Anger at God common, even among Atheist (research paper)

It's not just religious folks, either. People unaffiliated with organized religion, atheists and agnostics also report anger toward God either in the past, or anger focused on a hypothetical image - that is, what they imagined God might be like - said lead study author Julie Exline, Case Western Reserve University psychologist.

In studies on college students, atheists and agnostics reported more anger at God during their lifetimes than believers. A separate study also found this pattern among bereaved individuals. This phenomenon is something Exline and colleagues will explore more in future research, which is open to more participants.

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Anger at God can strongly resemble feelings you may have against another person, Exline found. God may seem treacherous or cruel when bad things happen, just like another individual might. Your anger may fester even more when there's no good reason for the negative event, such as a natural disaster or a disease, to occur. And strong, longstanding negative emotions of any kind can lead to physical ailments.

Link

Why spend all the time and energy hating God if you don't believe in him? What sense does that make? It mentions that all that anger will manifest itself into physical ailments. You're only hurting yourself.

I am not so much angry at god as I am angry that I have to always hear/read about god.

As a non-believer I find the fact that people believe in things like this hurts my head.

I wouldn't expect a believer to understand....much like I don't understand.

Why would I hate a fairytale, a fictional character? I don't, rather I spend my hatred towards those who choose to spend their time brainwashing toddlers and young children. Because we all know that a grown adult free of such ridiculous notions, would never buy into their psycho babble they teach to these young kids.

reply to post by Tephra


The notion that Christians brainwash their kids is ridiculous. How can you be on this site and believe garbage like that? If you toss me a viral youtube vid imma smack you.

Originally posted by ArchIlluminatus
Why spend all the time and energy hating God if you don't believe in him? What sense does that make? It mentions that all that anger will manifest itself into physical ailments. You're only hurting yourself.

In some instances, it's just veiled hatred at another person, who happens to be a believer. I've seen that a couple of times on ATS -- someone who seems irrationally angry at all believers, and God, to boot, subsequently says something that leads to the conclusion that, whether their disbelief is legitimate or not, their anger seems to be based on their perceived mistreatment by someone (like a spouse or parent) who had strong beliefs.

Unless someone has a mental illness, strong emotions of an extreme nature usually have a real motivation behind them. When seen in that light, I guess that it's understandable, though it doesn't justify it. And, as you point out, if sustained, it's hard to see how it is a positive thing.

reply to post by RapturedNotBeamed


Are you that delusional that you believe this? It's the sad fact. It's how religion is propagated, some of my own relatives are part of the brainwashing crowd. This is reality, wake up.

So apparently this "study" was done in a predominantly "christian" society? Would the results have been different if it were conducted in a place where atheism was the majority and not theism?
I've never led my children to believe in any sort of imaginary character, not from the tooth fairy to any sort of god. I do get mad when I see children being dragged into church, dressed in their sunday finest - preparing their minds to be good followers and most importantly faithful tithers.
One of my most recent irritating events was a gentleman who does "missionary" work in Cambodia - feeding the hungry & building churches for the homeless under the guise of "helping" the locals. They procure a vast amount of money in contributions for this "work" they do. My question is - why are you worrying about kids in another country when there are hundreds of thousands in our own country? How in the sam hill can you drive right past two homeless shelters without blinking an eye, all the while preoccupied with your next airline flight to CAMBODIA to give a hungry kid a bowl of rice? Sure, I feel sorry for the cambodian kids and wish they weren't hungry or homeless - but what about the ones that live in the same town as you? Screw them? Are there any cambodian ministers that are packing their bags to fly over here to give our children anything? It's ALL because GOD TOLD THEM TO. This frightens me. Grown people, heeding the advice of an invisible being who talks to them. What if "god" suddenly decided that an icepick needed to be driven into my eye socket? Religious people are on the fringe of lunacy. Why do I think this?
Religion weakens people. It tells them they are weak, and worthless. It takes away our power of self-reliance, self-trust, and makes us think that only through it can we ever have hope.
I believe that religious people are mucking their minds up with ridiculous nonsense that isn't of any value to anything except the religion that it came from.
I'm so disgusted with it, i'm not even finishing this

reply to post by sykickvision


Lol you're just proving the study correct by your rant. Thanks

Originally posted by sykickvision
One of my most recent irritating events was a gentleman who does "missionary" work in Cambodia - feeding the hungry & building churches for the homeless under the guise of "helping" the locals.

What utter tripe. Apparently, you're a moral relativist, who thinks that people who look like him should be given a higher priority than someone who has the misfortune to live elsewhere.

Clue one: your local poor have a homeless shelter. Ever occur to you that the poor in Cambodia might not? That they live in squalor, while your local poor likely live fairly well in comparison?

Clue two: your local homeless shelter likely gets a lot of its support from local religious groups. I know that ours does here, I personally sign the check for our church's annual giving.

Clue three: what right do you think that you have to complain how other people donate their money? Maybe they should just stop giving, then you'd have less to complain about, eh?

You don't like religion, but billions of people do, and the lives of countless millions are blessed by people who lack your selfishness and narrow mindedness. The day that you have absolutely nothing, and push away an offer for help, because you don't like the beliefs of the person who is trying to help, that's the day that your opinion might have merit.