Is it true that religious people are weak people?
Many people begin to believe in God after something bad has happened in their lives, they began to pray, go to church and honor the saints, and everything got better, and their loved ones were cured. Others don't find meaning in life until they start believing in God. Still others are afraid of death, but the theory of eternal life and life after death reassures them. The lonely find themselves in the company of God. This can be continued indefinitely. And all this is weak in spirit. But why does a strong person need religion?
The phenomenon when a convinced atheist under the influence of some circumstances begins to believe in God is very rare. But when believers, but not ecclesiastical people, after some events become ecclesiastical, this happens quite often. Therefore, what the questioner wrote in the comment to the question is not entirely correct.
But there is still a dispute between believers and non-believers about how deep, let's say, the drama of what is happening is. To be strong in the face of circumstances, “life is a struggle” and that's all – not always, true, but more the position of an atheist. The position of a believer is not that he is looking for help in religion, but that he should perceive what is happening without drama. From the Buddhist point of view, the person who dramatizes what is happening is in the grip of an illusion. Being ironic about what is happening does not necessarily mean treating it without drama.
This aspect of the dialogue of worldviews is such that non-believers consider believers weak, and those, in response, believe that non-believers dramatize in vain.
This… this is not a simple question.
Especially from the point of view of an atheist. After all, it is atheists who often or almost always ask such questions.
But as atheists, we should not pass off wishful thinking as reality, but rather see the real facts.
For example, you can find a person who, in the service of God, went to a remote and wild land, spent his whole life there not only in preaching, but also in daily and constant help to people. How can such a person be called weak?!
Or another example, when a shahid detonates an explosive belt for the religious purpose of his Faith. How can a weak person dare to do such a thing?!
Finally, from my humble point of view, religion is often just an expression of a person's own strength of character. When Oskald Wilde went to prison, it was his Christian faith that gave him the strength to endure the dramatic circumstances of his life. But the writer was far from a believer. He had a friend who claimed that ” in the time of Nero, Christians were hung and burned in the streets and this was the only useful light of their faith.” Wilde converted to Catholicism on his deathbed. And it was a step of man's courage and fortitude.
We are all different people, regardless of our worldview. Therefore, our strength in faith or beliefs is different for everyone.
Yes, atheists are often more courageous and honest people, because we have taken full responsibility for ourselves and… the world. We have no one to hide behind or ask for help: neither God nor the Devil. But it is not… strength as such is precisely courage-the courage of a Person.
The same goes for a believer. Only this courage in him is mediated by Faith. But there is still something behind this belief… Person.
This is how we live together: one thinks that his strength is in faith, the other knows that his strength is in himself. Can you say that one of us is weaker or stronger?! As an atheist, I don't think so. But people are different, and snobbery is many-sided and does not depend on the worldview.
This is exactly the same myth as ” atheists are immoral nihilists.” People are generally weak. And strength is needed to find time to clarify your own position on the issue, and not to think it out of inertia. Most people are not believers or atheists, for them it's just the color of the flag, the name of the team you support. The strong don't get sick.
Is it true that “Soviet people live in the happiest country in the world?” ( this is from slogans and song lines in Soviet times).
I come from the USSR and I will definitely say that such a generalization did not really exist. Happiness is an individual concept.
Religiosity is an individual concept. Religiosity and weakness are not functionally dependent concepts. They are not for a very simple reason – each person is an individual world.
Religiosity is a natural state of human consciousness at a certain stage of its development. And a state that cannot be skipped. Even the most notorious materialist and atheist.
There is no question of a personal Christian god and a naive belief in miracles.
Religiosity, no matter how Wikipedia and a bunch of dictionaries interpret this concept, is a hidden inner knowledge that has been absorbed into a cult due to human ignorance.
“Religion, art and science are branches of the same tree.“- A.Einstein
“Anyone who is seriously engaged in science comes to realize that in the laws of nature there is a Spirit that is much higher than human. A spirit in the face of which, with our limited strength, we must feel our own weakness. In this sense, scientific research leads to a special kind of religious feeling, which really differs in many ways from more naive religiosity.“A. Einstein
It's like asking who is more productive-optimists or pessimists. Only life can show. And each life taken separately. Besides, I doubt that being religious is a matter of rational choice. In the eyes of a religious person, atheistic “freedom from prejudice” looks more like a limitation, an inability to perceive its rational principle as a limited, subordinate instrument of the will.
Here someone has already correctly noted that in fact. all people are weak. But not everyone is ready to admit it. And the realization of your weakness can lead to God. Jesus Christ said this in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” And in another place he said: “Unless you become less and become like little children, you will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Both sayings just say that a person who recognizes himself as weak, comes to the knowledge of God and enters His Kingdom.
On the other hand, a person who trusts in the Lord (and not just religious), thanks to faith and God's help, becomes strong. There are many examples of this in the Bible and in modern life.
The strong and the weak, the smart and the stupid, the crippled and the healthy believe in God, because there is a God.
It's about human power. Any human being is a speck of dust in a hostile universe. And he feels supernatural power only because in any person, even an atheist, there is a connection with a Higher power – with God.
In the lives of all people, the SAME events occur. There are no unbelievers, because only what we believe is true for us. The atheist denies the existence of God. He is right, because God and man both exist and do not exist.
If you look at history, Christians have always been considered ignorant and narrow-minded, helpless and weak. Why? Because they didn't have any political influence and didn't seem to be able to defend themselves in the event of an attack.
The same thing is happening today, religious people do not fit in well with the standards of the world, which usually admires proud and haughty people; and Christians try to remain humble and meek. But if you understand, which is easier: to show pride or meekness?! Meekness is the ability to restrain yourself and not compromise your beliefs, even when provoked. It turns out that to be meek, you need a huge inner strength. Therefore, I believe that such people cannot be called weak!