Many of you say religion causes Wars, Intolerance Etc.
But let me ask you this, when religion brings about comfort like that last post about the crosses found on 9/11 or the comfort that a mother might feel when her baby dies and she knows the Angel of the Lord took him to heaven to be with Jesus forever, if you took the comfort of the Lord away, that he provides to billions of people, what could you REPLACE if anything in a person's life to bring them comfort when trajedy strikes???
Do you really think people would believe and embrace GOD if they didn't feel his presence, love and comfort when faced with pain?
2007-09-06 10:24:57 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Seven years ago my spouse passed away following a 3-year battle with cancer. We were both non-theists (I still am).
Following his death, I would not have found it at all comforting to resort to a fairy-tale-like story of happily ever after. Instead it was a comfort to know that he was not suffering, that the pain was mine, and to talk to others who had recovered from that trauma. This remains true for people, whether or not they are religious. They need to feel that their relative is at peace, that the pain they feel is normal and real, and that there is a process of recovery that they can share with others.
It is a testimony of the resilience of human beings that they do not have to turn to a god to deal with difficult situations. We are a community, and within that community there resides sufficient strength for us to withstand almost any disaster, if we learn to open ourselves to it.
^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^
2007-09-06 10:42:52 · answer #1 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I have no problems with people using religion because they are grieving and need comfort. I simply have a problem with people forcing their religion on others, specifically, people trying to turn their religious mores into the law. You can't force someone to worship the way you do or live a lifestyle according to what you think is moral or right.
*edit*
I know the question wasn't about what I thought of religion, but you asked what Atheists would replace it with. I think most Atheists don't want to eradicate religion, they just don't want to be forced to live by it.
2007-09-06 17:33:35 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
We could probably make something up. One comforting myth is as good as another, apparently, and if we invented some comforting story that didn't have the bad history of organized religions, we'd be taking a step forward.
Once you've decided that "being true" is unimportant, as you have when you justify religion as "comforting", you really have a lot of space to play with.
2007-09-06 17:32:15 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
i tell you what brings me comfort, to know that i lived a good life. and no matter what i believed about a presumed afterlife, it wouldn't change the fact that i was a good person. not even god (if one does exist) could take that away from me. and i hope that those who love me would look back at the life i lived and rejoice, and not be worried about what becomes of my presumed soul. that's comfort.
"if the people we love are taken from us, the way to have them live on is to keep them in your hearts. building burn, people die, but real love is forever."
2007-09-06 17:36:38 · answer #4 · answered by just curious (A.A.A.A.) 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If someone gets comfort or feels better believing in something I know isn't real then that is their business, personally I could care less if they got on their knees and worshiped Sheb Wooley's Purple People Eater.
That being said, just because someone thinks they feel a deities presence doesn't make it a real entity, it just means in their own mind, they've made it reality to themselves.
2007-09-06 17:31:26 · answer #5 · answered by genaddt 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Organised religion, like most things in this world, has two sides.....good and bad. The comfort it brings to people's life is good. The violence and ignorance it creates is bad. Make sense?
2007-09-06 17:34:45 · answer #6 · answered by OhKatie! 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Half the people in the world don't believe in the god of Abraham. These people live in India and China... and scattered in plenty of other places too.
Why don't these people believe in the god of Abraham?
a) They didn't receive the cultural indoctrination you did.
b) They don't feel the presence of the god of Abraham -- or if they do, He's not identifying Himself to them as such.
Please think about it. The existence and experiences of these people is valid. They're people too. They think and feel and live and love.
2007-09-06 18:34:08 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
So if delusional thinking bring comfort... That's all you need to make a case for God?
2007-09-06 17:37:40 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
So your thesis is that god exists because in times of emotional turmoil people find comfort in him.
Life is tough.
Some people need crutches to get through it.
Some people drink
Some people do drugs
Some people turn to religion.
2007-09-06 17:31:04 · answer #9 · answered by joe s 6 · 6⤊ 0⤋
People that are around us give us comfort not god.
2007-09-06 17:33:28 · answer #10 · answered by maria28 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