Why are atheists so unhappy?

[JordanSRT]

When was the last time someone imposed their beliefs on you? Unless you live in certain countries (like in the Middle East) where you are forced to observe a particular religion, in the West you are free to believe in any religion you choose, or to belief in nothing. Now, many religions have a missionary nature to them to spread their faith. Christians in particular belief their faith is “Good News” and desire to share it with others. Of course, there are some groups or even individuals who adopt a “hard sell” approach that turn others off. But if someone shows up at your door waving tracts in your face, you are perfectly free to slam the door in their face. There is no law compelling you to join their sect or even let them in.

I’ll just cite one example here.

There are a lot of Christians who feel creationism instead of evolution should be taught in school. Since Christianity only makes up for ‘32% & dropping’ of the world’s population Why should their particular view of how we got here be taught in our schools?

 

[Reuben_J]

If being an atheist makes you happy, and my being a believer makes me happy, why then can atheists such as yourself who proclaim to be militant not understand that we (believers) are happy as we are?

My personal take is I doubt it. Humans are not happy because of our make up we are most vulnerable to the hostilities that are around us and engulfing us. We are not made to withstand all these and as a result we cannot be totally happy. No one can honestly says that he/she happy with the sufferings that are the realities that humans suffer today. Everyone is subjected to it, in one form or the other.

So an athiest in not happy, Christians are not happy as far as we are in the human mould.

Christians overcome unhappiness to some extent becuase spiritually we are given the ‘peace that the world cannot give’ that we are able to see and endure suffering in a different light and turn it into joy.

No athiest has convinced me as yet that he/she is totally happy. When one says he/she is, it’s only a camouflage and a mask to hide something that most probably he/she does not want us to know. We all are though. So do not let any athiest kids us on this.

 

[JordanSRT]

My personal take is I doubt it. Humans are not happy because of our make up we are most vulnerable to the hostilities that are around us and engulfing us. We are not made to withstand all these and as a result we cannot be totally happy. No one can honestly says that he/she happy with the sufferings that are the realities that humans suffer today. Everyone is subjected to it, in one form or the other.

So an athiest in not happy, Christians are not happy as far as we are in the human mould.

Christians overcome unhappiness to some extent becuase spiritually we are given the ‘peace that the world cannot give’ that we are able to see and endure suffering in a different light and turn it into joy.

No athiest has convinced me as yet that he/she is totally happy. When one says he/she is, it’s only a camouflage and a mask to hide something that most probably he/she does not want us to know. We all are though. So do not let any athiest kids us on this.

I never said I was totally happy. What I said was “I’m also a fairly happy person”. Are there things I’m unhappy about? sure, I’d be inhuman if there were not. I am not trying to hide anything from you or anyone.

 

[Reuben_J]

I never said I was totally happy. What I said was “I’m also a fairly happy person”. Are there things I’m unhappy about? sure, I’d be inhuman if there were not. I am not trying to hide anything from you or anyone.

Thanks for the clarification.

I am sorry for interrupting.

Regards.

 

[SSTeacher]

A month or so ago I was doing some research for something non-religion related and came across a website that was a clearinghouse for every kind of conspiracy theory. They also had a page dedicated to attacking religion in general and Christianity in particular. This got me to thinking: It seems many atheists are awfully unhappy. I’m currently re-reading Fulton Sheen’s Your Life is Worth Living and came across the following passage:

