losing faith in a loving god

I think in reality we are now living in a post Christian age. According to the last British Attitude Survey those identifying as Christians had dropped well below 50% and those professing no religion had increased, also on the increase, as to be expected were those of other faiths.
The 2021 Census for England and Wales will not be published until NI and Scotland have completed theirs, but a similar drop is expected.
I believe many younger people find Christianity not relevant to their lives and are more interested in sex equality, social justice, climate change and compassion.
I think spirituality, not religion, is a different thing. I have feelings of great awe when I am in beautiful landscape, or in wonderful old cathedrals for example, but has nothing to do with god, but the way my brain responds.

paddyann54

Of course ther are doodle thats the whole point of religion /faith the folk at the bottom of the tree have something to focus on ,keep them in line .Its GODS will .Nothing to do with whatever political party thats keeping them poor or destroying the health service its not ever Bojo its all down to Gods plan

God's has made His plan known to us. For instance the book of Revelation mentions quite a few nasty world events. Plagues, wars even the earth burning up (Climate Change?) - and "yet the people still would not give glory to God."
As for ^"people at the bottom of the tree^" that would include her majesty the queen. From what I've read about her I am convinced her faith is sincere, not faked for show.

Callistemon21

paddyann54

Of course ther are doodle thats the whole point of religion /faith the folk at the bottom of the tree have something to focus on ,keep them in line .Its GODS will .Nothing to do with whatever political party thats keeping them poor or destroying the health service its not ever Bojo its all down to Gods plan

Or having faith in the SNP which is keeping you in line.

Faith is a very personal thing, paddyanne.
Who is to say who is right and who are you to think you are superior to those who believe in a God?

(Apologies to Alegrias if she is reading this)

Well said * Callistemon*. It always surprises me when so many anti God posters spend so much time talking about Him. He would be pleased to get so much air time!

volver

Who's Alegrias?

I'm sure she'd think that was a very silly opening line to the post.

Oh...did you never ‘ meet ‘ her......????

I think she left GN.

A pity, she posted some good graphs.
I like a graph.

Who's Alegrias?

I'm sure she'd think that was a very silly opening line to the post.

paddyann54

Of course ther are doodle thats the whole point of religion /faith the folk at the bottom of the tree have something to focus on ,keep them in line .Its GODS will .Nothing to do with whatever political party thats keeping them poor or destroying the health service its not ever Bojo its all down to Gods plan

Or having faith in the SNP which is keeping you in line.

Faith is a very personal thing, paddyanne.
Who is to say who is right and who are you to think you are superior to those who believe in a God?

(Apologies to Alegrias if she is reading this)

Doodle

Paddyann I wish no disrespect but I don’t think anyone knows what Gods plan is let alone those who don’t have faith.
You talk about those with faith as though we are all idiots allowing ourselves to be lulled into some sense of false security.
I find it very condescending of you and others who don’t believe telling those of faith their beliefs are wrong.
I don’t object to your opinion but please don’t presume to tell me what my faith is. Like Smileless I’m not at the bottom of any tree.

Very well said!

Yes we do Luckygirl and we also know of those whose actions do not benefit "those around them, either locally or on a global scale", whose actions are not in response to their religion.

I do not have a faith, but have no problem with those who do - as long as their faith results in them acting for the good of those around them I do not see it as a problem. Sadly we all know of those whose response to their religion is not to the benefit of those around them, either locally or on a global scale.

Paddyanne my g grandfather was an ordained minister, he
worked tirelessly for the soup kitchens , when he died the streets to the cemetery were lined.

He was a close friend of Keir Hardie, I have letters from Hardie
relating to his fight to become the first Labour MP, the letters
acknowledge the help and support my g grandfather gave him.

So faith and politics can work together

Paddyann I wish no disrespect but I don’t think anyone knows what Gods plan is let alone those who don’t have faith.
You talk about those with faith as though we are all idiots allowing ourselves to be lulled into some sense of false security.
I find it very condescending of you and others who don’t believe telling those of faith their beliefs are wrong.
I don’t object to your opinion but please don’t presume to tell me what my faith is. Like Smileless I’m not at the bottom of any tree.

Your post @ 12.46 speaks for this peasant too Doodle and I'm not at the bottom of the tree paddyann so don't need something to focus on, to keep me in line.

Of course ther are doodle thats the whole point of religion /faith the folk at the bottom of the tree have something to focus on ,keep them in line .Its GODS will .Nothing to do with whatever political party thats keeping them poor or destroying the health service its not ever Bojo its all down to Gods plan

How about if a human being knew that there was something otherworldly within them, and when happy excited a feeling things were going right A light followed them How would you account for that?

Same for this peasant

Grantanow many of the ordinary people who suffer are people of faith. This peasant has had a degree of troubles too but I don’t blame God for it, I turn to my faith to help me in my troubles.

Some people suffer gravely through no fault of their own as are the ordinary people of Ukraine. Christianity does not adequately explain why a benevolent God permits this. I gave up religion when I was about 12 and have never looked back. It's basically a tool to keep the peasants happy (jam tomorrow) while the elite carry on stealing and partying.

The number of replies that indicate loss of faith, and/or puzzlement shows me that many ministers of religion are doing a poor job of explaining the basics of Christianity to their flocks.

Spot on David - it is all part of this pattern of attributing to god those things that are good and pretending that those things that are bad are nothing to do with the deity, as I have said above.

He actually gets hate mail from believers - much as to be expected. The corrupting influence of religion is everywhere.

I have lots of Christian friends, including a couple of vicars, who would not dream of behaving in this way which shows how religion is open to individual interpretation. It can be used for good or for bad.

My grandma was a non believer, which for someone born in 1902, was unusual. She had a great influence in my life, I adored her, so no doubt my lack of faith came from her.

I read an article David Attenborough had written. He is often castigated for not crediting any god for all the amazing things he films. He actually gets hate mail from believers. Which is baffling in itself.

“I don’t know [why we're here]. People sometimes say to me, ‘Why don’t you admit that the humming bird, the butterfly, the Bird of Paradise are proof of the wonderful things produced by Creation?’ And I always say, well, when you say that, you’ve also got to think of a little boy sitting on a river bank, like here, in West Africa, that’s got a little worm, a living organism, in his eye and boring through the eyeball and is slowly turning him blind. The Creator God that you believe in, presumably, also made that little worm. Now I personally find that difficult to accommodate…”

Each to his own of course.

It's true Luckygirl you cannot explain faith to someone who has never experienced it, like so many other things in life. You can't explain to someone who isn't a parent, what it's like to be one.

Like you Doodle I can't explain it. My parents didn't go to church but I would go to Mass with my maternal GM when ever I could from a very young age, too young to understand but something touched me very deeply and it's never left me.

Farzanah my faith does influence me. I’m not one of the ‘What would Jesus do’ people. I’m not naturally unkind I don’t think but I do have a very sarcastic wit. I am often tempted to come up with a comment that may make people laugh but try hard not to say it in case it hurts someone’s feelings (as is so easy to do)

I agree Doodle. One’s life beliefs do not define whether someone is kind, compassionate, altruistic or not, but hopefully it should influence them.

Yes it is interesting Hetty and the fact that “spirituality” appears common to most humans to a greater or lesser degree.
The neuroscience in this respect is also interesting in that personality traits are heritable and there is a genetic link for how spiritual one is. Religion is different in that it seems to be culturally influenced, and the type of home you are raised in plays a part.
Of course nature and nurture are inextricably linked, but I do find it fascinating.