Anger at God

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.

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 !

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.

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.

Laura said:

Even those who didn't believe in God were sometimes angry at the deity.

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Even those who didn't believe in God were sometimes angry at the deity

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.

I wonder if this is because many people have the gut feeling that there is some sort of external or Cosmic influence affecting their lives and that they have no other name for it but "God"

This is along the lines of what some others have written. Perhaps people become angry at god because it's easier than taking personal responsibility for ones life? Maybe people also project their ideas of what it is to be a good person on the idea of god via their indoctrination? "If I were god, I would never do so and so!" If the idea of the devil is generally that "he" does harm so perhaps people excuse this to a large extent in their thinking because "he's" doing what we've been taught - "his" job so to speak.

This is not unlike what people do with situations concerning victims and victimizers in terms of placing blame, the only difference in this case, as I see it, being that the victim is the individual theirself as opposed to someone else. It would be interesting to see what others thoughts were about those who are angry at god. I wouldn't be surprised if those viewing these situations from the outside found themselves blaming those individuals.

So perhaps what we do is find whatever excuse we can to avoid facing responsibility as it doesn't mesh with our own thoughts of ourselves as "good" people. When it comes to the situations of others, that may depend on how well we know the persons involved or how their situation evolved when measured against what we deem as right or just (not to mention our own programs). One example of this might be is in the case where someone gets sick. I think if we have experienced the same illness, we might be more inclined to sympathize with them although even that would depend upon our own situation and how we viewed it. Someone else might not be so forgiving.

To further complicate this, god is seen as a parental figure - someone who takes care as well as punishes. People may quite often confuse their own feelings toward their parents/caregivers with god. If we are all narcissistically wounded, we may find that we have placed god in the position of being the perfect parent - the one we always wanted in a feeble attempt to right the wrongs of the past. We place ourselves in the position of the perfect child. With this setup, the wounded child maintains the illusion that nothing "bad" should ever happen. When something does as it eventually will, we feel betrayed because "we didn't do anything wrong". Placing the blame outside of us maintains the idea that we are "good" because the alternative is too painful to face so the "child" remains in its subjective world rather than face growing up to see the world more objectively.

So it would seem that the god program plays well into the hands of sts. We gladly give our control over to a savior in a childish attempt to avoid facing ourselves- as children often do.

I occasionally run into people who are angry with god and people who think god is angry with them. Sometimes they ask me for advice and I try to convince them that god is not sitting up on a cloud devising ways to make their lives difficult. Most of the problems we have are strictly manmade. Anger doesn't help solve problems and neither does guilt. Some think that they must still be making god mad if they still have problems. I help them sort through their problems and look for solutions.
There are angry people who are always looking for someone to blame.
Those who are angry with god and those who think god is angry with them are reacting to programs they have been indoctrinated with. To deviate from their programs would be blasphemy. It takes a great deal of study and soul searching to even begin to find another path. Most people look for quick and easy solutions. I have been through some difficult times and when my god program kicked in I felt really lost. Somehow I learned to look at my situations objectivity and worked my way through them. That is how I found sott.net.
I wish I was better at expressing what I have learned on this web site and by reading. I clearly need to spend more time on the forum.

truth seeker said:

Perhaps people become angry at god because it's easier than taking personal responsibility for ones life? Maybe people also project their ideas of what it is to be a good person on the idea of god via their indoctrination? "If I were god, I would never do so and so!" If the idea of the devil is generally that "he" does harm so perhaps people excuse this to a large extent in their thinking because "he's" doing what we've been taught - "his" job so to speak.

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truth seeker said:

To further complicate this, god is seen as a parental figure - someone who takes care as well as punishes. People may quite often confuse their own feelings toward their parents/caregivers with god. If we are all narcissistically wounded, we may find that we have placed god in the position of being the perfect parent - the one we always wanted in a feeble attempt to right the wrongs of the past.

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These are very good possibilities, I think.

I have, at times, felt angry at God, something that I have also mentioned here and there in other threads.
What happened in my case, was a sense of total confusion upon experiencing revolt and profound anger when witnessing or acknowledging very cruel acts.
Because witnessing such acts generated (and still does) in me very strong emotions, a certain "confusion" would reign, in that I wouldn't know how to deal with the intensity of the feelings evoked.