Let me tell you the story of an atheist in London, England. I used to do considerable work in St. Patrick’s Parish, in Soho Square. One Sunday morning I came into the front of the church to read Mass, and found a young lady standing in front of the communion rail harnaguing the congregation. She was saying, “There is no God! There is too much evil in the world! Reason cannot transcend sense! It is impossible to conclude to his existence!” “Every night,” she said, “I go out to Hyde Park. I talk against God. I circulate England, Scotland and Wales with pamphlets denouncing a belief in the existence of God.”
As I reached the communion rail, I said to her, “Young lady, I am very happy to hear you say you believe in the existence of God.”
She said, “You silly fool, I don’t!”
I said, “I understood you to say just the contrary.” Suppose I went out every night to Hyde Park and talked against twenty-footed ghosts and ten centaurs. Suppose I circulated England, Scotland and Wales denouncing a belief in these ghosts and centaurs? What would happen to me?"
She said, “You would be crazy! They would lock you up!”
I said, “Do you not put God in the same category as these fantasies of the imagination? Why would I be crazy attacking them and you not crazy attacking God?”
She said, “I don’t know. Why?”
I said, Because when I attack these phantoms of the imagination, I am attacking something unreal, but when you attack God, you are attacking something as real as the thrust of a sword. Do you think we would have any such thing in the world as prohibition unless there was something to prohibit? Could there ever be anti-cigarette laws unless there were cigarettes? How can there be atheism unless there is something to atheate?"
She said, “I hate you!”
I said, 'Now you’ve given the answer."
Atheism is not a doctrine, it is a cry of wrath.

I think there’s a difference between an atheist and an angry theist. The young lady whose performance in Soho provided the material for the story seemed to me to be an angry theist. The atheists I’ve encountered – the functional atheists who live their lives as if there is no God – have seemed to me to be as happy or unhappy as their circumstances allow. They are just like the rest of the population, in fact. But I think it’s perhaps worth mentioning that the pursuit of happiness is probably an ideal more likely to attract an atheist than a Christian since the latter is commanded to reject worldly considerations and embrace kingdom values.

Cordially,
Mick

 

[StrawberryJam]

Athiests, christians and agnostics can be just as happy at times and unhappy at times.
If anyone were happy all the time, I would avoid them entirely.
Happiness is a good thing. Sadness can be a good and normal thing also.

If you are trying to say it is not possible for a theist to be sad, then I suggest you browse the forums a bit more often on life issue threads.

 

[StrawberryJam]

When was the last time someone imposed their beliefs on you? Unless you live in certain countries (like in the Middle East) where you are forced to observe a particular religion, in the West you are free to believe in any religion you choose, or to belief in nothing. Now, many religions have a missionary nature to them to spread their faith. Christians in particular belief their faith is “Good News” and desire to share it with others. Of course, there are some groups or even individuals who adopt a “hard sell” approach that turn others off. But if someone shows up at your door waving tracts in your face, you are perfectly free to slam the door in their face. There is no law compelling you to join their sect or even let them in.

Imposing beliefs or simply being the majority in belief? You don’t have to impose your belief to kids. Kids who are not theists generally just want to be just like all the other kids.
They can not here without a degree of pain in being themselves.

 

[Reuben_J]

I think there’s a difference between an atheist and an angry theist. The young lady whose performance in Soho provided the material for the story seemed to me to be an angry theist. The atheists I’ve encountered – the functional atheists who live their lives as if there is no God – have seemed to me to be as happy or unhappy as their circumstances allow. They are just like the rest of the population, in fact. ** But I think it’s perhaps worth mentioning that the pursuit of happiness is probably an ideal more likely to attract an atheist than a Christian since the latter is commanded to reject worldly considerations and embrace kingdom values.**

Cordially,
Mick

Mick, I would happily go along with that.

I do not want to vigorously drum this in for fear of antagonizing militant atheists here.

If all humans are hot happy and subjected to unhappiness which is like a vicious trap that spares nobody, then this is a real question that confronts us today. Are we happy? Do we want to be happy? Of course the answer is obvious. We all want to, don’t we?

I just feel that atheists search for happiness is as much as they can get being atheists which is not much but enough to go by. Certainly it is an unfulfilled life; something fulfilling that may be missing.

Not so with the religious. The missing link they get it supplied by their faith.

I thought you downplay it a little when you did not candidly say that Christians should not only be happy but joyful people but you instead said ***“ … Christian since the latter is commanded to reject worldly considerations and embrace kingdom values.” ***A good piece of diplomacy there. The truth is, Christians, when they truly allow God in their lives and experience His presence, these Christians are truly the happiest people in this whole world. Mother Teresa was one of those.

I thought the title of the thread is a matter of fact.

