Has self interest killed faith?

Question

Has our greed and self interest killed our ability to have faith in God?

Answer 1

Your question assumes that man as a whole has adopted this me and mine attitude. The greed and self interest you speak of seems to me a generational problem. I believe in God unlike some of your other answer folk. I dont have to see, feel or display God on my mantle to have faith that he is with me. Having faith in nothing leaves people empty, and the emptiness appears to be filled by things. The one with the most toys does not win. I have never seen anyone comment on all the wonderful things that someone owned while at a funeral, but I have heard of the good things a person may or may have not done. People wont remember what you had when you go, only what you did.

Answer 2

No. People have greed and self interest DESPITE having faith in God.

Answer 3

There are loads of pleasures to distract as you say, and no serious pain to bring people to a serious attitude of mind towards life.

In the West we have so many distractions, so most people don't spare God much of a thought.

Also people are very comfortable, rich and proud, so they start flattering themselves in their own eyes, and have a complacent "I don't need God" attitude.

I think this "sunny week in winter" state of affairs is probably likely to pass though at some stage, as this world is a tempestuous place. If you look at history there's always wars, as men are driven by lust for power and money into conflicts which cause much misery. That makes people think about things seriously, with reduced illusions.

Answer 4

I have gave considerable thought to your question that's the reason I am so lat in posting. No I don't believe at least in my case it was self interest. I was serous about my religion, the religion of my friends and parents. At the time I rejected religion I was sixteen years old. At the time it would have been in my best interest to have stayed with my religion. But I was so sure I was right That I made a clean break and have never attended Church since. Of course it might be different with others.

Answer 5

I think it has much more to do with intelligence than it does self interest and greed.

Look back in history at how many attrocities were committed, in the name of God, because of a leader or a group's greed and self interest.

Answer 6

No.

And allow me to vent a little. Nothing is much more irritating than when "Christians" claim that atheists are "selfish" and "amoral." Of course, there is no rational basis for this belief whatsoever; it's just bigotry and hypocrisy as usual. If anything, the "Christian" is the one who needs an elaborate supernatural excuse to behave "morally," and it's purely in his own self-interest, in order to get into God's Clubhouse when he dies. Hence Christianity is actually an organized system of amorality and selfishness, while "atheism," by contrast, is little more than a dissenting opinion.

Answer 7

Our greed concerning knowledge maybe. You see gods and faith can be easily killed of with a whiff of science or a dose of reality.

Answer 8

God doesn't exist, but many ignorant fools still have faith in him, despite your "greed and self interest" hypothesis.

Answer 9

In those that do not believe, yes. Faith is within. If you have it, nothing can destroy it.

What if, Our ultimate destiny, either as human flesh and blood or whatever we become as we pass on through death, is to spread the word of god to others

Answer 10

Nope understanding of the world around us through observation and deductive reasoning has killed faith. I call it science.