Is Being Theistic a Strength or Weakness?

[Diogenes' Dog]

So, the question still begs....is being theistic a strength or weakness? I'm going to guess that you think it isn't a weakness but I'm not sure if you believe it's a strength.

An atheist is not dependent upon a god to help pull him/her thru hard times. You're talking like atheists are incapable of getting themselves out of life's stressful moments. Giving credit to a god instead of yourself sounds like a weakness to me. You may make an extreme effort to get yourself out of a jam, a strength, and then give god credit, weakness. I can understand a believer feeling inferior.

It's a bit of a daft question - like saying "Is being a liberal a strength or a weakness?" It very much depends on the person and why they believe what they believe. Certainly here in the UK (as Gordon says) to be a theist is to go against the current of opinion.

Many people do find God in their darkest hour - probably as a last resort. However, if through religion they then find the strength to overcome whatever took them there e.g. depression, alcoholism, addiction etc., is that weakness or strength?

There is evidence that in extreme situations such as Aschwitz, people with a strong religious conviction fare better psychologically than those without. I hate to go Biblical on you but this problem was addressed in the parable of the house built on sand vs the house built on rock. We may all think we are strong and capable most of the time, but we can all be brought down. When that happens, people find strength through religion.

Quote from Wikipedia:

"Abraham Maslow's research after World War II showed that Holocaust survivors tended to be those who held strong religious beliefs (not necessarily temple attendance, etc), suggesting it helped people cope in extreme circumstances. Humanistic psychology went on to investigate how religious or spiritual identity may have correlations with longer lifespan and better health. The study found that humans may particularly need religious ideas to serve various emotional needs such as the need to feel loved, the need to belong to homogeneous groups, the need for understandable explanations and the need for a guarantee of ultimate justice. Other factors may involve sense of purpose, sense of identity, sense of contact with the divine. See also Man's Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl, detailing his experience with the importance of religion in surviving the Holocaust."