Non-believers call on God when faced with a crisis - despite insisting they're not religious

A new survey has revealed that one in four non-believers pray when confronted by tough times - despite insisting they are not religious.

For atheists and agnostics, personal crisis or tragedy is the most common reason for them to resort to prayer, with a quarter admitting they pray for comfort or to feel less lonely.

Church attendance in the Great Britain dropped from 6.5 million to just over 3 million between 1980 and 2015, according to the website Faith Survey.

However, more than half of all adults in the UK pray regularly despite only one in three praying in a place of worship, according to a poll carried out by ComRes on behalf of the Christian aid agency, Tearfund.

A third of people pray in the morning or before they go to sleep. People are also increasingly likely to solicit support from God while cooking or exercising.

And one in five pray while doing household chores while 15 per cent pray while they commute.

However, of those who pray less than half think God actually hears them - a slim majority.

Of the varied subjects of prayers, family tops the list. More than 70 per cent of prayers mention family.

A strong 42 per cent of prayers thanked God, while 40 per cent asked for healing and another 40 per cent included mention of friends

We should not be surprised by these recent findings, which reflect human longing for the mystery and love of God amid experiences of daily life,' told Rachel Treweek, bishop of Gloucester to The Guardian.

Chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury, Isabelle Hamley, said prayer is 'primarily a line of communication with God – thinking, reflecting, bringing one's concerns and worries into a bigger picture'

Ruth Valerio of Tearfund suggested prayer was still important to the lives of people in the UK.

She said: 'While it is often easier to pray for issues closer to home, we want to encourage people to continue to engage with global issues and pray for an end to extreme poverty.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5267485/A-quarter-non-believers-pray-faced-crisis.html

Feeling a bit abit more religious today, are you SmellyDumbFuck...

Why is it that you racist fascist sexist twats are so big on the faux_religious bullshit front, as well..

Is it because you know what a disgusting and worthless little slimy maggot's turd you are,  you're desperate enough to have a bet each way --  "just in case"  ?

There's nothing wrong with Smelly's post. Why are some of the "men" on here so nasty? Try making an intelligent post Wolfboy.

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

Feeling a bit abit more religious today, are you SmellyDumbFuck...

Why is it that you racist fascist sexist twats are so big on the faux_religious bullshit front, as well..

Is it because you know what a disgusting and worthless little slimy maggot's turd you are,  you're desperate enough to have a bet each way --  "just in case"  ?

Tut tut

It's you atheists who are closest case God botherers.

Ever heard the saying "there are no atheists in a foxhole"

On your knees and prepare to pay homage

smelly-bandit wrote:

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

Feeling a bit abit more religious today, are you SmellyDumbFuck...

Why is it that you racist fascist sexist twats are so big on the faux_religious bullshit front, as well..

Is it because you know what a disgusting and worthless little slimy maggot's turd you are,  you're desperate enough to have a bet each way --  "just in case"  ?

Tut tut

It's you atheists who are closest case God botherers.

Ever heard the saying "there are no atheists in a foxhole"

On your knees and prepare to pay homage

Many athiests have gone to their death not fearing death, nor needing to pray.

The fact that 3 out of 4 proves that.

The 1 in 4, clearly are thus not athiests

Quite simple really

Raggamuffin wrote:There's nothing wrong with Smelly's post. Why are some of the "men" on here so nasty? Try making an intelligent post Wolfboy.

Did you just assume their gender??

smelly-bandit wrote:

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

Feeling a bit abit more religious today, are you SmellyDumbFuck...

Why is it that you racist fascist sexist twats are so big on the faux_religious bullshit front, as well..

Is it because you know what a disgusting and worthless little slimy maggot's turd you are,  you're desperate enough to have a bet each way --  "just in case"  ?

Tut tut

It's you atheists who are closest case God botherers.

Ever heard the saying "there are no atheists in a foxhole"

On your knees and prepare to pay homage

What "atheists",  Smelly  ???      Who are you calling an "atheist", anyway..

What makes you think that all of your detractors are automatically "atheists"  --  don't you know that proper "atheists" are in the minority in this world..