 

[SSTeacher]

SSTeacher;5462977:

I think there’s a difference between an atheist and an angry theist. The young lady whose performance in Soho provided the material for the story seemed to me to be an angry theist. The atheists I’ve encountered – the functional atheists who live their lives as if there is no God – have seemed to me to be as happy or unhappy as their circumstances allow. They are just like the rest of the population, in fact. But I think it’s perhaps worth mentioning that the pursuit of happiness is probably an ideal more likely to attract an atheist than a Christian since the latter is commanded to reject worldly considerations and embrace kingdom values.

Cordially,
Mick
:thumbsup:Mick, I would happily go along with that.

I do not want to vigorously drum this in for fear of antagonizing militant atheists here.

If all humans are hot happy and subjected to unhappiness which is like a vicious trap that spares nobody, then this is a real question that confronts us today. Are we happy? Do we want to be happy? Of course the answer is obvious. We all want to, don’t we?

Sure we do.

I just feel that atheists search for happiness is as much as they can get being atheists which is not much but enough to go by. Certainly it is an unfulfilled life; something fulfilling that may be missing.

Not so with the religious. The missing link they get it supplied by their faith.

I would contend that everyone feels a need to find something or someone in which to place his or her faith. So whether they are highly intelligent and educated citizens or third place runners–up for the village idiot award atheists doubtless exhibit faith, too. They just decline to make the object of their faith anything in the spiritual realm.

I thought you downplay it a little when you did not candidly say that Christians should not only be happy but joyful people but you instead said ***“ … Christian since the latter is commanded to reject worldly considerations and embrace kingdom values.” ***A good piece of diplomacy there. The truth is, Christians, when they truly allow God in their lives and experience His presence, these Christians are truly the happiest people in this whole world. Mother Teresa was one of those.

I thought the title of the thread is a matter of fact.

Joy is indeed a fruit of the Spirit but happiness isn’t mentioned in the list (not even in the Catholic list, which is the longest one). I would tentatively suggest that happiness isn’t exactly the same thing as joy. Happiness, I think, is dependent upon external physical circumstances. If one is homeless, wet, hungry, dirty and cold, one is not likely to be happy. Now, the question is, in those same circumstances could a Christian be joyful? In his letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul writes:

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Saint Paul doesn’t suggest that he is perpetually happy – instead he implies that he is always content. So what’s the secret of that contentment? Well, it clearly isn’t anything to do with the externals. It’s apparently something within. And here we are perhaps reminded of something Jesus told the Pharisees:

The kingdom of God is within you.

So I wasn’t thinking of diplomacy, necessarily. I was considering the difference between a worldly mindset and a Christian one. The Christian who enthusiastically embraces kingdom values takes up his or her cross every day and follows the Founder of Christianity. But what kind of sense does that make to an atheist who views all of life through a very different lens? Saint Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians demonstrates how well he understands the difference between material and ethereal views when he writes:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

If atheists didn’t sneer at Christians there’d be something wrong. Christians ought to expect to be sneered at. And Christians who are startled by sneers and sneer back simply reveal that they are worldly and have no joy within them. In my opinion it’s hardly surprising that atheists consider Christians that exhibit such behavior to be smug and annoying.

I have an uneasy feeling that the title of the thread is based upon a questionable premise.

Respectfully,
Mick

 

[RebeccaJ]

A month or so ago I was doing some research for something non-religion related and came across a website that was a clearinghouse for every kind of conspiracy theory. They also had a page dedicated to attacking religion in general and Christianity in particular. This got me to thinking: It seems many atheists are awfully unhappy. I’m currently re-reading Fulton Sheen’s Your Life is Worth Living and came across the following passage:

Very true Fulton Sheen! Being an atheist for a couple of decades, it was when I realized I was really pissed of at a god (a false one) that I realized I wasn’t a very good atheist. Shortly after I had a conversation with an atheist acquaintance, trying to describe this realization. They sent me this:

from Joseph Heller, Catch-22 (1961), Chapter 18

“And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways,” Yossarian continued. “There’s nothing so mysterious about it. He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else he’s forgotten all about us. That’s the kind of God you people talk about — a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatalogical mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?”

