Will We be Sorry When we Leave Faith Behind


An article in the Salt Lake City newspaper reviewed two books on the effects of religion on individuals. One book, written by secular academics, concluded leaving religion behind was not harmful. The other, written from the point of view of Mormonism, concluded religious people are happier. There was also discussion about "finding purpose in life" and similar topics. 

The book written by academics predicted the decline in religion will continue while the other book said it's possible religion could come back. The latter agreed is might not. In reality, there is no way to know what the future will bring. The current trend is for a decline in the current form of Christianity--people increasingly are not identifying with faiths or denominations. 

While speculation about the future of religion is, to some degree, a fool's errand, it's fun to dabble in it. What I don't understand is how could people who have left the faith buy back into it? I know there are widely publicized individual cases where people say they were atheists and then returned to become religious but how did this happen? Why were they atheists? 

Personally, I've never known anyone who found the Bible to be a myth who then came to believe it is not a myth. That is not to say there are no such people. It's that without knowing the inner lives of people who reverse their views of the Bible it is not possible to understand them.

The book written from a Mormon point of view noted the often-sited surveys which show Christians are "happier than non Christians." When I went to church, I recall sermons and songs with the theme, "I am so happy to be a Christian." If one went to a gathering of atheists there are no songs or sermons instructing you to be happy. If you asked a specific question, "Are you happy you are an atheist?" the resounding answer would be yes. If you asked the same room of atheists "Are you happy?" you would get questions back. "What do you mean by happy?" "Do you mean happy all the time, most of the time or some of the time?" 

In other countries right now are Christians being killed because they refuse to become Hindu or Muslim. It makes no more sense to ask an atheist to become a Christian than to ask a Christian to become a Hindu.





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