I have been a catholic for all my life and when it came to
the choice of making my confirmation I did not have to think twice in saying
yes. It never occurred to me that my brother, who is a self-confessed atheist,
had to make the decision to not make his confirmation. We have been raised in
the same house by the same parents and brought up with the same religious
beliefs for all our lives, yet we differed in our opinions on faith. This got
me thinking and I decided to ask my brother why he decided to not believe in
God and this is what I found out.
When I think of death I automatically think of going to
heaven and being reunited with God, however when people do die my brother
believes that they will just stay in the ground. I asked my brother does this
not make you feel as if you are living a life that means nothing as when you
die it is all lost and he said yes. You live your life the way you want to,
there will be no judgement or reward everyone will just die. He said that there
cannot be a heaven if God does not exist.
I then went on to ask my brother, how do you know God does
not exist? He responded with all the evil and suffering in the world. My
brother believes that evil and suffering is proof that God does not exist because
he does not believe that a God who is supposed to be all loving and caring
would allow his creations to go through such terrible times. To this I said to
my brother, but evil and suffering is not for the sake of getting hurt, there
is a reason for it. From the tough times we experience we will gain strength
and knowledge and this will help us in the future. In reply my brother said
there are other ways to gain strength and knowledge that do not involve being
put through hell to gain them.
From this talk with my brother I have concluded that even
though my brother and I had the same upbringing we both took a very different
view on religion. My brother looks at the bad things and says how can a loving
God allow this?, whereas I would look at it and say I wonder why I needed to
gain this strength and knowledge, what will happen to me in the future for me to
need it? Religion is not based on the things you are taught it is based on how
you interpret the world and your experiences that form your opinion.
H.H
The argument falls down when you consider the suffering of families of hostages beheaded and burnt alive.
ReplyDeleteHas your brother read any of the classic theodicies? Do you think these would change his mind?
ReplyDeleteThis also raises interesting questions about the effects of upbringing and people who suggest they are 'indoctrinated' by faith - this doesn't appear to be so with your brother!
A very interesting first blog post!
Your brother seems to believe that we can grow and learn without experiencing suffering - what are his thoughts on the theory that if we were to live free of evil and suffering, we would be living in what Swinburne describes as a "toy world" without consequences or bad things to help us appreciate the good things in life?
ReplyDeleteGreat post exploring the ways in which religion and religious upbringing can affect people in different ways. The varying views that you both have on God shows us how different people interpret evil and suffering in our world.
C.B
This is a really interesting post exploring the ways that a brother and sister of the same household, raised in the same way, can have such contrasting views on religion.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to you brother's view that God does not exist because of the evil and suffering in the world, what are his thoughts or feelings on the idea of free will? Can all the blame be put on God, drawing to the conclusion that He simply does not exist because of evil and suffering? Or does the blame lie with us humans, misusing our gift of free will?
VKD
I agree that this is a very interesting post, and have the same encounter with relatives who do not believe in God. I sometimes find it quite difficult to not question my belief due to the evil and suffering that surrounds us. However I seem to lead to the answer that our free will has caused most of the evil and suffering. I always wonder if there is anything else than just evil and suffering that causes people to not believe in God and if anything, what would change peoples opinions and beliefs.
ReplyDeleteCJ