When those who choose not to believe in God, cannot believe in God, or for whatever other reason do not believe in God (the right not to do so I fully support, although I do believe) say things like you said: “ I’m not a religious person myself, and I find no need for it, but if you need to believe to get through your day, go ahead. I won’t stop you,” you sell believers short. You seem pretty intelligent, so I must assume you meant it as a slight to believers.
Many of us who believe in God do not do so “to get through our day” as you say. We believe because we are led to believe. I imagine that there are some who say they believe in order to comfort themselves in some manner, and others who say they believe in order to fit in with those they wish to associate with. There may be other reasons for SAYING that one believes when one does not really believe.
But I venture to say that MOST of those who believe in God do so out of a sense of internal logic, personal experience and/or a true, abiding faith totally independent of any comfort or relief that the belief may provide. In fact, there are many religious believers whose faith requires them to deny themselves pleasures and benefits that, as a matter of convenience, they would never do by choice.
In short, true faith is not something one merely elects to have (or pretend to have). For those who do not believe and who say so, I respect that and I respect the honesty of it. Because I believe, however, I hope and pray (yes, pray) that non-believers will be open to receiving the gift of faith if that gift should find its way to their doorstep.
Thank you, and it wasn't really.
Many of us who believe in God do not do so “to get through our day” as you say. We believe because we are led to believe. I imagine that there are some who say they believe in order to comfort themselves in some manner, and others who say they believe in order to fit in with those they wish to associate with.
The bolded statement is my exact problem with organized religion. I'll let you read into that what you like, but I don't like people telling me what I can and can't believe. Give me the facts and I'll decide what's right and wrong. My experience with people who are religious not because of tradition (their parents and their grandparents etc.) but because something tripped in their lives (drug or alcohol abuse, other personal events) is that they are dogmatic to the point of being illogical and irrational about their belief. Those ARE the people who have chosen religion to "get through their day."
But I venture to say that MOST of those who believe in God do so out of a sense of internal logic, personal experience and/or a true, abiding faith totally independent of any comfort or relief that the belief may provide.
My personal experience with many (definitely not all, but many) religious people is that the belief in God gives them a way to explain away the unknown. I don't want to invoke imaginary all-powerful beings to explain the unknown. I want to know the underlying mechanisms. I want to explore and probe the unknown. A belief in God (as creator anyway) would hinder that goal rather than help me towards it.
My next statements may be construed by some as a fear of religion, but let me set you straight, I'm not afraid of it, I just know (perhaps too much) about it. I have done a non-trivial amount of study of the major religions. I don't consider myself an expert by any stretch of the imagination. But what i do know is that I don't want to be part of any of them, and I don't want to be forced to be part of any of them (RoP clause). Religion, much like government, is about control over a population. Many people are controlled by fear. That's a normal, healthy response. In this case it is fear of the unknown. I think that one major reason there is a clash between religion and science is not so much that they want to destroy eachother, but that they have competing goals. Science wants to explain the unknown, while religion already has explained it and now wants to consider the matter closed. That's not good enough for most scientists. We became scientists for the sole purpose of furthering knowledge. Not only our own, but also the collective knowledge bank of society.
In short, true faith is not something one merely elects to have (or pretend to have). For those who do not believe and who say so, I respect that and I respect the honesty of it. Because I believe, however, I hope and pray (yes, pray) that non-believers will be open to receiving the gift of faith if that gift should find its way to their doorstep.
You view your faith as a gift, that is your prerogative. I view it as a way of explaining away things that you don't want to bother yourself thinking about. Luckily for us, there are still some that want to know. That being said, if God were to show himself tomorrow and provide proof that he created the universe, I'd be the first one in line to subscribe to his recollection of events. But until that point, I'm going to keep searching.