“Pain?” Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s wife pounced upon the word victoriously. “Pain is a useful symptom. Pain is a warning to us of bodily dangers.”

“And who created the dangers?” Yossarian demanded. He laughed caustically. “Oh, He was really being charitable to us when He gave us pain! Why couldn’t He have used a doorbell instead to notify us, or one of his celestial choirs? Or a system of blue-and-red neon tubes right in the middle of each person’s forehead. Any jukebox manufacturer worth his salt could have done that. Why couldn’t He?”

“People would certainly look silly walking around with red neon tubes in the middle of their foreheads.”

“They certainly look beautiful now writhing in agony or stupified with morphine, don’t they? What a colossal, immortal blunderer! When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly little mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering. It’s obvious He never met a payroll. Why, no self-respecting businessman would hire a bungler like Him as even a shipping clerk!”

Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s wife had turned ashen in disbelief and was ogling him with alarm. “You’d better not talk that way about Him, honey,” she warned him reprovingly in a low and hostile voice. “He might punish you.”

“Isn’t He punishing me enough?” Yossarian snorted resentfully. “You know, we certainly mustn’t let Him get away with it. Oh, no, we certainly mustn’t let Him get away scot free for all the sorrow He’s caused us. Someday I’m going to make him pay. I know when. On the Judgement Day. Yes, that’s the day I’ll be close enough to reach out and grab that little yokel by His neck and –”

“Stop it! Stop it!” Leiutenant Scheisskopf’s wife screamed suddenly, and began beating him ineffectually about the head with both fists. “Stop it!”

Yossarian ducked behind his arm for protection while she slammed away at him in feminine fury for a few seconds, and then he caught her determinedly by the wrists and forced her gently back down on the bed.

“What the hell are you getting so upset about?” he asked her bewilderedly in a tone of contrite amusement. “I thought you didn’t believe in God.”

“I don’t,” she sobbed, bursting violently into tears. “But the God I don’t believe in is a good God, a just God, a merciful God. He’s not the mean and stupid God you make Him out to be.”

Yossarian laughed and turned her arms loose. “Let’s have a little more religious freedom between us,” he proposed obligingly. “You don’t believe in the God you want to, and I won’t believe in the God I want to. Is that a deal?”

Was I unhappy as an atheist? “Happiness” is such a subjective emotion. Certainly, I was happy in many ways. I have known very unhappy “religious” people. The internal difference, for myself, is that I know a peace that I never knew as an atheist. But, as an atheist, it was not anything I had experienced so it is not something I can say at the time, I knew I was without.

 

[Joe_Brown]

Atheism is a suffering from pride and selfishness I am sorry to say this but it is true. I know many don’t realize this. To bring your children up teaching them that there is no God, teaching them that there is no one that loves them infinitely is just bad parenting. I have had an atheist friend for a while and I can see it. It shines through how sad he is inside. I fell away from the faith for a while and, let’s just say those were the worst times of my life. To have to live those times again would be terrible. I am really praying to God our Father that people who are atheists may see the light. For God is “The way the truth and the light”. I will leave you with a reflection on the passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to show you what he has done for all of us. I also hope you know that God loves you so much that he would do it for just one of us individually. I ask you one final question, what happens to sheep without a shepherd? They go astray! So come into God’s infinite love and into his loving arms, for he wants you to be with him.
Praise Be Jesus Christ!

this is reflection is from Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.

Reflection on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ +

The agony in the garden was really the agony in His mind. He suffered the passion in His mind before He suffered it in His body—to the point of actually affecting the latter by sweating blood. But from then on, it was His bodily suffering that affected His mental suffering.

At the base of all His suffering was the one thing that human beings dread the most: rejection. He was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter and abandoned by all the rest of His Apostles; those He had hand picked as His closest intimates. He was most rejected by those who put Him to death. They not only wanted Him dead, they wanted Him to suffer. They not only considered Him to be worth nothing, they considered Him to be worth minus nothing! This significance was not lost on Him. He felt fully the rejection as each physical agony reminded Him.

So we thank Him for joining us on our human journey and actually choosing to experience what we fear the most.

