no matter what cannot believe in god

[plugplant]

Have tried reading the bible, am now reading the Quran. I dislike the part in the heifer 228 ..' wives have rights corresponding to those which the husbands have...but men have a rank above them'.

Likewise there are plenty written in the bible that get me angry, surely that bit where the daughters supposedly get their father drunk to have their way with him is false? It was written and recorded by a man and would be biased. More likely incest committed by the father that got his daughters pregnant.

The commentaries in the bible and quran talk about hell and damnation for the nonbelievers. Yet what about good people who don't share the same religion?

I do believe there is some super force (don't like the term god because it conotates some bearded man on a throne in the sky!) who created everything but that humans have been deliberately designed not to fully understand how.

A little christian boy told his mum he felt sorry for my son because he doesn't believe in Jesus! But was Jesus really an incredible faith healer who could cure at a touch? The Quran teaches Jesus as filled with the holy spirit and was another messenger and Mary was not impregnated by God!

Who is right? Surely as many wars have religious origins people have been dealt with a bad hand? Islam means peace and christianity extols forgiveness yet both are guilty of terrible atrocities.

I am so confused. How does anyone get past all this to have a strong faith?

Our world and the universe around us will continue to be amazing, as will the species that inhabit the earth, including humans. There are lots of good people who do believe in the god of their religion, but that doesn't mean they are right or that their god is real.

Doesn't mean that they are wrong and that their God is not real either.

which is exactly why I was careful what I said niminypiminy. I'm not out to diss anyone's belief - just trying to put another perspective.

I would say if you believe in God but are dissatisfied with religion then stop trying to have a relationship with God through the prism of of religion. Instead try to talk directly to God and at the same time lead a good life being kind to others and forget about organised religion.

Faith doesn't have to be any of those things - I can only talk for my own faith, as a liberal Christian, but for me there is a huge difference between faith (what I believe) and religion (what a hierarchical and slow-to-change organisation officially teaches).

For the most part, my own denomination manages to be up-to-date and not misogynistic etc. But that doesn't mean every individual within it, or leading it, shares my views on every detail.

For me though the human body and the starts at night are both entirely explicable by science

Seriously OP, you are reading holy books written centuries ago & you expect them to make any sense? That by itself makes you unreasonable. I enjoy reading Sophocles & Aristophanes but any ancient writing has to be read with an glance towards the prevailing cultural attitudes of its time & I don't get offended when baby Oedipus was left on the hillside to die. Why are you getting angry with the books?

I thought these books were now considered symbolic, not literal in any case?

I am atheist, I live by my own sense of morality and couldn't give 2 fucks about their hell or damnation. I applaud your reading the books but suggest you treat them as history books. If you don't wish to use them as a guide to live by then put them aside & trust in your own innate sense of right & wrong to guide you.

I was hoping by reading them I would glean some spark of enlightenment. Instead I have found them disturbing. I can see how damaging the differing interpretations of what these books mean can be. Likewise I can see how people throughout millenia cling on to their faith for comfort and stability in difficult times.

I believe purely because of the power of prayer that I have witnessed in my oen life.
Remember religious texts were written by men, not by god.

Great post op. I understand where you are coming from. I have been through similar- believing in something but not being able take that vague belief any further. I once did an Alpha course but it didn't convince me. Integrity precludes me from mincing down to church when I don't believe in all the detail of Christianity. Now I tell myself that we aren't meant to know and just experience what faith I can through nature etc. Religion is simply a narrative as far as I am concerned, useful and can indicate some truths at some times but is not for everyone. You sound very thoughtful Op. However some questions are unanswerable - not even by mumsnet.