Do you ever wish that you believed in God?

[TheYearOfSmallThings]

Like many other people, life has been kicking me repeatedly in the nuts for the last year. I won't bore you with the details, but I have lost security in every area of my life, and each time I think things are going to improve, they get worse.

I don't believe in God, and I've never envied those who do. But now...it would be so comforting to have some faith that there is some overall plan, and that all will be well, if only in the afterlife. I know some people who fully believe in God and I know they find it a huge support. It's obviously not something you can choose to believe, but if I could, I would be very tempted right now.

Am I alone in this, or do my fellow atheists have similar thoughts?

Yes in a pick and mix sense.

Raised religious, and really appreciate the social aspect of the church (great network of all ages). But was always baffled that no one ever taught me what I was meant to believe. Went to church, listened to non accessible readings from the Bible, learned passages, but no one explained what it all meant.

Early on I hated God, sitting in the pew wondering why no one was helping me in my dire situation at home. I hadn’t told anyone, but surely God knew and would have told the congregation so that they could stop it happening and ‘rescue’ me. But I sat there Every week thinking that God had decided either that it was fine and should continue, or had told the congregation and the whole church decided not to help and were all conspiring to cover it up. Hello anxiety and paranoia that everyone was in on the plan and I wasn’t safe from anyone. I decided, to help a bit of my mental health, that there was no God and no one knew about my situation. Concluding that the world was not conspiring against me, just one cruel person.

Later on, when I lost a dear relative I hope and hoped that there was an afterlife, this is very normal I am sure.

I still think that God is a flawed idea, created by a more primitive society desperate for ways to shape a functioning society through fear and explain things which were at the time unexplainable.

I wish I believed solely when death is in the question, as a comfort for an afterlife.

However, the concept of God has actually damaged my self worth and was an extra kick in the teeth as a child who was suffering.

All the time. I’ve worked in a Catholic School for over a decade and faith is a really core part of our school life. I love participating in the services and praying with colleagues and students, delivering and watching assemblies etc, but I don’t really “believe”. It might sound strange to pray when you think there probably is no God to hear it, but collective prayer is really lovely and special. It’s a way for a community or group to express that they are hoping for the same thing.

@Love2cycle I’m guessing @SalemsPot22 might be a LeVayen Satanist in that case not be confused with theistic satanism, the later is based on worshipping what we consider the Devil as a being, cast down from heaven etc, the former actually rejects the notion of gods, angels, demons etc and is very much grounded in materialist concepts.

Loads of times when I’ve watched people struggling or in immediate problems. I’ve wished I could pray for them and have it make a difference. Put like that you have your answer. God saves no one, because there isn’t one, it’s a human construct looking for security in a hostile world which has too often been used by the powerful against the powerless.

I am a practicing Catholic, and heck sometimes I wish I didn't believe it. The grief I get for the institutional failings of the Church (vile, obviously), the failings of people bizarrely elevated to positions of "authority" (again, vile), the fact everyone always thinks I'm judging them (I'm absolutely not). It's hard, especially when, I tried a life without faith and without Church and I ended up in a mess. I too studied theology at university, after an a level in biology. I saw good things happening to people who behaved badly, bad things happening to people who were good. I always come back to God, and I always come back to Christianity. It makes sense to me, and I do find peace in it. I just wish sometimes I didn't think about it so much and could float through life unaffected by the thought of anything greater.... who knows if that makes sense haha. We had a bad night with the children and I am tiiiired. I will pray for you, though, OP. Take care. xxx

I would love to believe - life after death there bring a plan would be awesome. I enjoy going to church too. Sadly I know in my core none of it is true,

I like the community aspect of church, I like being reminded to be less selfish, I like the emphasis on charity. I wish I could suspend disbelief. I like the tradition of it and connection to the past. So yes, I get you. It's a controversial statement but when I look at charity efforts and poverty campaigns churches still do much good.

I've been to several churches over the years, enjoy services and found no judgment. 100 percent agree about nature - I love nature but studying wildlife is brutal.

Yes, I would like to but I can't.

Bad things happen to good people.
Good things happen to bad people.

I was educated at Catholic schools but have never believed and it never bothered me until recently. Both my dogs have died in a little over a year. I wasn't able to have children so doted on them and feel so sad that my logical head knows that I will likely never see them again. I would love to be able to believe that we will be together again.

I do have to say though that on the day my youngest dog died, a picture of his that had been on the mantel for months fell off. I felt strongly that he was giving me a sign. A few weeks later I was watching a TV programme where somebody was describing how they felt about a loved ones death and it was very similar to my feelings (that the loved one is everywhere, in nature and in everything beautiful), I was having a bit of a cry and the same picture fell off the mantel again. I feel so strongly that this was my little dog sending me a sign & it has left me feeling a bit confused about something I was so sure about. I hope there is an afterlife of some kind & that my dog was telling me to have hope.

"The truth is that when death comes all the religious people will not get that moment to realise that all they believed in was not true because there will be no experiencing anything. So I think those with faith have the last laugh."

