I don’t think I believe in “God” anymore

[anonymous1120]

I feel really low today, my trigger was reading an online story about how Madeline’s body might be found in a few days as police think it’s 30 mins from hotel in a well. I’m sorry I stopped reading so details might not be fully accurate. My eldest daughter has just turned 4 and it’s really upset me thinking what Maddie might have gone through in her last moments.

I know some people will respond negatively to me and hence the name change. I’m really struggling to think how can God really exist and let awful and evil things happen all the time. My faith has really been tested over the years and I do not believe in God anymore.

The parents of a murdered child need your sympathy more than God needs defending.

I don’t follow the McCann stories, too harrowing, however I lost my faith as a teen. I was studying philosophy of religion for A level and realised theism didn’t make logical sense at all. I have gone through life happy and without a god-shaped hole. It’s not the end of the world.

I believe in God ,and feel as a PP upthread said that every time something bad happens it Gods "fault" as it were .Madeleine was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and taken by a paedophile who quite obviously has severe problems! Why on earth is that Gods fault ? Without going over it any more ,her parents left their apartment unlocked and went out for Supper with some of their friends .A misjudgement on their behalf ,no one is blaming them either! When we look at the wonderful NHS staff helping Corona Victims ,do we feel that maybe some help from above may be at play here? Or when everyone who can is rallying round to help friends/Neighbours .Jesus said we must love one another and Corona has been an example of that love in real everyday life .

I was studying philosophy of religion for A level and realised theism didn’t make logical sense at all.

Totally agree. I once asked a person of the cloth the simple question "so, where is god then", to which they replied "god is everywhere".

That's it is it? So tell me, how can they be everywhere? Hmmm, no logical answer to that one whatsoever.

Atheism seems comfortable to me. I try to be the best person I can because that is what was instilled into me and seems important to me.

When terrible things happen in life, such as illness, it is chance and circumstance. I am not being punished or forsaken. If I do something wrong or make a mistake, there are sometimes natural consequences that occur.

If something good happens, depending on what it, it is usually as a result of chance, hard work or privilege.

What looks to be unfolding in the Madeleine McCann story is that the parents made a real error of judgement. A person acting of their own volition took advantage of this and stole their child. They have dearly suffered the consequences of their mistake; their child suffered even more despite being free from any blame. Many people will have left their children in similar circumstances and nothing will have happened to them. To me, it is not about punishments and suffering dished out from higher beings.

I feel that god is a fairy story that helps people cope with the fear of death. I also believe that if everyone truly accepted that there is no afterlife then we would collectively work our butts off to make this world a better place. But maybe that's my fairy story!

When we look at the wonderful NHS staff helping Corona Victims ,do we feel that maybe some help from above may be at play here?

So why has "above" allowed thousands to die the? Why hasn't "above" come up with a cure?

If "above" is involved here, they aren't doing a good job at all.

all I know is there is so much evil in the world and I’m afraid as I have children now. It was easier in past to think there’s a plan and reason for everything but not now.

There is also a lot of good.

If you don't think there is some great plan then you are better placed to do something about it.

PhilCornwall1 A lot of our problems are man made as it were .Corona has spread at least in part, due to poor management of our planet and also by bad hygeine in foreign food markets .We are to blame ,not God! As far as a "cure" is concerned ,we are in the process of finding a vaccine in the next few years .Maybe God has something to do with that?!

Priya-
The belief that people who are blind poor/sick/disabled due to past errors in lives...
This just perpetuates the belief that governments and people don’t have a duty of care and responsibility to their population. That it was ‘preordained’ that they would have a crap life and nothing we can do about it. It was also a key notion that kept the (horrifying) caste system running. It means there is little incentive to push societal change, and may challenge the belief on whether the disadvantaged people ‘should’ be helped if they are in this situation due to karma. I think it’s pretty sickening the notion that an abused child could be thought to be in that situation due to faults in their past lives - not everything happens for a reason .

The notion of Karma and people learning from past lives would mean that over the generations... people would become steadily more enlightened and better people. I don’t see that this is playing out in real life.

I lost my faith in (Christian) God in my early twenties. Whilst people (like the OP) can say they cannot believe in a god which lets innocent lives be cruelly taken, I don’t think it’s any more humanitarian to believe that they were cruelly taken away and subject to violence due to past crimes.

Thanks to those posters who posted the Epicurus quote. I can't believe that I've never come across it before. He summed the situation up perfectly.

It amazes me that so many people still believe in God. Why?

dottiedoodah

So what you’re saying is, god gets all the credit for the good stuff (not scientists, doctors, nurses) but humans are solely to blame for the bad stuff.

This is the kind of cognitive dissonance required to maintain religious belief now that we know why things happen.

As I said above, religious people would save themselves a whole lot of mental wrangling if they returned to polytheism.

Religion has a robust system of survival, children hear it from parents and church / other when young.

I agree with pp read some Camus and and nothing happens for a reason, sad / good it is random.

Although religion also brings some good (good acts made in faith sometimes) but a lot of bad (misogynistic usually, wars etc).

