One of the problems I've always had is how people justify the actions of their particular gods. A winning quarterback will be sure to thank god for allowing his team to win (rather than acknowledge that they simply played better than the other team) or for his 'god-given' talent (because there's no way that genetics and 20+ years of athletic training had anything to do with it, right?). Likewise, when believers are unable to answer why their god would allow someone to shoot 15 children at a playground, they usually drop the old standard "God works in mysterious ways" Really? Did your god hate the losing football team? Did he somehow know ('omniscient', remember...) that every one of those 15 dead children would have grown up to be awful people, and that he just decided to let a gunman take them out early? People who defend an unknowable god are like the co-dependent families of alcoholics. God's actions don't appear to be any more than a coin flip, and there's always an unfortunate loser. The adherents will always be there to excuse away the coin flips when the results can't be attributed to his 'glory'....

It is the religious "true believer's way to trying to cope with the fact that he or she cannot explain what is happening within the context of his bogus religion. It makes him squirm, so he has to say, "only God knows."

ofcourse it all happens for a reason, good and bad are relative. People starving probably because food in habitat is scarce...its called natural balance, worse than that is over production of food in a habitat where the populayion burst out only in one species(Human) throwing off the balance.

Buying into myths and restating them as reasonable responses has nothing to do with the existence of God. Furthermore, the logically deduced conclusion of an intelligently designed universe only introduces the conceivability of a divine "matter facilitator". After the realization of some of the world's most brilliant minds - including many well known physicists - consider the profound, inexplicably complex nature of all symbiotic systems required to sustain even one organic life-form a justification for belief in a supremely intelligent, coordinating intellect. Famous scientist, Francis Crick (father of DNA and devout atheist) has the answer to resoundingly perplexing enigma: space aliens and ray-guns!

I have always considered that phrase ignorant just like "it was all part of god's plan". Sigh. If some god existed I am sure he would have shown himself by now instead of having humans do their bidding. No real god would let innocent children suffer.

Shit happens and then you die. No reason in that, is there?

I would not ask a believer any questions to open discussion about their magical beings and how they dictate their lack of reasoning, but reply that you like to see some things as cause and effect and give a small example., if you have the opportunity. Even if you find them having outrageous ides, be kind and if you have the mental energy, redirect their attention to small facts as an exchange of ideas and knowledge between you. No one needs to proven anything, unless they are standing in front of a judge, accused of a crime. Lighten up - be compassionate. Lead by example.

I think everything happens for a reason also, just has nothing to do with religion, god, church, etc. We are the captain of our ship, responsible for everything that occurs in our life, creators of our own reality. Our mind is the creative force that drives the body, we are not separate from that force. The idea is learn the lesson and accept the gift, pay particular attention when the shit happens. Just my take on it.

Something bad happens, you make the best of it, then something good happens & you make a correlation. Religious, "magical" thinking at its' best!

There is almost always a reason, hunger, poverty, oppression, almost always the result of government. sometimes power crazed individuals or just plain apathy.

I have always wondered why evolution made us the way we are. We may be getting too smart for our own good. We are the only animal on earth that can manipulate things for our own benefit or to do great harm to this earth. Now we are starting to threaten our own survival and the survival of many other species. Human beings need to learn how to limit our population to a reasonable number so there is room for other species to live we just can't keep taking more and more.

I don't know that's a good question. It also kind of raises the question if you do good and be a good person good things will happen to you (or will it)But the saying good guys finish last was made for a reason. Sometimes it seems like things happen for a reason but most of the time it seems like just luck of the draw smh

What the reason? Give me the reason.

Maybe god is satan? And we have it all backwards? ( no caps for these made up fictional beings and Caps are for good things, like Santa Clause ) With all the terrible stuff going on in the world, it makes more sense. As many of you may know that in third world countries, lots of people die during times of so called natural events from Mother nature in church's. Why? Because the church collapses on them while they are praying to god to save them. Many churches are very old and can't withstand heavy wind rain and such. Sounds like something a guy like satan would do?

Carried to logical absurdity, the statement is true. Everything does happen for a reason. The problem occurs because the reasons never coincide with their beliefs. I can explain if you'd like.

If anything happens for a reason, that reason is Physics.

the reason is humans decisions. Many believe this world has limited resources, the fact is this world has adequate resources for everyone. we just need to decide to be smarter.

I just spent a day with one of those people and learned something new..."everything happens for a reason" is the new " it'sGod's plan." Apparently they think if they make it non-religious people will buy into it. I ask what the reason is that little kids are born into starvation in India and I'm told it's to teach the world a lesson. Nice! I actually had one woman tell me that those kids born into starvation CHOSE to be born that way in their previous life...my head was about to explode. My advice, keep those conversations to a minimum and read "The Righteous Mind" (Why good people differ about politics and religion) it will explain that it's not about facts, all about emotion and belonging to the group.

Clearly, you win points for truth.

It's all about control, and I'm convinced that half the control freaks in the world don't even realize it.

A sociological outgrowth which evolved from the Enlightenment was the loss of the "sacred" within human existence. This expulsion of the transcendent morphed into a pathological atheistic humanism and collective political organization in the early 20th century that sought to replace our transcendent meaning in historical and human experience. The most identifiable offspring of this view of the immanent, material world as complete in itself, intelligible in itself, and lacking all need were Maoism 45m Nazism 25m and lenin14m Stalinism 30m. As spiritualities of the temporal they sought a revolution of the historical order (modernity) to affirm the meaningfulness of human existence by rejecting its transcendent source. This historical temporal immanentism has become so thoroughly entrenched that to question modernistic rationalism and atheism as a valid affirmation of the meaningfulness of human existence through the expulsion of its transcendent source is anathema. This "picture of the world" is no longer manifested primarily in Marxist doctrines of competing institutional views on materialism or dogmatic totalitarianism, but the powerful cultural undercurrent that remains including its rejection of the signs of the sacred in lieu of the secular has become the default domain of humanity. The loss of the transcendent results in a loss of the meaningfulness of human life, reflected alternatively in excessive consumption, despair and violence.

I think you mean by that there’s a reason for everything means that everything has a purpose. I would agree that everything has a cause, but nothing has purpose outside human culture. You could argue that certain animal societies display purpose as well, but it only has meaning inside its own culture. A rock at the bottom of the Mariana Trench is just a rock.

Everything does happen for reasons, but they're not supernatural. We can explain why children are starving or why people get cancer. The answers are incredibly complex and run back all the way to the beginning of time, but they're there. Are those answers as satisfying as believing it's part of some omnipotent being's plan? I think so.

@Lisasea --- None of my buttons work. Adm. said it would be fixed today, that was a week ago. It's really frustrating. That's why I'm writing this as a comment instead of a reply. Post and comment is the only thing I can do.

it's total bull. I believe in God. I was raised that way, I have no way to change that. But I more believe he's like a deadbeat dad. He's here, he made us, but he doesn't care enough to come by, let alone make a phone call. It's either he is all-powerful, but he's evil as hell, and likes making the world a worse place for no reason, or he has the power to create, but not to interfere with his creations. (I say "he" out of simplicity, I don't care about God's gender, if God has one) Either way, I don't see God as someone worth worshiping, let alone having trust in. It's up to us to make the world as good as we can. God is just an excuse to be complacent.