Not knowing how to explain things for oneself is, in general, much harder then explaining them even if in just a very poor way, so I found myself directing my strong feelings towards God, perhaps in an attempt to know whom to blame. This not only denotes an inability to acknowledge one's limitation in understanding what God is, but is also a sign of a complete lack of being able to understand one's own feelings, their roots, and their manifestations.

I'm not sure of this, but my working hypothesis is that my own unsolved past problems had created an open scar that reacted when witnessing certain things. The result of this was a misdirection of my own emotions due to my not being able to see their roots, hence the confusion, and finally anger at God.

So, I think that for some of us, unresolved pains can very well lead to the theme of this thread. Because we haven't been able to grow into a slightly more mature emotional state, we project past hurts.

For people who haven't learned how to direct their emotions to its proper source, anger at God might function as a perfect outlet.

I have heard it said.... if you are angry at God, 'You need a bigger God'. :)

Gertrudes said:

I have, at times, felt angry at God, something that I have also mentioned here and there in other threads.
What happened in my case, was a sense of total confusion upon experiencing revolt and profound anger when witnessing or acknowledging very cruel acts.
Because witnessing such acts generated (and still does) in me very strong emotions, a certain "confusion" would reign, in that I wouldn't know how to deal with the intensity of the feelings evoked.

Not knowing how to explain things for oneself is, in general, much harder then explaining them even if in just a very poor way, so I found myself directing my strong feelings towards God, perhaps in an attempt to know whom to blame. This not only denotes an inability to acknowledge one's limitation in understanding what God is, but is also a sign of a complete lack of being able to understand one's own feelings, their roots, and their manifestations.

I'm not sure of this, but my working hypothesis is that my own unsolved past problems had created an open scar that reacted when witnessing certain things. The result of this was a misdirection of my own emotions due to my not being able to see their roots, hence the confusion, and finally anger at God.

So, I think that for some of us, unresolved pains can very well lead to the theme of this thread. Because we haven't been able to grow into a slightly more mature emotional state, we project past hurts.

For people who haven't learned how to direct their emotions to its proper source, anger at God might function as a perfect outlet.

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Yes, good points. Perhaps the confusion comes from a feeling of powerlessness as you stated. The powerlessness at the realisation that we don't know what to do sometimes or even in the event that nothing can be done, hence the anger and blame which provides a distraction and outlet. We blame in order to preserve our own illusion that something could have been done. All becomes right with the world again. We are safe and in control.

anya said:

I occasionally run into people who are angry with god and people who think god is angry with them.

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I too have met people who felt angry with God as a result of bad experiences they were experiencing as well thought God is angry with them if they did something bad in God's eyes. I often did see these as a sort of an "outlet" for them to vent. I didn't try to look for solutions for them (since I didn't have enough resource to think of any solutions to offer at the time), but tried to listen to them to talk about their issues and I'd try to be supportive. It was at least that I could do.

In my family, no one was angry with or even cursed at God. "God," the Bible, or anything related to the religion is rarely spoken of in my family (politics and religions tend to be the taboo subjects in the house). If there was a bad experience, we tend to say, "things just happened" and move on. And, anything serious emotionally happened, we tend to withdrew into ourselves and not to talk about it.

For me, just hearing the word "God" made me uncomfortable when put in a sentence ("God wants you to do this," "God knows all about you," etc.) and I'd look even more freaked out. Personally, I see "God" as a white-bearded hunky man with ancient Greek clothes, sitting up on the whitey cloud, looking down on me. Also, as a youth, I tended to feel uncomfortable being in a church itself and so I would avoid going to one as I felt that there was no reason for me to go and felt more comfortable hanging around at graveyard, among the silent.

