BELIEF – FAD OR NECESSITY What do people who don’t actually have a religion believe in?


In the General Intercessions during the Good Friday Liturgy we pray ‘for those who do not believe in God, that they may find him by sincerely following all that is right.’

Part of the prayer itself says, ‘Grant that, in spite of the hurtful things that stand in their way, they may all recognize in the lives of Christians the tokens of your love and mercy . . .’
All of this suggests that each person is capable of having a sense of what is right and wrong.

 I would think that many atheists, ie, people who don’t believe in God, and agnostics, ie, those who are uncertain as to whether God exists, have a moral or ethical code which they sincerely try to follow.

I remember, for example, reading in a British newspaper a very strong argument in favor of respecting human life from the moment of conception.

 This was in the context of a proposal to lower the age at which an unborn baby could be legally aborted. The person opposing abortion at any stage described himself as an atheist.

 This person was in total harmony with the teaching of the Catholic Church, unlike many proponents of abortion who describe themselves as Catholics.

So there are people without any religion and without belief in God who live by a strong code of ethics/morals.

 The Good Friday prayer puts a clear obligation on us Christians to live the kind of life that will encourage and help such persons to come to know the God who loves them.

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