What about agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, animists, spiritualists, Taoists,  Jedi Knights, Mormons, B'hai b'rith, etc.  etc. etc..

smelly-bandit wrote:

Raggamuffin wrote:There's nothing wrong with Smelly's post. Why are some of the "men" on here so nasty? Try making an intelligent post Wolfboy.

Did you just assume their gender??

They might want to be gender-neutral.

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

smelly-bandit wrote:

Tut tut

It's you atheists who are closest case God botherers.

Ever heard the saying "there are no atheists in a foxhole"

On your knees and prepare to pay homage

What "atheists",  Smelly  ???      Who are you calling an "atheist", anyway..

What makes you think that all of your detractors are automatically "atheists"  --  don't you know that proper "atheists" are in the minority in this world..

What about agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, animists, spiritualists, Taoists,  Jedi Knights, Mormons, B'hai b'rith, etc.  etc. etc..

No

You're an atheist

Raggamuffin wrote:

smelly-bandit wrote:

Did you just assume their gender??

They might want to be gender-neutral.

Half way there.

Most of the men on here haven't got a pair of balls to start with.

smelly-bandit wrote:

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:


What "atheists",  Smelly  ???      Who are you calling an "atheist", anyway..

What makes you think that all of your detractors are automatically "atheists"  --  don't you know that proper "atheists" are in the minority in this world..

What about agnostics, Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, animists, spiritualists, Taoists,  Jedi Knights, Mormons, B'hai b'rith, etc.  etc. etc..

No

You're an atheist

You really are so full of shit,  Herr Komrad SmellyDumbKlutski...

Who told you that I'm an "atheist"  --  those little voices in your head,  was it   ?

It could be that people are not religious ie the do not follow any particular religious dogma but may believe in a higher power, on the other hand many would have had religion in their lives at some point and in times of stress call on god.
To be sure you'd need to find someone with out knowledge of or exposure to any religion and put them in a stressful position and see if they call on god. There seems to be a need in humans to cling on to something for reassurance or to blame or placate, if not a single god then multiple gods or forces of nature. Having been brought up in a religious family and community I find it difficult not to have anything except myself to rely on, a sort of old habits thing, yet I can't believe there is some loving father god watching over such suffering in this world. I know the usual answer is free will etc. and we should live by the instructions in our holy books, well many have and look where that gets us, why such books, if inspired by such a being, can be so open to various intepretations is beyond me surely such a being could have made things much plainer, although perhaps they did and following generations have addded and twisted the instructions to suit their own agenda. Reading the couple of holy books  I've managed so far, and reading a bit about the others is a bit like reading modern multilingual instructions for pre packed furniture. - confusing and its easier to figure it out yourself.

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

smelly-bandit wrote:

No

You're an atheist

You really are so full of shit,  Herr Komrad SmellyDumbKlutski...

Who told you that I'm an "atheist"  --  those little voices in your head,  was it   ?

You did

To clarify, wolf has never stated he is an athiest and has stated quite clearly he is not.

Vintage wrote:It could be that people are not religious ie the do not follow any particular religious dogma but may believe in a higher power, on the other hand many would have had religion in their lives at some point and in times of stress call on god.
To be sure you'd need to find someone with out knowledge of or exposure to any religion and put them in a stressful position and see if they call on god. There seems to be a need in humans to cling on to something for reassurance or to blame or placate, if not a single god then multiple gods or forces of nature. Having been brought up in a religious family and community I find it difficult not to have anything except myself to rely on, a sort of old habits thing, yet I can't believe there is some loving father god watching over such suffering in this world. I know the usual answer is free will etc. and we should live by the instructions in our holy books, well many have and look where that gets us, why such books, if inspired by such a being, can be so open to various intepretations is beyond me surely such a being could have made things much plainer, although perhaps they did and following generations have addded and twisted the instructions to suit their own agenda. Reading the couple of holy books  I've managed so far, and reading a bit about the others is a bit like reading modern multilingual instructions for pre packed furniture. - confusing and its easier to figure it out yourself.

Interesting and you are right, that they should look at people in situations.

I know they have done studies on people with terminal illnesses.

I have researched many religions, and once was religious. They basically make all religious people athiests towards all other religions anyway.

The reality is around fear and if this controls people facing death.

