Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

fquadri's picture

Free Will or God?

Today I started to wonder what is more valuable to people: God/religion or free will?

God/religion helps one find a place in this world and makes one believe that they are here for a reason and that their life has a purpose. It can provide a sense of security but at the same time, religion can have lots and lots of rules that restrict complete free will.

Free will is great to have, and we're proud to express freedom of speech, expression, etc. Ater all who would want to feel constrained and controlled and told what to do? However, with so many followers of religion, it seems that some people are ok with sacrificing some free will in order to obtain a sense of security that there is a god that can help us out here on earth and maybe even in the afterlife.

However according to a recent CNN article, there has been a drop in the number of Christians in America. This means that more people are turning away from organized Christianity and looking towards individualism. In the article, the president of the Catholic League, William Donahue, said that a lot of the shift had to do with people who didn't like to be told what and what not to do... So maybe it seems like more people are turning away from organized religion in order to obtain more free will? 

 

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
3 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.