Do We Need Religion to Cope

There is a healthy argument going on these days about whether religion is needed for dealing with personal crises. In the past decade atheist books have become best sellers. They tell us religion is not necessary. Now religious authors are striking back.

One author, Stephen Asma (Why We Need Religion), makes the claim religion helps people deal with difficulties in their lives. He agrees it is not rational to believe there are invisible gods but says that in the rational world of no gods the help people sometimes need would not be there.

While I have read only an interview with Asma and not read his book, his case is that in a crisis people instinctively pray.  This ignores the training people receive from their culture. That is, parents and other adults teach children a god is there somewhere to help them. Those parents learned the same thing from their parents. Asma seems to agree the prayer and god are a form of reality avoidance but, he claims, reality avoidance is helpful and necessary.

He says further that while it may be possible for those with an intellectual background to cope without a god such is not available to poor and less educated people. How does he know such a thing?

In this country we are bombarded with so much god we do not know whether or how the vast public would cope without it. I've been among atheists for long enough to know of illnesses, deaths and other crisis' that were seen through without a god.  Asma says is necessary but he does not explain why only some people need it. This suggests to me most everyone could do without a if they were not trained from birth to think there is a god.

Telling people who are in a crisis there is a god does them no favor unless one can prove it is true.