Many terminal have time to come to terms with this, yet I guess in combat, its up close and very personal the reality of death.

To me, if there is life after death, which i do not discount, it has nothing to do with any of the man made religions.

Personally to me, when we die, I think that is it and hence, what is their left to fear? Its going to happen and there is nothing, any of us can do about it and thus see no point worrying about it, I have accepted this will happen and do not fear death.

Hence to enjoy life

I don't believe in God but, I must admit I do say oh God no, when hearing something that's not nice.

magica wrote:I don't believe in God but, I must admit I do say oh God no, when hearing something that's not nice.

Do you ever say "oh unicorns and dragons, no" when hearing something that's not nice??

magica wrote:I don't believe in God but, I must admit I do say oh God no, when hearing something that's not nice.

Its simple part of the language and does not mean you are religious..

People say the same and say " Jesus Christ" when they are shocked. No idea how and why its come to be that way in the language and would be interesting to understand why it has become such an expression.

smelly-bandit wrote:

magica wrote:I don't believe in God but, I must admit I do say oh God no, when hearing something that's not nice.

Do you ever say "oh unicorns and dragons, no" when hearing something that's not nice??

I might

Didge wrote:

magica wrote:I don't believe in God but, I must admit I do say oh God no, when hearing something that's not nice.

Its simple part of the language and does not mean you are religious..

People say the same and say " Jesus Christ" when they are shocked. No idea how and why its come to be that way in the language and would be interesting to understand why it has become such an expression.

Exactly Didge.

Didge wrote:

magica wrote:I don't believe in God but, I must admit I do say oh God no, when hearing something that's not nice.

Its simple part of the language and does not mean you are religious..

People say the same and say " Jesus Christ" when they are shocked. No idea how and why its come to be that way in the language and would be interesting to understand why it has become such an expression.

Exactly Didge. It comes from the times when religion was all important I think. They prayed a lot in Tudor times, and used these expressions, except they were really believing they were asking God.

magica wrote:

Didge wrote:

Its simple part of the language and does not mean you are religious..

People say the same and say " Jesus Christ" when they are shocked. No idea how and why its come to be that way in the language and would be interesting to understand why it has become such an expression.

Exactly Didge. It comes from the times when religion was all important I think.  They prayed a lot in Tudor times, and used these expressions, except they were really believing they were asking God.

I think maybe some people who don't believe in religion believe in something....I know I do but I cant quite put my finger on what.
Everyone needs to grab a bit of comfort in times of need, its the same as people when attending funerals hope, just hope, that the loved one they are seeing off might be going to a better place....maybe.

Exactly Syl.

I believe in spirit, therefore I know life goes on. It's my thing, but I understand its not for everyone.

by the great serpent Smelly is an ass clown

Most atheists were raised in a religion -- I was raised Christian and made to pray as a child. I grew to find it comforting.

Regardless of your beliefs or lack thereof, in times of crisis you turn to things that comfort you. It's just natural.

Ben Reilly wrote:Most atheists were raised in a religion -- I was raised Christian and made to pray as a child. I grew to find it comforting.

Regardless of your beliefs or lack thereof, in times of crisis you turn to things that comfort you. It's just natural.

So you really are not an athiest then

Is an agnostic a non believer or religious?

Maddog wrote:Is an agnostic a non believer or religious?  

a true agnostic believes that, we don't know due to lack of data to make an informed analysis.

Agnostics are not really 'religious' as by definition they are not an organised religion of singular theological expression.
but some of the most 'Spiritual' people would be classed as agnostics

I consider myself a 'Polytheist Agnostic'. Firmly of the view that; we don't know due to lack of data, but based on the data on the universe we do have, if there is a 'god/divinity' then they is most probably multiple 'gods/divinities'

veya_victaous wrote:

Maddog wrote:Is an agnostic a non believer or religious?  

a true agnostic believes that, we don't know due to lack of data to make an informed analysis.

Agnostics are not really 'religious' as by definition they are not an organised religion of singular theological expression.
but some of the most 'Spiritual' people would be classed as agnostics

I consider myself a 'Polytheist Agnostic'. Firmly of the view that; we don't know due to lack of data, but based on the data on the universe we do have, if there is a 'god/divinity' then they is most probably multiple 'gods/divinities'

I'm agnostic-ish. I have enough doubt that I can't say I believe.

