What The World Thinks Of God.....

[atiguhya padma]

There is a programme on BBC2 tonight (Wed 26th) at 9 pm entitled What the World Thinks of God. The BBC has used up some of its precious budget to ask 10,000 people in 10 countries across the world how relevant God is to the modern world. (And they didn't ask me!!! Can you believe it???)

Anyway, I think it only fair, that the BBC does a follow-up called What God Thinks of the World. It might take up a much vaster amount of their budget though.

I'll try to give my usual unbiased assessment of the situation tomorrow evening.

Atiguhya Padma

[knives]

he he he.

[bbq13]

One thing I have no worry about is whether God exists. But it has occurred to me that God has Alzheimer's and has forgotten we exist... I don't spend much time thinking about whether God exists. I don't consider that a relevant question. It's unanswerable and irrelevant to my life, so I put it in the category of things I can't worry about...

[atiguhya padma]

That's an interesting view bbq13. It was one more or less expressed on the programme, and one I feel I have a lot f common ground with.

Sister Wendy Beckett said on this programme, that she thought words are useless when it comes to talking about God. I thought that was admirable. She then went on to moan, and harp on about what can and cannot be said about God. I mean, Sister Wendy Beckett is a nun and an art historian. She really should have stood up after the 'words are useless' contribution, and walked out of the studio, thereby making her point. Like I have said before, people's behaviour often says more about what they believe, than their speech.

Some of the stats in this programme were interesting:

46% in UK believe in God compared to somewhere around 90% in the US (Star Blue I feel so sorry for you!!:))

85% of Muslims would die for their faith, against 59% of Christians. Although I would say it is easy to declare that, much harder to do it.

52% of people in UK find suffering makes belief in God difficult.

85% of US citizens believe in a Creator as opposed to 52% of Brits.

Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate, believed that Christianity was essential in UK to Empire. Loss of empire = loss of Christian faith.

Imran Khan thought God was everything. I think this is really silly. Especially when I'm wiping dog faeces off my shoes. He also found it difficult to understand how people in the UK could show dissent against war, when for him fairness = religious faith, and religious faith is in decline here. Another very silly notion.

Jonathan Miller, an atheist, said he didn't know what people meant when they talked of God. (I think he's not the only one, most Christians, Muslims etc don't seem to know what they're talking about either).

A leading rabbi from New York, whose name escapes me, thought that the God of the OT was a God of unconditional and free-giving love!! Yeah?? Really??

Stephen Berkoff seemed to believe in God because of a packet of seeds that bore fruit when he least expected it!

Sandi Tostvig felt that God was real for her because she has met so many people she has known in the the most unexpected places. Someone need to talk to her about the 6 degrees of separation effect, I think!

Ariel Dorfman believes in angels because of inexplicable experiences. They must still be inexplicable, because he never mentions them. And quite honestly, the existence of angels is pretty much inexplicable too. I'm Ariel will find it easier to explain his experiences, than to explain the existence of angels.

57% of Americans were encouraged to believe by people outside the family unit. 29% of Brits.

78% of Americans study religious texts, 42% of Brits. Hindus pray most (85%), followed by Muslims (83%), then Christians (65%). Even 29% of atheists pray.

[bbq13]

most muslims are prepared to die for their faith because thats exactly what their faith is all about - dying for allah... christians don't believe they have to die for god. yhey think they simple must live a life like that of christ's... the only creator i know of is us. people create people, we multiply. we keep on going because we keep on 'creating' the next generation. god is not a creator. people created the idea of god at some point. a point in time when people were weak and helpless. i guess they did this to give themselves something to hold on to...

