Who Needs God?

[MadBomr101]

Does religion appeal primarily to broken people? Could the argument be made that religion, and by extension, God, be an answer for all the scared, ignorant, lonely, insecure, depressed people who feel helpless in a universe that doesn't give a shit about them?

It makes me wonder because most people are messed up in one way or another. Hell, I'm as broken as the next guy but I'm not willing to buy a plainly false narrative just so I can fool myself into feeling better.

Wealth and success doesn't seem to be the deciding factor; many rich, powerful people are still religious. Nor is higher education given that a fair number of doctors, engineers, and scientists also practice their faith in God. Is it that these rich, successful, highly educated people are also scared, ignorant, lonely, insecure, and depressed?

So if we're all broken to some degree then what makes the difference between those who need a God to pray to and those who don't?

Post 10 of 25

[Recusant]

Does religion appeal primarily to broken people? Could the argument be made that religion, and by extension, God, be an answer for all the scared, ignorant, lonely, insecure, depressed people who feel helpless in a universe that doesn't give a shit about them?

It makes me wonder because most people are messed up in one way or another. Hell, I'm as broken as the next guy but I'm not willing to buy a plainly false narrative just so I can fool myself into feeling better.

Wealth and success doesn't seem to be the deciding factor; many rich, powerful people are still religious. Nor is higher education given that a fair number of doctors, engineers, and scientists also practice their faith in God. Is it that these rich, successful, highly educated people are also scared, ignorant, lonely, insecure, and depressed?

So if we're all broken to some degree then what makes the difference between those who need a God to pray to and those who don't?

Post 10 of 25

I honestly don't know that there is a singular difference is between those who believe in religion and those who do not. I have yet to find a difference that applies to all of one category while not applying to all of the other, beyond the belief itself.

Agreed that if practically everybody is broken or messed up in one way or another, that quality can't be a determining factor in the persistence of religious belief.

Despite the fact that significance is something we concocted and which can only arise from our own minds, we've got a hankering for it, and will go to considerable lengths to achieve it. Sort of like alcohol. Religion satisfies the hankering for a lot of people.

Earlier in our intellectual development, religion appeared a plausible framework for understanding the place we find ourselves in. It also did a fair job of satisfying our hankering for significance. When its explanatory power proved to be inadequate it had already become an institution and power center in human life. Religion mostly propagates through indoctrination and it's reinforced by social norms. Not to mention the venerable occupation of preacher.

God is an answer for all of those people you mentioned in the first sentence of your post, certainly. For some of us that's not a sufficient answer. I was undeniably ignorant as a young boy, yet decided against the god hypothesis nonetheless. Add all of the other adjectives (most of which would describe me at the time) and I can't see myself adopting it. Others' mileage varies.

[No one]

Those that are ignorant, fearful, and arrogant need validation. Wish granting magic sky fairies achieve this rather effectively. That and, thinking is hard.

[Randy]

It makes me wonder because most people are messed up in one way or another. Hell, I'm as broken as the next guy but I'm not willing to buy a plainly false narrative just so I can fool myself into feeling better.

Post 10 of 25

Speak for yourself. I'm perfectly intact... if you ignore the duct tape, band-aids, Elmer's glue, and chewing gum that holds me together. Rats, my arm just fell off again.

[Bluenose]

I think god/religion appeals to those who feel the need for an explanation for everything.  Never mind that something that explains everything explains nothing.  The idea that "I don't know" is an acceptable answer to any question frightens these people.

[Randy]

I was brainwashed in a Christian private school. I was suffering from depression although I didn't know it at the time. My mother talked about sending me to a psychiatrist but my father wouldn't have it. So for me, having an imaginary friend was my reason. It took me a few years to realize that my friend was a figment of my mind.

I finally did get help when I was in my forties. I wonder why I waited all that time? Anyway, I've been on medication for my depression for I guess fifteen years give or take. I feel normal now.

[Old Seer]

Religions on the first count are an inheritance from a previous generation.

[Randy]

My mother was a Methodist and later, thanks to me, converted to the Church Of God (Pentecostal). My father I have no idea. He never talked about religion or whatever god he might have worshiped. His mother was also Pentecostal.

The school I went to was Southern Baptist (creationism was taught there). It was accredited which surprises me since they rejected evolution and the big bang theory.

I was introduced to the Church Of God through a friend. Boy was I hooked. The preacher was charismatic and we sang hymns with a beat. There was the "speaking of tongues" and a healing service among other things. I never did those things. I was sure the holy spirit was in me but I never could. I never saw anyone rolling in the isle however.

[billy rubin]

i never had any particular religious upbringing. i never found out that my father's family was episcopalian until i was around thirty years old. my mother's familiy wwere all southern baptists, but there weren't any of those around wherei grew up. i didn't inherit any religion from anybody.

i had more experience with hinduism than christianity until i found the quakers. for a while theism appeared to answer questions most reasonably to me. now, not so much. interestingly, the quakers are still quite comfortable with non-theists.

[Randy]

I've met only one Quaker that I'm aware of. I was working at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and a co-worker would talk to me about it. The only thing she seemed to get across was that the preacher would quake his voice. I never learned of any of the tenants (is that the right word?) about the religion, just the quaking.

[Recusant]

It's tenets. Since billy rubin is more knowledgeable on the topic than I, I'll defer to him, but I think that co-worker was bullshitting.

[billy rubin]

I've met only one Quaker that I'm aware of. I was working at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant and a co-worker would talk to me about it. The only thing she seemed to get across was that the preacher would quake his voice. I never learned of any of the tenants (is that the right word?) about the religion, just the quaking.

well, there aren't any preachers among the old-style quakers, per se. anybody can stand up and say something. sometimes too many people do. before the 19th century there was a practice to preach in what people called a sing-song style. no recordings of it. its not done that way anymore by anybody.

earlier than that there are two explanations for the name. one was about a founding minister's response to a sarcastic judge when the minister exhortd him to "quake in the fear of the lord." supposedly the judge asked, "are you a quaker, then?"

the other explanation is more likely and that is that in early quaker meetings people would tremble, shake, and pass out, like modern pentacostalists. the weird behavior gave them the name. they certainly did that sort of thing then

whatever the reason, the technical term for everybody is Religious Society of Friends, but there are different flavors, and in the past nobody could get along because everybody considered th eothers to be heretics.

[Randy]

Intriguing. My co-worker had never told me all that although she might have. I was a teenager at the time and that was back in the old days.

Being a part of the Pentecostal movement I never got to witness anyone rolling in the isles and the like. Just the jabbering nonsense that someone would start babbling during prayer and the preacher would translate.