A .study has found that atheists and agnostics reported more anger at God during their lifetimes than believers. In the two-year study of 5472 US university students, two out of every three respondents reported being angry with the Judeo-Christian God.
Younger people tended to be angrier than older people. About half of those feeling resentment towards God said those feelings were prompted by a particular distressing event ranging from the death of a loved one to not being picked for a sporting team.
Self-declared atheists, according to the study, not only reported getting angry at God, but reported higher levels of anger than that experienced by believers. We are clearly complex characters not defined by the categories we choose to belong to.
As writer C.S. Lewis said, some atheists are angry with God for not existing. “Many people experience anger toward God,” said one of the study’s psychologists, Julie Exline. “Even people who deeply love and respect God can become angry. Just as people become upset or angry with others, including loved ones, they can also become angry with God.”
Some people, even those who claimed to be non-believers, saw God as ultimately responsible for tragic or disappointing events, and became angry when they viewed God’s intentions as cruel or uncaring.
The study reveals a human desire to find someone to blame for the existence of evil and tragedy. There’s a very deep, human impulse to want magic, to have some control over the universe, to make it bend to our will.
That’s not a Christian understanding of the divine. God is not an object of human magic. “It’s clear that people get angry at God and at other people for the same types of reasons,” said Exline. “They didn’t get what they wanted, and it’s the other guy’s fault. People may benefit from reflecting more closely on the situation and how they see God’s role in it.”
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