God of the Improvished?

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PatThePoet

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An atheist told me the other day that “Religion only really appeals to the poor and improvished in society. It gives them hope that if they worship Shiva, Jesus, or Allah then they will either be reincarnated into a better situation or go to a glorious heaven and won’t have to drink from sewers or run from bandits. Thats why the wealthier and more secure people in the West are having little use for fairy tales. There’s no reason to believe anymore.”

As if from the mouth of **** Dawkins himself.

Is this a vaild position? That is the way it does seem today.
 
PatThePoet said:
An atheist told me the other day that “Religion only really appeals to the poor and improvished in society. It gives them hope that if they worship Shiva, Jesus, or Allah then they will either be reincarnated into a better situation or go to a glorious heaven and won’t have to drink from sewers or run from bandits. Thats why the wealthier and more secure people in the West are having little use for fairy tales. There’s no reason to believe anymore.”

As if from the mouth of **** Dawkins himself.

Is this a vaild position? That is the way it does seem today.
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That’s not my motivation for believing in God.

That’s a common but popular misconception-- religion is the opiate of the masses.

The antidote-- become acquainted with some holy people or study the lives of the saints.
 
Pete said:
According to this article 92% of Americans believe in God:

foxnews.com/story/0,2933,99945,00.html

The statement that people in the rich west have no need for God is clearly false.
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I am not sure if the article really says this though. While 92% of those surveyed believe in God, only 37% go to church each week. It seems like we have a lot of functional atheists in this country, who claim to believe that God exists, but live their lives as if he doesn’t or at least doesn’t care what we do.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
I am not sure if the article really says this though. While 92% of those surveyed believe in God, only 37% go to church each week. It seems like we have a lot of functional atheists in this country, who claim to believe that God exists, but live their lives as if he doesn’t or at least doesn’t care what we do.
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My original thought was something along these lines. While the richer in the west don’t necessarily attend church, does that indicate a lack of belief in God? I think not. Yet that seems to be the tenure of your statement. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I don’t think that lack of Church attendence is indicative of atheism or that God does not play a major part in one’s life. As Catholics, we are taught, and I think correctly that part of faith is community. That we cannot fully express our faith except in community with others through the mass. I think Catholics are mroe right than other faiths in this respect.

However, many people for many different reasons are justifiably or not angry with organized religion. Some may of course be only using that as an excuse, yet still I do run across many people, mostly on the net albeit who profess and seem to have a deep spirituality which they practice. Prayer, ritual, and reading of sacred literature is important to these people, and living life in a Christlike manner is something they strive for, or so it seems to me from the outside.

So I take people at their word when they claim to believe in God. I have no means to say they don’t, nor any basis upon which to judge the degree of their faith. So it seems to me in any case.
 
A person with lots of money of course.
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Yet they are still poor in comparison to how much money is conceivable… I think what the other poster meant was that no matter what, we are poor in some aspect or another (namely perfect happiness).

Hey, if atheists want to whine that I am not as courageous as they are in that I have my ‘God as a crutch’ for hope that life is not meaningless and for happiness, they can go ahead, for I think their view is what one might call ‘stupid courage’, ‘foolhardiness’ or rather ‘rashness’ :D. Though I find most who speak of the ‘God as a crutch’ thing not only view theism too simplistically and childishly (like ol’ Dawkins), but they forget that improvement of any item needs external goods for such growth and even simple sustenance. Even a plant needs the sun to grow, a calf, milk to mature. One can live in a fantasy world of ‘self-sufficiency’ if they like, but as St. Severinus Boethius might say, true ‘self-sufficiency’ can only come about by a love of God since we are not unlimited beings, and can only be recognized in perfect accordance with His will (which at the moment is far from present conditions for any man on earth due to the fall). And since we are in such a state, grace is needed (greatest of all, the Lord’s sacrifice) to 're-align’ ourselves, so to speak.
 
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