lack of self-less love. No matter what religion you are or what you believe - it should be natural to be nice to people, and to not get angry over stupid things and respect that other people are not you and therefore will have different beliefs. It makes me so upset to see people killing each other in the name of their religious belief. Yes, a lot of the religions don't allow for other religions. But - why can't we all just get along? Mother Teresa's philosophy was "help a muslim be a better muslim, a christian a better christian, a jewish person a better jewish person" (not a direct quote, but similiar at least) We should all just strive to be better people, and not judge on religion, because there are so many religions - and no unbiased truth for or against any of them. But if we put more love in this world, much, much more would be returned.

So - to answer your question, if there were less suffering, would there be fewer religious believers? This all depends on what your view of "religion" is. My religion is very simple - it is love - just love and love and love - and yes you'll get burnt, but the more who love, the less suffering there would be - and we would all believe in love - it should be the unity between the different beliefs - instead of mankind squabbling within itself as to which religion is better, or more, or their apathy for the world.

Answer 3

I guess so. Humans are weird in true nature. Sometimes they appreciate and try to hope in their own religion beliefs AFTER something bad happens, so they can try and beg to find a way to make things better. But when all goes well and swell, only few out of many will even remember to thank their god(s). I think.

Answer 4

I think there were be less followers of any religion, yes.

Lets face it, people only reach out for God, when? when they NEED something.

God is put in a closet on shelf until when? He is needed.

Atheists will prove this true.

IF.....They are fortunate enough to die a slow death, lets see if they don't buckle down and cry real tears of fear.

They blow smoke and talk BIG....fact is this >>>>They may find out, just how little they're BIG Huff and Puff really is.


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Answer 5

If there was less suffering someone would create some for without fear there is no control.
people tend to look for god in whatever form no matter what. the desire seems built in.
The unfairness has nothing to do with god its all man and the crap systems he sets up.
compassion has been sold in the west
consumerism has won

Answer 6

I don't think so. Many people turn away from their faith in times of trial because they won't accept the will of God for their lives. In reality the Bible teaches that those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. We are not promised a bed of roses and being a Christian is hard. It is true that faith in Jesus gets me through the bad times in life but He also gets me through the good times and lets me joy in Him in both.

Answer 7

Everyone always says why does God let people be sick so on, well I am one that believe that thing happen for a reason and it not our job to question Jesus work. I also think that God want us to praise and worship him, and if we didn't have pain and sickness and see other sick would we pray as much, would we have compassion for other that was sick? would we pray for others if everyone was healthy?

Answer 8

I dont think that is the reason we believe. I do believe God strengthens those that suffer though

Good Luck and God Bless!!

Answer 9

yes. take food for example. if you had food and never went hungry then you wouldnt really need to ask god for food. now if you had nothing youd be more inclined to belevie i na god. no food = desparation. desparation leads to desperate actions. calling out for assitance ot some random diety that youre hungry = act of desperation.

hence the most poor counties tend to be the most religious.

Answer 10

suffering tends to bring out the better and the worse of human nature