Why you do or don't believe in God?

[summerbloom]

Interested to hear people's views on why they do believe in God or on why you don't believe in God.....

I don't at all.
We and life on this planet evolved and adapted to our surroundings- evolution and natural selection.
Far too convenient that we were made by a 'being'.
Religion was created by the power crazy and that's why we've had wars ever since. All war seems to stem from religious beliefs.

I'll get my coat.

I don't.

I believe that when you are young you believe in everythong from the tooth fairy to Father Christmas most of which is used to manipulate behaviour. God is the only one of these fairytales that is brainwashed into people to do the same long term playing on peoples weaknesses and fear in order to control.

I also think some people need a faith to help them through the bad times and give hope.

This is my true opinion and not in anyway meant to offend those who believe.

Every Christian festival has been taken from an existing Pagan festival.

Not to mention the Pagan gods who were turned into devils by Christianity.

It's so obviously political.

I do. When I see a blossom tree or a sunset, I know there's a Perfect Beauty that we all long for ...and one day we'll meet. Sounds nuts but makes sense to me.

IT is so full of holes that I cannot see how it could be true. An all knowing/loving/powerful God that sees the suffering and does nothing about it? Either he sees but cannot change the world, does not see so cannot change the world or can see but chooses not to change the world. If the latter then why would I worship such a person?

Plus as a PP said all religions believe in something different and they cannot all be correct.
I tried to explain God to my son and at 4 years old his response was "Why would anyone believe that?".

I definitely don't believe in a particular religion, and find it hard to believe in a benevolent God, or the concepts of heaven/hell.

It makes sense to me that humans created the idea of heaven/hell in order to put up with living pretty shitty, hard, unfair lives in millenia past and convince themselves there was something better waiting for them. We need that less now, in the developed world at least.

I do look at the world sometimes and think it seems too beautiful to be an accident, but then there is so much that is ugly and horrible and unfair too. So that balances out.

I can't get my head around the big bang and something at some point being created from nothing. Due to this I wouldn't rule out some kind of God 100%.

God is just voices in the head. Religion is mass hysteria/ control. The universe/ planet is amazing natural accidental and awesome. Isn't that wondrous enough?

I don't because I'm not a sheep blindly following a set of rules written by men to control through fear.

Not necessarily true, IMO. I think if you are one of the people who consciously decides that life has more meaning to you with a god in it, and devote yourself to it/him/her, you're not sheeplike. It must be quite hard in the face of lots of ridicule. Different story for those who just follow their parents and communities into church/temple/mosque going because of custom and tradition, though.

I don't. If you look at religion from different perspectives: evolutionary, psychological, sociological, historical, scientific, linguistics, bibliography, geography, cultural and religious studies etc you can see that god does not exist but is a construct of man for mankind.

I do. Same reason as 1st response.

Nah, I believe in Science.

I don't. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Footballmum I feel the same way. I gain such strength from my faith in good and difficult times. You have to be in a loving relationship with God to understand this. The more scripture I read and the more I am involved / attend church the stronger this becomes.
It's a very personal thing. For me I really turned to God when my great friends son was diagnosed aged 3 with a heart disease and needed a transplant. I found comfort in prayers.
He received a gift of a new heart and a year later a kidney too. He is MY miracle x

Religious belief is so socially and culturally entrenched that I suppose it's hard to look it full on and accept that it has no basis.

I don't, and I find it hard to comprehend how people believe it. To me it is like believing in fairies and magic.

I don't. Dinosaurs for a start.

I can't understand people who say god punishes the sinful but then as that god isn't punishing a baby wish diseases or disabilities.

Original sin is horse shit.

I can kind of wrap my head around a creator that set off something and let it pan out but not a creator who did every little detail and gives a shit whether I'm touching myself.

The are some many different religions, they can't all be right but they could all be wrong.

Religions are so obviously good for controlling masses of people its crazy

I know someone who doesn't believe in evolution. I don't get it he's not blind and he's not stupid just look.

I do envy believers comfort but I feel like being good for brownie points is selfish, I don't kill people because that would upset people (there are other reasons too)

I don't. I honestly cannot get my head around how anyone can actually believe in a God. There are so many religions which all claim they believe in the correct one, um, you can't all be right. I also refuse to believe that a so called God made this planet with so many flaws, why would he do that. I also hate that anything that goes right gets put down to a merciful God or whatever but if someone is a shite then it's covered up with rubbish like God gave people free will. Very bad things happen to good people. How can a God let that happen.

It honestly baffles me.

How do dinosaurs fit into the bible too? I haven't read it, went to a CofE school but as I understand it, God created the world in 7 days, did he put people here then? Or did he leave the finished and flawed planet for quite a while whilst dinosaurs appeared, stayed for millions of years, then died, then Adam and Eve came along. Weren't they the first people? Who had 2 sons? I may have this wrong btw.

I do, but not in all the stories of the bible, etc. I believe in a higher power and 'God' can be interchangeable with many things, such as the power of the universe, 'mother' nature or whatever you want to believe.

When life can be very cruel, I can understand why people would resent the idea of a God who can possibly inflict so much pain. When things are going well or take a turn for the better, it's much easier to believe that God is the one helping you...

God is so exactly like something someone would invent, and natural selection so clearly in evidence, that I just can't see believers as anything other than ten year olds who still believe in Father Christmas. Which also sounds exactly like something someone would make up. Because they did.

I had been a believer since childhood it gave me peace if mind and comfort but 5 years ago we had to watch our lovely 4 year old niece slowly and painful die from a brain tumour, I find my faith has been crushed. But I still have a tiny fragment of faith which I hold onto and hope dn is up in heaven enjoying the life she should have had here?!

I am a scientist and don't believe. There is no proof of any God existing but plenty of evidence of how the world as we know it came into existence. I do however respect anyone's belief in God.

I don't but I wish I did.

Dh thinks that aliens added something to create us as we defy evolution according to him. He says dinosaurs were around a lot longer than we've been and never evolved that much.

Snuggle

I don't believe in a supernatural being who sits "up there" chucking lightening bolts and such when they've seen their arse about something. All organized religion is just a form of societal control imo.

However, I do think there is "more". That the energy of life has intelligence, is connected and more expansive than we are able to comprehend.