I grew up in the high Anglican tradition (via school, my parents weren’t practicing) and I still love the ritual and most especially the music - some of the most beautiful choral music ever written. I love a good Victorian hymn too.

My poor husband grew up in evangelical / Pentecostal circles and has very religious parents. His idea of “church music” is Christian rock. No wonder he’s an atheist.

I haven't believed in god for many years. I couldn't live with the cognitive dissonance any more. It's fine. I still have the strong moral code but just without the sky man.

There is no God. Only random chaos.

That's just your take on it.

When you realise this everything gets a lot easier.

Not for all of us, it doesn't

I haven't believed in religion for for many many years. The church in my view is a completely corrupt structure with outdated views who preys on the vulnerable to believe in them.

Look at all the awful things that have happened in the name of religion. Young boys abused by priests, LQBTQ people driven out of their community and family for coming out. Young people "obliged" by their families to take vows when they're too young to understand what they're promising they will not do when they're adults.

I believe in science and science has a lot of evidence based theory. God is just a story with no proof whatsoever so I don't understand how anyone believes in him these days

I say I don’t beleive in god and am certainly
Not religious formally

But when the shit hits the fan I do pray ! So go figure

OP different things trigger us and trigger people
It’s very easy to get bogged down in mans inhumanity to man
This isn’t a case that upsets me , but it’s ther stories do

I have no answers but getting into nature reassured me that there is still
Some good in the world

I find that when anything bad happens like a murder, war, famine etc. people are very quick to blame ‘God’, as if they need some sort out outlet for their anger and someone to point their finger at (despite, ironically, these issues being man-made so arguably nothing to do with God). But whenever anything positive happens in life, how often do you hear people praising God or giving him any sort of credit? Hardly ever. Except that for people who believe it’s exactly the opposite. When bad things happen it’s because “god gave us free will,” but when good things happen it’s “hallelujah praise the lord!” So God only gave people free will to do bad then and all the good is down to him?

If God shouldn’t be blamed for one then he shouldn’t be given credit for the other either. I fail to see how anyone doesn’t see that.

I actually think that people believe in God not because of thinking about the love and so on, I think most people believe in God because of the fear of what will happen to them if they don’t. Religion was (IMO) invented by man because he didn’t want to believe there was no life after death, and because making people accountable for their actions beyond this life meant that many of them would be more likely to think about their actions lest they be judged for them by a higher being when the time came.

If you read the bible the bits which mostly stand out are about fear and retribution, and the second coming of Christ. And how many people talk about how they need to do good now because “we’re in the end times,”? Would those people be decent human beings if they didn’t think that God was just waiting to come back and judge them for their misdeeds? Again, it’s all about the fear

If someone wrote about their father on MN and how he has threatened to do certain things if they don’t comply to certain other rules or if they in fact don’t love him, that person would be told to cut contact immediately. But because God is perceived to be the “heavenly father” people are instead told to accept him into their hearts and give themselves to him. Why?

As for prayer, don’t get me started.

People pray because it makes them feel as if they’re doing something. It’s very clear that prayer isn’t really answered because if it was then you would have to question why some peoples’ prayers are answered and others aren’t.

I agree entirely about prayer, and I will get started.

If prayer was just a sort of meditation and time for reflection, fine, but it’s absolutely people trying to feel like they have some control over uncontrollable things.

My in-laws have occasionally shanghaied my husband and me into a group prayer and I’ve been (inwardly) shocked at the stuff they pray for. Essentially a laundry list of personal requests. Make this relative’s medical condition go away please - that sort of thing.

If everything is god’s plan surely they should accept the shite stuff with good grace instead of nagging god about it? Who are they to make requests anyway? Is god sitting there not paying attention unless people give him a heads up via a prayer?

You can bet if said medical condition is cured they’ll be thanking god rather than the doctors, but have nothing to say to the almighty if it isn’t.

I'm sorry that you're feeling low, OP. AIBU isn't really the place for nuanced discussion of faith.

(I would recommend the philosophy / religion board but as the top thread on there right now is about Christian beliefs on dildos I don't think it's what you're looking for right now... )

we are in the process of finding a vaccine in the next few years .Maybe God has something to do with that?!

No, that's down to the scientists. Going on what you are saying, this God character is only responsible for good, well that's just a little convenient isn't it.

All the bad, caused by us. All the problem solving and good, ah that's down to God, he/she is such a good egg.

No, I'm not buying it and never will. They tried to brainwash me at school and failed miserably and I was branded a bad child (no I bloody wasn't!!) and I'm sure as hell not buying it now.

@Euclid

OP, forgetting about God, and I am a practising Christian, don't you think that the people to blame here were the irresponsible parents who left this poor child and her twin siblings while they went to dinner? All three children could have been taken and killed. It was a dreadful tragedy, poor little Madeleine, but unfortunately it was caused by her parents. God allows us free will and the McCann parents exercised their free will to abandon their children for a few hours.

Nonsense. The person to blame is the person who took the child.