Why is religion and spirituality such an emotional topic for so many? If you frequently get into conversations about religion, I am sure you have noticed the conversation can get emotionally charged pretty quickly. That is probably why the old adage says that it is not wise to talk about religion and politics in polite company. In my last post, I explored whether or not there is truly a tension between having faith and being a rational person. In this post, I am going to explore what different emotional factors can contribute to someone’s belief or disbelief in religious matters and how we need to be sensitive to these factors in our lives and the lives of others. I am first going to be delving into the emotional factors that could lead someone to be religious and then I will discuss emotional factors that could cause someone to reject religion.
I believe two main emotional factors really pull people towards religion. Those two factors are a greater sense of purpose and a greater sense of belonging. I am sure there are other factors that I am missing, but in my experience, these two factors seem to largely contribute to the emotional pull of religion. Religion certainly brings with it a sense of purpose and a structured way to look at the world. In my experience as a Christian, I can attest to this. As a Christian, I view life in a few ways. I view life as a divine mission from God. I view life as a battle between good and evil. I don’t view life and its events as the result of pure luck and randomness, but rather I view life and its events as ultimately under the control of an all-wise, all-good, all-powerful being. Personally, this view infuses every aspect of life with meaning and purpose. This view gives me much comfort and assurance when life takes a downward turn. Now, I know probably at this point what my skeptical readers are thinking. How could you believe that a good God would allow such evil and suffering to exist in the world? I promise, I will address that subject in a future blog post, but for me personally, the sovereignty and goodness of God is a comfort during hard times.
Religion also brings with it a sense of belonging. One of the really powerful pulls of religion is the sense of belonging to a community that it can often bring. Religion, throughout history, has been key in helping civilizations develop different cultures and customs and have been a key uniting force in different communities and cultures. Personally, as someone who has been raised in the church, I can again attest to the sense of belonging and community that religion can bring. I have been part of several churches that feel like a close, tight-knit, family. I have contemplated what would the results be if I ever ended up deconverting from my faith. One of the results I am sure would be hurt and disappointment from the many family and friends that are committed and devoted Christians. I suspect that for many who grew up in the church and left, one of the hardest aspects of leaving is disappointing friends and family.
I believe two emotional factors can cause someone to pull away from religion. Those two emotional factors would be abuse of religion and a sense of freedom that comes from being able to determine one’s own worldview and moral compass. While religion has been a great force for good for society, it has also resulted in division, bloodshed, and war. On an individual level, many people have suffered abuse in religious environments. Recently I have been listening to the PreacherBoys Podcast which details a lot of abuse that has happened in the denomination I grew up in. When people experience abuse in a religious environment, it is not difficult to see why they would leave religion altogether. Many of the deconstruction stories I have heard, detail mistreatment and abuse at the hands of other Christians. That is a powerful reminder for us that how we treat people has a huge impact. As Christians, if we treat others badly, it very well could impact the faith of others negatively.
Abuse of course is not the only emotional reason why one could be pulled away from religion. The other reason of course could be the sense of freedom of not being bound by any religious principles. Without adhering to religion, one has the freedom to navigate moral and philosophical issues without having to adhere to a particular framework that is already laid out for them. Of course, as we eventually delve into, without religion, the logical foundation that morals and such rest upon are destroyed but that is a topic we will explore later. Nonetheless, undoubtedly there is a certain sense of freedom that can be a pull away from religion. There is a sense not only probably of freedom to navigate the moral landscape on one’s own, but also a sense of owning one’s own life completely.
You may be asking, but I thought this was going to be a blog about the Bible? What has this to do with the larger purpose of your blog in exploring whether or not the Bible is God’s Word? My hope in detailing how emotions can pull us towards or against religion is to show that is not just an academic/intellectual issue. Our experiences with religion and religious people can greatly influence us towards or away from religion. As I will be taking a more academic look at a lot of issues concerning the Bible, I thought it important for my readers and myself to try to be cognizant of why we might be emotionally pulled one direction or the other and to encourage us to try our best to not let our good or bad experiences with religion taint our intellectual pursuit of what is true. I realize that there are probably a whole host of other reasons that pull us towards or away from religion. I just wanted to look at a few reasons that I believe have major sway. Next post, I will look at an issue that is very much related to this post. Reader beware, politics will be the subject of my next post. After that post, I plan on finally delving into the subject of how the Bible got started about 3,000 years ago.