We thank Him for enduring the arrest and the cruelty of the guards and the Sanhedrin. We thank Him for enduring the cruelty of Pilate who allowed Him to be executed rather than risk his own political ruin—and for the cruelty of Herod who wanted to be entertained by having Him work a miracle. We thank Him for all the time He spent satisfying their preoccupation with themselves, just delaying His ultimate death. We thank Him for the anxiety of that night in a cell.

The next morning He was brutally scourged with such intensity and violence that He became as an aged man in a matter of minutes. His multiple wounds bloodied His entire body. The loss of so much blood not only severely weakened Him; it also caused a severe, throbbing headache that remained with Him for the duration.

We thank Him for this and for the mockery He received when they put a purple cloth on His shoulders and pushed a crown of thorns down into His head which intensified His headache. They blindfolded Him and slapped Him, insisting that He ‘prophesy’ who had hit Him. They spat on Him and beat Him. But it was they who were blind. He knew who they were. This is what we do when we sin. We blot him out of our consciousness as if He can’t see us. But it is we who choose to not see.

He stood at the praetorium in utter disgrace according to the attitude of the crowd—while in reality, He stood in utter glory: almighty God, being present to every person who has ever suffered rejection, joining them in their
moment of pain. It was there that He was sentenced to death by crucifixion. As a further humiliation, He was forced to carry His instrument of execution. He revealed to St. Bernard that carrying the cross was His most painful agony. He was so weak, He could hardly walk. So the weight of the cross on His shoulder was unbearable. It most likely dislocated His shoulder. It is not surprising that He fell down on the stone streets that were filthy with animal dung—with the cross on top of Him. And He got up each time.

It was only with the help of Simon of Cyrene that He made it to the top of Calvary. There they drove the nails into the carpal tunnels of His hands, causing pain throughout His upper body. The nail in His feet registered great pain through all the sensitive nerves there. When the cross was righted, His up-stretched arms squeezed His lungs and He began to pant for lack of oxygen. So He had to push down on His crucified feet to push His body up in order to fill His lungs with air. This took great effort because He was so weak. Yet He managed to maintain such effort for three hours of agony which increased gradually as He became weaker moment by moment.

By the end of the third hour, His agony was at its peak and His self-gift was exquisite. He had come to the point where His strength simply gave out and He suffocated. In this eternal moment as He died, He gave us His life. Transcending time, this moment of divine love is present to us in the tabernacles of the world.

Thank you, Lord. We adore you O Christ and we praise you. By your holy cross, you have redeemed the world!

 

[matahari]

Atheism is a suffering from pride and selfishness I am sorry to say this but it is true. I know many don’t realize this. To bring your children up teaching them that there is no God, teaching them that there is no one that loves them infinitely is just bad parenting.
Praise Be Jesus Christ!

Thank you, Lord. We adore you O Christ and we praise you. By your holy cross, you have redeemed the world!

---

Amen to that !

 

[arcio]

For the serious person, being an atheist sucks, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, because it leads to meaninglessness.

Please site your source(s) in which to back this claim that your making. I’m looking forward to taking a look at the research material, to see firsthand, how this conclusion was obtained.

or

Is this just your opinion?

 

[Catholic_JIMMY]

my wife is Catholic and we agreed to not push our beliefs on them other than to express our views and answer their questions

Then how are you a militant atheist. You seem more like an atheist that just can find God in all the math of physics.

 

[josie_L]

If someone want to believe in god and live his life by the bible that’s fine. More power to ya, I hope you’re happy healthy and wise. It’s when people try to impose their religious beliefs on me and my world that I feel the need to fight back.

Apart from creationism (which could not be taught in schools as it would be in violation of the constitution), what other possible (christian) beliefs are being imposed on you? And also, what is so repugnant (for lack of a better word) about our belief system (or rather our moral code) that you should be militant about having us (like any other group would) use democracy and/or the political system to bring about change?

P.S. People impose their views on you everyday as I’m sure there are many things within government that you disagree with.

 

[Reuben_J]

Sure we do.