Do you really think that being deceived is better? I'm trying to think of a real world analogy. Perhaps if someone sends their life savings to a guy in Nigeria. Spends their remaining years expecting to be immensely rich any time now (it keeps getting postponed like the second coming) and then dies before finding out the truth.

Doesn't really work for me.

No - why would I want to believe in a God who condemns his creations should they not worship him.

Control via fear - no real comfort to be found there.

I do believe in a power but whether I would call this God. God being someone who looks like a human being I am not sure. Going to church if anything makes me disbelieve. I have tried churches and can’t get the spiritual connection if that makes sense. It just seems like a clique where you are welcome but you have to be going for a number of years before you can become part of that clique.
If you see what I mean.
I do believe in “life” after death but not in the sort of physical embodiment of your human thinking and feeling self but more as a source of energy which can then be put into another body as in reincarnation. Like a spent lightbulb. The physical bulb might have gone but the power is still there waiting to feed a new lightbulb.

Agree 100% with the OP.

I have some religious friends and they are so content and happy within themselves. I envy that and admire the church community that they are part of.

DH and I go to that church occasionally and I always sit there thinking, well what if Mary was lying about being a virgin when Jesus was born and she just said that to avoid being stoned to death as per the times then and things like that which I'm aware is probably blasphemous.

It would be nice to accept without questioning.

@Poutintrout my ddog dying was really very similar to losing a family member, I've lost both, and my ddog if anything was worse with his unquestioning love for me.

I've found myself maudlin over soppy rainbow bridge poems and honestly can't stand the idea I'll never see him again.

That's the other question I've swelled on with faith and science tbh - why did only humans develop the extra brain power to create moral systems, feel guilt, shame, charity, kindness etc?

My dog otoh did seem to be the best example of what Christians are supposed to be, all loving, all forgiving, always happy and kind.

That's the other question I've swelled on with faith and science tbh - why did only humans develop the extra brain power to create moral systems, feel guilt, shame, charity, kindness etc
I think you need to look at animals and I do think if you watch closely they do display these traits.
You see animals helping other animals out. Animals sharing their food. Animals from different species protecting younger ones.
I only have to look at my dog or cats to know they have done something they shouldn’t as the guilt is all over their faces.

Only when someone has died, I like to think the brightest star in the sky are them watching down on me but that's just me trying to find comfort in something. I'd love to believe that I'll have all my deceased loved ones waiting for me when I die but I know its bollocks, I'm never going to get to see them again

There is so much suffering in the world, if there is a god, he's shit

Not really, I think it might raise more questions, like: why is God punishing us in this way?

If you believe in predestination, you might well think the rules don't apply to you because what's the point if everyone's life is mapped out by someone more important than the government. If someone close to you is, sick, you might wonder why they have been punished.

If there is a God, 'he' is capricious and cruel.

I can see how it might be a comfort, but not possibly if you simply don't believe. Another agnostic here, btw.

Yes I do.

I would love the community and ceremonial aspects of church, and I would love to have faith.

We took part in an online Christingle service at Christmas. I was find everything really hard at the time and the vicar’s words about god being with us were really comforting, despite my lack of belief. I imagine if you truly have faith that would be an amazing thing.

Yes, I'd love to. However, I've most religious people are still scared of death and upset when people die, so...maybe not as comforting as I'd imagine.

"Do you really think that being deceived is better? I'm trying to think of a real world analogy. Perhaps if someone sends their life savings to a guy in Nigeria. Spends their remaining years expecting to be immensely rich any time now (it keeps getting postponed like the second coming) and then dies before finding out the truth."

Well of course it is quite possible you are deceived if there is a God.
All the studies show that people who have some kind of spiritual belief or whatever you want to call it, enjoy higher levels of wellness or however they word it.
Spending your life savings on a dishonest man in Nigeria is quite different to spending some of your life engaged in a faith that may give you comfort, meaning and purpose, being reminded to be kinder to your neighbors, thinking of others, belonging to a community on a regular basis.
I have great respect for people who have faith, even if my own is not always 100% certain. It is a peculiar arrogance in people who are so easily dismissive and condescending of such faith. What makes you so sure you are right? What makes you so confident you aren't deceiving yourselves?

Am I alone in this, or do my fellow atheists have similar thoughts?

Nope, still comfortably atheist, with no sign of religious delusion occurring any time soon.

The truth is that when death comes all the religious people will not get that moment to realise that all they believed in was not true because there will be no experiencing anything. So I think those with faith have the last laugh

Who ever wrote this on here is absolutely spot on! Another op quoted it so I didn’t see the OP of the paragraph, but you’ve hit the nail on the head!

Even if there is nothing (which I’m 99.999999% sure is the truth) according to my beliefs, we would never know because when you take your last breath, that’s it.

Exactly the same concept before you were born. It doesn’t exist.

So at least if you have faith, it will bring you hope

Maybe there's an 'end program' sequence that runs in our brain when we die...as in your brain knows it's shutting down so it plays that for you. In which case the religious peoples' ones are probably more interesting than the atheists'!