But if I was in Hawaii the other day, I may have made some half assed attempt at a prayer.

smelly-bandit wrote:

magica wrote:I don't believe in God but, I must admit I do say oh God no, when hearing something that's not nice.

Do you ever say "oh unicorns and dragons, no" when hearing something that's not nice??

Come on, Smelly. You know that cursing with god's name is force of habit, and why the same curses do not exist in cultures without a background in theistic faith.

As to yoir OP. A few atheists who may pray in desparate times are just desperate people turning to a magical last resort. It is meaningless, though sad I must say that their resolve could be broken. Still meaningless. Less an issue with agnostics since they never say never anyway.

I'm sure many a believer has questioned their faith when times are tough too. More than 25% at that.

Maddog wrote:
Is an agnostic a non believer or religious?  

A "non believer" is simply someone who doesn't believe in your particular brand of religion (or politics, or philosophy..) --  i.e.  an "infidel", or perhaps a "heathen"...

An "agnostic" is basically someone who doesn't know whether there is a "God" --  or a "universal force" or a "Gaia" or a giant spaghetti monster, for that matter  --  because they haven't yet seen any evidence to prove or disprove their existence;  but at the same time they aren't prepared to exclude that possibility merely as a matter of 'faith'..

An agnostic by definition cannot then be referred to as "religious" --  those people who try to claim that agnosticism is a 'religion' are simply demonstrating that they don't actually comprehend the meanings of those words.

Being "spiritual" is a completely different matter than being religious --  we will all have witnessed some people "wearing their religion on their sleeve" who are in no way spiritual;  while at the same time knowing others who are quite naturally spiritual in and of themselves, without following any formal religion, nor expressing any belief in religious dogma..

smelly-bandit wrote:

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:


You really are so full of shit,  Herr Komrad SmellyDumbKlutski...

Who told you that I'm an "atheist"  --  those little voices in your head,  was it   ?

You did

Only in your dreams, SmellyDumbKlutz...

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

Maddog wrote:
Is an agnostic a non believer or religious?  

A "non believer" is simply someone who doesn't believe in your particular brand of religion (or politics, or philosophy..) --  i.e.  an "infidel", or perhaps a "heathen"...

An "agnostic" is basically someone who doesn't know whether there is a "God" --  or a "universal force" or a "Gaia" or a giant spaghetti monster, for that matter  --  because they haven't yet seen any evidence to prove or disprove their existence;  but at the same time they aren't prepared to exclude that possibility merely as a matter of 'faith'..

An agnostic by definition cannot then be referred to as "religious" --  those people who try to claim that agnosticism is a 'religion' are simply demonstrating that they don't actually comprehend the meanings of those words.

Being "spiritual" is a completely different matter than being religious --  we will all have witnessed some people "wearing their religion on their sleeve" who are in no way spiritual;  while at the same time knowing others who are quite naturally spiritual in and of themselves, without following any religion nor,expressing any religious dogma..

Which is why I can see an agnostic praying in times of trouble. The don't know one way or the other, so they may figure what can it hurt?

Maddog wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:

Maddog wrote:Is an agnostic a non believer or religious?  

a true agnostic believes that, we don't know due to lack of data to make an informed analysis.

Agnostics are not really 'religious' as by definition they are not an organised religion of singular theological expression.
but some of the most 'Spiritual' people would be classed as agnostics

I consider myself a 'Polytheist Agnostic'. Firmly of the view that; we don't know due to lack of data, but based on the data on the universe we do have, if there is a 'god/divinity' then they is most probably multiple 'gods/divinities'

I'm agnostic-ish. I have enough doubt that I can't say I believe.

But if I was in Hawaii the other day, I may have made some half assed attempt at a prayer.    

I am hard-line agnostic, Cause I believe in Quantum Physics

I'd be praying to Dozens of Deities, Ancestors and even 'knocking on wood' to wake up the lucky wood spirits

Pray to "the powers that be", throw yoirself on Gaia's mercies, and hope that "the universe will provide..".