[atiguhya padma]

yeah. you are probably right. I reckon it's not just something to hold onto though. God was created to explain the inexplicable. With a multitude of inexplicables in the lives of early man, it was much easier to postulate a single inexplicable that could explain all the other inexplicables. Even today, people use the idea of God to explain all kinds of thngs that seem otherwise inexplicable. Look at what people like Sandi Tostvig and Ariel Dorfman have said. The problem, of course, is that one inexplicable thing cannot possibly explain another. It's just the act of drawing a line in an infinite regress, postulating a beginning, a starting point. Science faces the same problem. I've never been convinced that the explanation of where the Big Bang came from is any more comprehensible than the Christian's explanation of where God came from. Of course, our Universe provides evidence that reduces to the Big Bang, and doesn't provide evidence that reduces to God. But still, the question of where both came from seems to be answered in a similarly unsatisfactory way.

[Lara]

Those are some interesting stats. Were the comparisons done mostly then between UK and the US? Being a neighbor to the US the percentage doesn't surprise me. I believe their religion and patriotism go hand-in-hand.

It also amazes me the organizations out there who twist Christianty and uitlise it to their own advantage, preaching the word of God, ostracizing those who don't conform to their way, oh wait, I think that applies to all of society, religious or not.

Personally, I guess you could call me a hypocrite. I have struggled with my thoughts on God, not sure whether I believe or not. I was never baptised. (I guess I'm going to hell). I went to church a few times when I was growing up trying to discover the wonder of religion. I got married in a church, a union approved of in the eyes of God. When my daughter was born 11 weeks prematurely, I prayed. I don't believe God saved her. I believe it was modern technology and science, but I thanked Him, just in case. At the moment, I call myself an atheist, because I believe our lives are not controlled by some outside source. (Except for maybe the controlling corrupt governments of society). Like any effort we make, you get what you put into it. Like bbq13, I guess it's one of those things I don't worry about. It isn't worth that effort. I don't berate those who believe in God, as long as they use it as a comfort, a source to fuel their strength to get through personal hardships. I can't stand being preached at, someone trying to enforce their beliefs on others is infuriating, and in my opinion, using those beliefs to harm others is wrong, wrong, wrong. People who won't allow their child to have a life saving blood transfusion, a child who is not old enough to make the choice to live, sickens me. That is like playing God. Nobody has a right to do that. I'm starting to get emotional here.

Well, I'm sure someone will have an opinion against mine. It's only my opinon after all. We are all entitled to our opinions. Bring it on!

Cheers,
Lara

[Lara]

bbq13 said,
<people created the idea of god at some point.>

Good point. Has anyone ever considered that 'someone' has to have written the Bible? Please don't tell me the Book just magically appeared. The words of God encrypted themselves onto the pages.

[imthefoolonthehill]

well, the Bible claims something like that... "in the beginning there was the word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God"

At least... I think thats what it says... somewhere in John. Ask SHea... she probably knows.

[Polskatomek]

Many of you, especially Lara and bbq13 are fairly ignorant on the topic of God and the bible

"bbq13 said,
<people created the idea of god at some point.>

Good point. Has anyone ever considered that 'someone' has to have written the Bible? Please don't tell me the Book just magically appeared. The words of God encrypted themselves onto the pages."

Please do not talk of things you know nothing about. This is a literature forum; one would think that you could take a more scholarly approach to these ideas.

Let me enlighten you a little on how the bible was written (through MANY different sources, from MANY different parts of the western and middle eastern world) most of whom somehow came to adopt VERY similar ideas and notions of God. If there is a God, he had to have made himself known to people at SOME point, therefore through revelations and theophanies he enlightened cultures and societies when he thought fit, (hence the notion of prophets). You cannot deny the influence, longevity, and credibility of these idealogies... the least of which is our modern dating system - it is based on the birth of the supposed human form of the ever-elusive God. If this did not have an astounding and profound effect on human-kind, why would the way we orient ourselves in time be carried on, and adopted by virtually the whole world?

People must learn to detach their belief ( or in this case un-belief) system from the immediate and physical world. Just because our present day society is cynical and fixed on materialism and things which can be empirically proven, does not mean there is a transcendental reality which works above this. There is much evidence supporting this spiritual existence. How do you explain the Fatima miracles, which manifested themselves fairly recently in our common era? Do you have the naivity to reject them by saying they were a consequence of mass hysteria.... this does not make much sense based on the writings of researchers and historians.