Religion’s Failure

Ironically, a leading cause of atheism is religion. Historian Alister McGrath explains: “What propels people toward atheism is above all a sense of revulsion against the excesses and failures of organized religion.” Religion is often seen as a factor behind wars and violence. An atheist and philosopher named Michel Onfray muses on how it is possible that the same religious book could inspire two types of men, one “aspiring to saintliness,” the other “carrying out an act of inhuman cruelty”​—terrorism.

Many people have bitter memories of their involvement with religion. During his military service, Bertil, a young Swedish man, heard the army chaplain justifying violence by referring to Jesus’ warning that those who took the sword would perish by the sword. The chaplain reasoned that there must be somebody to wield that sword, so the soldier must be a servant of God!​—Matthew 26:52.a

Bernadette, whose father was killed in France during the second world war, remembers feeling outraged by the words of the priest at the funeral of her three-year-old cousin: “God has called this child to be an angel.” Bernadette later gave birth to a disabled child, and she received no comfort from the church on that score either.

Ciarán, who grew up against the backdrop of the violence in Northern Ireland, was repulsed by the doctrine of hellfire. He used to declare that he hated any God responsible for such wickedness and challenged God, if He existed, to strike him down. Ciarán is not alone in his revulsion for such harsh church teachings. In fact, church dogma may have helped prepare the way for the theory of evolution. According to Alister McGrath, it was Darwin’s “visceral distaste” for the doctrine of hellfire​—not his belief in evolution—​that raised doubts in his mind about the existence of God. McGrath also notes Darwin’s “deep grief over the death of his daughter.”

For some, the practice of religion is synonymous with mindlessness and fanaticism. Irina, who was disgusted with empty religious sermons and repetitive litanies, relates: “It seemed to me that religious people did not think.” Louis, repelled by the acts of barbarity perpetrated by religious fanatics, took a more radical position: “After showing me its boring face for years, religion now revealed to me its hideous face. I became aggressively opposed to all religion.”

Further Causes of Disbelief

Many are taught that evolution is an established fact. Anila, for example, was educated in atheistic Albania. “In school, we were taught that to believe in God was naive and backward,” she relates. “I regularly learned wonderful things about plants and organic life, but I attributed everything to evolution, since this made us look as if we were in harmony with scientific thinking.” She admits today that the “proofs that were given had to be accepted blindly.”

A sense of bitterness may pose an obstacle to some. Jehovah’s Witnesses often encounter this attitude when they go from door to door, offering hope from the Bible. Bertil, mentioned earlier, received such a visit from a young Witness. Bertil remembers saying to himself: ‘Poor fanatic. You have come to the wrong place!’ He says: “I let him in and began to vent my indignation concerning God, the Bible, and religion.”

Gus, from Scotland, was troubled by injustice. Initially, he was very argumentative and challenging during discussions with Jehovah’s Witnesses. He asked questions that were reminiscent of those of the Hebrew prophet Habakkuk, who said to God: “Why is it that you make me see what is hurtful, and you keep looking upon mere trouble?”​—Habakkuk 1:3.

God’s seeming indifference to wickedness has also long troubled humans. (Psalm 73:2, 3) Simone de Beauvoir, a French writer, once said: “It was easier for me to think of a world without a creator than of a creator loaded with all the contradictions of the world.”

“WHEN I thought about the possibility of a Creator, it made me angry to think that someone might have the power to prevent human suffering but was not prepared to use it!” Thus said one former atheist who lost family members in the Holocaust. He was hardly alone in feeling as he did.

When faced with atrocities, many find it difficult to believe in God, or they seek solace in the idea that God does not exist.