It's twue! It's twue! - Questioning belief

[Kitten]

(with apologies to Madeleine Kahn)

When was the last time you sat down and questioned your decision to believe in God? According to a new study, that simple act could decrease your religious conviction – even if you’re a devout believer.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/2 ... ?hpt=hp_c2

[terranova]

Why would anyone make a decision to believe in god? Surely you either do or you don't?

[alaeangelorum]

Why would anyone make a decision to believe in god? Surely you either do or you don't?

Yeah I never get this either, I can't 'make' myself believe something, or at least not something which is a matter of faith. And anyway surely if you do think to question your belief it suggests there is some doubt already??

[BayLee_10]

Losing faith in God just happened to me over time. Certainly as a child I believed, but as I got older, and learned more, well, it just doesn't make sense to me. The closest I get now is thinking there might, just slightly possibly be some grand design behind the Big Bang. It must be comforting to believe and think that you will be joining people you love when you die, instead of thinking, as I do, that your children, grandchildren and so on is where our place is in eternity.

[deelaem]

I think it's entirely possible to decide you believe in god. There have been times in my life that I did just that. Those were times when I really wanted answers to life's questions, and since the majority of people believe in a higher power I figured they must be on to something. I had nagging doubts the whole time, but I'd push them to the back of my mind, then go read or do something that reinforced my beliefs. Even deciding not to believe in god was a process for me because I didn't feel comfortable with a pure atheist stand. If it were down to a matter of "either you do or don't" there wouldn't be so much religious indoctrination.

[DarkAnts]

Why would anyone make a decision to believe in god? Surely you either do or you don't?

I am sure some people will say that they decided that they did not believe in god with in minuets of being asked the question. I think that those people already had doubts about religion. For most of us, we have to deal with a lifetime of beliefs. We have to deal with the question "who am I if I dont believe anymore?" Its not a cut and dry case. I think it takes a long time before we feel comfortable pushing our old beliefs aside.

[AmyP]

If those were well written controlled studies, the author of the article manages to make them sound stupid. Or perhaps, the studies themselves are stupid. I don't know. When I read that after studying an image of The Thinker (statue of guy with chin on fist) people thought more analytically, and then questioned their religious beliefs, I did not find myself particluarly impressed. :roll: