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Anger at God

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Laura:
At God We Rage: Anger at the Almighty Found to Be Common

If you've ever responded to tragedy by raging at God, you're not alone. A new study finds that anger at God is a common emotion among Americans.

The anger often stems from the belief that God is responsible for bad experiences, according to the research, which is published in the January issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. But anger isn't an indication that someone is turning his or her back on God, said study researcher and Case Western Reserve University psychologist Julie Exline.

Religious rage

Exline and her colleagues collected data on people's feelings toward God from five separate studies. Two studies asked undergraduate students to reflect on negative experiences in their lives and how those experiences made them feel about God. Another was a 1988 national survey that asked people if they had ever been angry at God. The final two studies asked similar questions of both people who had recently lost a loved one and people with cancer.

The participants spanned many religious traditions, but Christians predominated in all groups.

The 1988 survey revealed that 62 percent of people were sometimes angry at God. Women, people who were more highly educated and younger individuals all showed a slightly greater tendency toward God-directed anger. White people were more likely than black people to report such religious anger, and Jews and Catholics were slightly more angry than Protestants.

People achieved peace with God as they aged, the survey showed, with older people reporting less anger at God than younger people. That result was echoed in the studies of undergraduates, bereaved people and cancer patients, Exline found.

Among college students, 87 percent of believers reported feeling negative emotions about God after a personal setback or loss. Forty percent of grieving people reported anger at God. In both groups, however, positive feelings about God outweighed negative emotions.

Why the anger?

Even those who didn't believe in God were sometimes angry at the deity. College students and bereaved people who were atheist or agnostic reported more anger at God than religious people in the same demographics. The findings don't contradict the participants' agnostic or atheist beliefs, either: The study asked people about past experiences, and many atheists and agnostics had stories of anger dating from their religious pasts. Many of the study questions also asked atheists and agnostics to imagine their feelings toward a hypothetical god.

"It's probably not best with some of the studies that we did to try to compare the believers and the non-believers," Exline said. "The believers are talking about a God they think is real, and people who aren't believers are talking about an idea" based on cultural conceptions of God, she said.

People tended to become angry at God when they saw God as personally responsible for negative events and when they saw the deity's intentions as cruel. In that way, people relate to God much as they do to other people.

On the other hand, many people stayed positive about God even in the face of tragedy, especially people who viewed God as fundamentally kind. Other research has found that prayer can provide an emotional reprieve for victims of domestic violence. Religious belief is also associated with happiness.

How anger changes

By following up with the cancer patients a year after they were initially surveyed, the researchers were able to get a preliminary glimpse of how anger at God changes over time. Unsurprisingly, the angry feelings tended to match up with a patient's general level of mental distress. More distress was linked to more anger at God, Exline found. It isn't clear whether the anger caused the distress, the distress caused the anger, or some other factor caused both. What does seem clear is that a passing anger at God is nothing to be alarmed about, regardless of how theologically troubling some people find such emotions.

"We get mad at people every day," Exline said. "Usually it passes, and then it's probably not going to affect your mood or your mental health all that much. But when it turns into a grudge ... that's where anger tends to become more of a problem for people. It's the same sort of thing with anger toward God."

Exline emphasizes that the research is preliminary, and she is recruiting participants to complete online surveys about their feelings toward God at her research website. She hopes to answer the question of how anger toward God influences people's decisions to believe or not believe. She's also researching how people cope with their negative feelings about God.

agni:
Well, it's always easier to blame someone else other then yourself, or perhaps someone who can't openly turn on you (like people). I can see how people can use rage at God for misfortunes.

I did not understand, why the hell I have so much troubled life as a teen, I did not do any bad to anyone, was friendly, helping, open hearted (all questionable). I was upset that "bad" animal like people seem to have more or less comfortable life. It just did not make any sense why would God not stand behind me, but seem to keep them in a good shape. It did not make sense, so it had turned me against God, because I have though I am talking to wrong one. And it was not just only about me, other people who I considered kind-harted had a tough life as well. I found it very unjust.

Besides, I wanted to be opposition to what I considered a biblical poser, which people so much admired, claimed to follow & live up, while acting contradictory to beliefs they preach.

Later of course, I figured out, that I do not do any particular good to anyone or anything either, so why would I be treated special, alongside with a thought possibility that may be it's not how God operates, and it's not only about behaving "good" and doing "good deeds". And a thought, what if this is all a God's some kind of test, to see if I break under social influence & change path to become "just like the people I despise" for own safety sake. And finally, perhaps God knows what to do better then me.

Only now I see that all these tough times seem more or less a blessing. It's unfortunate & traumatic to experience this at time, but I see it as early introduction to Pathological Society 101. And to tell you the truth, it probably sounds insane, but if I to re-live a life again, I would probably choose to go through these things again for the reasons above. There is no better way to get acquainted with pathology, then experience it on own butt. IMHO.

So yeah, I think I can account for the statement that with age anger with God seem to transform. Because now, I am not angry at God/Universe at all !

jhonny:
This topic reminds me of when my mother was diagnosed cancer, the first words of my father were: "Why God made me this if I am a good man and my wife is a good woman?" This moment was crucial for me because since that time I began my search for God and explanations to those thoughts.
this is the result of the influence of the monotheistic religions and teaching in schools.



 

Buddy:

The same people who are indoctrinated with the God concept are also generally indoctrinated with the Satan or Devil concept, right? So where is anger at the devil? Is it because people believe the Devil is down-on-Earth-and in-your-face and therefore too scary to challenge, while God is way-up-there?

Yeah, I know, the study didn't ask those questions...

Interesting that the supposed 'good guy' always catches the flak.

venusian:

--- Quote from: Laura on January 06, 2011, 12:12:21 PM ---
Even those who didn't believe in God were sometimes angry at the deity.


--- End quote ---

 :scared:

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