I would contend that everyone feels a need to find something or someone in which to place his or her faith. So whether they are highly intelligent and educated citizens or third place runners–up for the village idiot award atheists doubtless exhibit faith, too. They just decline to make the object of their faith anything in the spiritual realm.

Joy is indeed a fruit of the Spirit but happiness isn’t mentioned in the list (not even in the Catholic list, which is the longest one). I would tentatively suggest that happiness isn’t exactly the same thing as joy. Happiness, I think, is dependent upon external physical circumstances. If one is homeless, wet, hungry, dirty and cold, one is not likely to be happy. Now, the question is, in those same circumstances could a Christian be joyful? In his letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul writes:

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

Saint Paul doesn’t suggest that he is perpetually happy – instead he implies that he is always content. So what’s the secret of that contentment? Well, it clearly isn’t anything to do with the externals. It’s apparently something within. And here we are perhaps reminded of something Jesus told the Pharisees:

The kingdom of God is within you.

So I wasn’t thinking of diplomacy, necessarily. I was considering the difference between a worldly mindset and a Christian one. The Christian who enthusiastically embraces kingdom values takes up his or her cross every day and follows the Founder of Christianity. But what kind of sense does that make to an atheist who views all of life through a very different lens? Saint Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians demonstrates how well he understands the difference between material and ethereal views when he writes:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

If atheists didn’t sneer at Christians there’d be something wrong. Christians ought to expect to be sneered at. And Christians who are startled by sneers and sneer back simply reveal that they are worldly and have no joy within them. In my opinion it’s hardly surprising that atheists consider Christians that exhibit such behavior to be smug and annoying.

I have an uneasy feeling that the title of the thread is based upon a questionable premise.

Respectfully,
Mick

Thanks Mick for a very refreshing post.

I just thought I would get something out of you on this. You said it better than me.

I am glad you define the distinction between joy and happiness. Thanks for the comment that Catholic has the longest list of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. I suppose joy comes naturally when one has abundant life. When one has hope there is happiness. I think hopelessness is a big mother of desolation and despair.

I am just thinking aloud from where atheists would get their hope when it seems hopeless. Earthly investment does provide some security but they will not answer the deepest part of our problem. Once you stop believing that there is nothing you can do about it and none can do it for you, you will only rely on your human strength. And that’s not much. And it’s so very limited.

Thanks and God bless.

 

[arcio]

To bring your children up teaching them that there is no God, teaching them that there is no one that loves them infinitely is just bad parenting.

It’s fantastic parenting. They’d be teaching children to trust the material world, to accept that we live in a natural universe and that a belief in myth and supernatural, should well be left in the dust bin of history.

Think critically, think rationally, test the evidence and never stop questioning are all embraced by Atheists and shunned by most of the religious.

 

[JordanSRT]

Sorry I’ve not replied sooner but, I kinda forgot about this thread I’m working at the moment but will try to answer your question when I get home.

Peace!

 

[josie_L]

It’s fantastic parenting. They’d be teaching children to trust the material world, to accept that we live in a natural universe and that a belief in myth and supernatural, should well be left in the dust bin of history.

Think critically, think rationally, test the evidence and never stop questioning are all embraced by Atheists and shunned by most of the religious.

How can you test God? And who said I can’t teach my kids about science (Catholics are ok with evolution) and God simultaneously? I rather think I would have children who were more open-minded than those raised by an atheist who affirms just like you have that there is nothing more than matter (which you really couldn’t know) in this Universe of ours.

 

[arcio]

How can you test God? And who said I can’t teach my kids about science (Catholics are ok with evolution) and God simultaneously? I rather think I would have children who were more open-minded than those raised by an atheist who affirms just like you have that there is nothing more than matter (which you really couldn’t know) in this Universe of ours.

Sure, there’s ghosts, Vishnu, Brahman, Buddha, Allah, unicorns, elves, leperchauns, fairies and a near endless list of invisible beings and subjects that exist outside of matter and which none of them can neither be proven, nor dis-proven as existing.

It’s healthy to teach kids to believe in such things, as they will learn that when lacking evidence, you only need faith to insist that something is real.

In that light, Allah is just as real as the Christian God, as are unicorns, Vishnu and elves.