In the recent years while doing the Work on myself, I have discovered more and more about myself and of my programs and, as each "layer" (so to speak) peels off slowly over time, more and more feelings from deep down started to reach the surface. And, one of these feelings came as a hidden "anger" toward someone "high" - this strong "need" to feel anger at something or someone. So strong that I wouldn't exactly know how to deal with them (since I didn't have enough resources to do so). And, just less than 2 years ago during my birthday, I've lashed out in anger - struggling to just have it projected at someone (which was not at all healthy) or at something, felt suicidal and highly confused. They were pretty strong and I felt pretty angry (and I didn't even knew why then). Then, I retreated into dissociation activities. I wouldn't feel these emotions again until last year during my birthday (when I was alone for a week and I didn't have a job then), I was suddenly lashing out, having these same feelings from a year before for no good reason, just came out of the blue - and this surprised me since I was doing EE for 9 months at this time (as I'd thought it would release it safely because of a previous year's experience) - and I then began to stop, sit, breathe, and feel whatever impressions coming from these feelings, wrote them into my journal.

Finally, these impressions lead me to my trauma experience when I've contracted bacterial meningitis during my first birthday period and spent my first birthday in the hospital and as a result, I lost my hearing (complete loss on one ear, sixty percent loss on the other). This has changed the course of my entire life, schools, locations, and the people that I'd meet. I felt this really strong anger at the God/Universe for this severe loss and have unconsciously "resisted/avoided" the experiences in this current life as if to say out loud, "this is not my life, I want my life back!" and began to wishful thinking/dissociating/expecting that I would somehow "magically" go back to my "other" life anytime and to experience the experiences that I wanted to have - because if I lived and embraced the experiences (the good and the bad) in this life, I would be "accepting" this life as my own - a guy with a hearing aid/communication problems, a symbol of being powerless - which I really "wanted" to avoid. This did became easier for me than taking a personal responsibility for my life (Like truth seeker said earlier).

This would seem to be similar to a "I never asked to be born" mindset except that I have felt that I was starting on the right path when I was born until something happened that has caused me to lose a valuable capability or ability in my body at such a young age that would later help me to navigate in this world like everyone else and to experience "real" life like everyone else. And, because a loss occurred (before my conscious memory), my feelings of anger towards God/Universe reigned, became repressed, and in control of my life "behind the scene" over the years.

Becoming angry or directing anger at God or Universe or any deity does seem "easier" and "natural" way to do because there was not enough resources or knowledge for one to utilize in dealing with these most difficult and strong emotions within oneself whenever a negative experience manifested.

go2 said:

I have heard it said.... if you are angry at God, 'You need a bigger God'. :)

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Lol, interesting saying :)

truth seeker said:

Yes, good points. Perhaps the confusion comes from a feeling of powerlessness as you stated. The powerlessness at the realisation that we don't know what to do sometimes or even in the event that nothing can be done, hence the anger and blame which provides a distraction and outlet. We blame in order to preserve our own illusion that something could have been done. All becomes right with the world again. We are safe and in control.

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Yes, and feeding the blame there can also be a feeling of injustice for witnessing something taken as profoundly wrong.

Myrddin Awyr said:

Becoming angry or directing anger at God or Universe or any deity does seem "easier" and "natural" way to do because there was not enough resources or knowledge for one to utilize in dealing with these most difficult and strong emotions within oneself whenever a negative experience manifested.

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I agree. It isn't easy to direct anger properly when for most of us we've always learned to misdirect it.

Buddha: "Anger is picking up a fiery ember to throw it at the one who angered you."

I believe that what ever happen to us, either good or bad is from Allah(God).
However, If it was bad then it is because of our wrong doing and it comes to remind us to correct our behaviour and revert back to the straight and narrow path.
If it was good we should be thankfull by doing good deeds.

Here are 3 verses that explain this in the Quran bearing in mind that this is not a preaching message.

“And of the people is he who worships Allah on an edge. If he is touched by good, he is reassured by it; but if he is struck by trial, he turns on his face [to the other direction]. He has lost [this] world and the Hereafter. That is what is the manifest loss”. Sura 22 Al-Hajj, Verse 10.
“And whatever strikes you of disaster - it is for what your hands have earned; but He pardons much.” Sura 42 Ash-Shura, Verse 30.

“And if Allah were to impose blame on the people for their wrongdoing, He would not have left upon the earth any creature, but He defers them for a specified term. And when their term has come, they will not remain behind an hour, nor will they precede [it].” Sura 16 An-Nahl. Verse 61.