ribit:
Re: “...if ya only believe in God when ya need him what is ya?”
Religion is defined as 'the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.'
Notice that it is the belief in AND worship of God. Thus, if you believe in God but don't worship, you aren't religious. Nor are you religious if, like OCU, you worship but do not believe.
I expect that what's more common in a crisis than non-believers converting is for people who DO believe in God but don't worship Him abruptly finding religion. I see nothing odd in that. It makes sense. A man caught in quicksand and sinking would probably beg zzfart for help if he wandered by - even if he didn't give two whits for zz at any other time.
It's pretty weird, though, for a person who doesn't believe in God at all to suddenly find him when a crisis strikes. Why God? Why not Thor or Apollo? Well, it's obviously our culture. I don't hear of atheists in Iran suddenly finding God (and not Allah) when they're about to have their heads chopped off. Doesn't happen. In that culture, Allah is the one that everyone is always told will one day reward them. Allah becomes the straw for which condemned men grasp.
In our culture, why would atheists suddenly believe in God but not in leprechauns or faeries, though? I can only surmise it's because, deny it though they might, some part of them has believed in or considered the possibility of God all along. When desperate, people will grasp at anything.
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