When the religious aren't admonishing unbelievers to believe in the God and miracles of their religion, they might ask unbelievers to consider the importance of the morality, happiness, hope, and love offered by their religion. For Christians, they have the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount to guide morality, the happiness and sense of hope that results from their doctrine of salvation, and the love of both neighbor and enemy taught by Jesus. So aside from God and miracles, they can offer important reasons to believe.
As far as I'm concerned, I can and do have morality without religion. In fact, I can argue that my secular morality is far better than any morality any religion offers. It is no secret that religions have committed atrocities as a result of their beliefs, and any moral person should not adopt that kind of ethics.
Yes, I think it's fair to say that religion can bring happiness to some people some of the time. I've heard the stories of the happy-go-lucky Christian just loving life being a Christian. To me, though, there are more important things in life than happiness. As I have just implied, I value my morality very highly, and I won't throw it away in some effort to be happy. For that reason I cannot envy the happiness of a religious person any more than I can envy the happiness of a rapist as he violates his victim. Besides, I find the claim that religion brings lasting and meaningful happiness to just anybody to be very questionable. I've known plenty of miserable religious people.
But no matter how happy or unhappy religious persons may be, don't they have hope that some day they will be happy as their religion promises? For them they may have that hope, but it often comes at the expense of the hope of others and for others. For every person who thinks she is heaven-bound, she must believe that those do not share her beliefs are hell-bound. She may also find herself believing that her deceased family members and friends are in hell. What kind of hope is that?
Finally, does religion not teach love? Yes, but like the morality, happiness and hope offered by religion, there is a terrible downside to religious-based love. Such love is based in obedience to a God--one is to love not because others have earned one's love but because God says so. Such a love has little to distinguish it from hatred. Love should be free and granted to who deserves it. If God commands us to love him, then he obviously is not confident he can win our love. His love is like the love between masters and slaves based on fear of punishment.
As far as I'm concerned, I can and do have morality without religion. In fact, I can argue that my secular morality is far better than any morality any religion offers. It is no secret that religions have committed atrocities as a result of their beliefs, and any moral person should not adopt that kind of ethics.
Yes, I think it's fair to say that religion can bring happiness to some people some of the time. I've heard the stories of the happy-go-lucky Christian just loving life being a Christian. To me, though, there are more important things in life than happiness. As I have just implied, I value my morality very highly, and I won't throw it away in some effort to be happy. For that reason I cannot envy the happiness of a religious person any more than I can envy the happiness of a rapist as he violates his victim. Besides, I find the claim that religion brings lasting and meaningful happiness to just anybody to be very questionable. I've known plenty of miserable religious people.
But no matter how happy or unhappy religious persons may be, don't they have hope that some day they will be happy as their religion promises? For them they may have that hope, but it often comes at the expense of the hope of others and for others. For every person who thinks she is heaven-bound, she must believe that those do not share her beliefs are hell-bound. She may also find herself believing that her deceased family members and friends are in hell. What kind of hope is that?
Finally, does religion not teach love? Yes, but like the morality, happiness and hope offered by religion, there is a terrible downside to religious-based love. Such love is based in obedience to a God--one is to love not because others have earned one's love but because God says so. Such a love has little to distinguish it from hatred. Love should be free and granted to who deserves it. If God commands us to love him, then he obviously is not confident he can win our love. His love is like the love between masters and slaves based on fear of punishment.