Religion's Psychological Effects on Non-Believers

Real Clear Science ^ | 29 Dec, 2017 | Jamin Halberstadt & Brittany Cardwell

[metmom]

Not everyone has faith. Faith is a gift from God and not everyone is so fortunate to have it offered to him by God.

But everyone really does know that God exists.

Whether that is translated into becoming saving faith is a different topic.

[metmom]

The question was never whether or not God exists, but whether or not God believes we exist.

And just WHERE did you ever get that idea?

That has to be one of the all time weirdest question I've ever heard asked about God.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Thomas Paine became an atheist, although he was raised by a Quaker and Anglican couple. Surely his parents excerpted some moral influence on the lad, and taught him right from wrong.
 

[353FMG]

You continue to quote acts of faith. Not every one in this world has the faith that you possess. To many people faith is like a foreign language. That’s why it is so difficult to argue or reason about matters of faith and religion. Wouldn’t it be great if we all had faith, so that we could support each other in difficult moments?

[ealgeone]

Nicely done.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Faith is a gift which IS offered to all.

"The true light which enlightens every man, was coming into the world." (John 1:9)

There are those who reject it. John, both in his Gospel and his Epistles, writes a lot about people who accept, or reject, the light of faith.

"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19)

[Poison Pill]

But even if you don’t believe in Christ or a God, religion can still be a powerful force.

That statment is based on the mistaken assumption is that religion drives morality.

[ravenwolf]

Yes and that is why Paul said that if our hope is in this life
only we are most miserable of all men, even unbelievers.

[GingisK]

Yeah, God believes in them. That is the critical part.

[ravenwolf]

Probably true, Jesus told the religious leaders of his day
that they were of their father the devil, I do not see any
reason to believe they would be any different today.

[ravenwolf]

That is how I see it, religion is just a symbol of what some
claim to or actually believe.

I believe the Bible tells us to worship God in spirit and in
truth, not in ritual.

Many professed christians worship religion rather than god
because it is more like a blanket contract rather than a personal one, just kind of be in the crowd and sneak in if
there is anything to it.

[onedoug]

Agnosticism is to just not know. Atheism is certainty of ignorance.

[af_vet_1981]

But even if you don’t believe in Christ or a God, religion can still be a powerful force. Research shows that even nonreligious people may hold unconscious beliefs linked to religion that can affect their psychology.

One need look no further than the San Francisco music scene ...

If only you believe like I believe, baby (If only you believe like I believe)
We'd get by