CNN’s Belief Blog

It seem that almost any question pursued in CNN’s attempt at faith blogging is under the gun from a small handful of people who immediately, by means of the comment section, deny that God exists thus hijacking the discussion and turning it into an apologetics debate. In Overheard on CNN.com, as reported on CNN, we see an an interesting example of this in this brief extract:

Disasters like that in Japan often provoke the question, “Where is God?” A CNN story struggled for an answer by posing this question to different spiritual leaders. John said, “It is wonderful to hear a Buddhist perspective on the disaster. As a Buddhist, I am often dismayed how in the discussion of faith, Christianity, Judaism and Islam seem to be the only sought-after players.”

Most of our readers wanted to discuss the existence or nonexistence of God. GoDog asked, “Where is God? Nowhere. Random planet, random life, random events, random life, repeat.”  And Ernest suggested that religious faith is merely a response to stress. “ ’Finding faith’ in a massively stressful situation is nothing more than a trick played upon one’s mind. I would like to see more rational approaches to helping people cope with trauma than religious ones.”

Fastball said, “There is no external God but there can be God inside of everybody. That kind of God can make us compassionate, can make us care, can make us think about others before we look to ourselves.” And charles miller, a research scientist, said, “I have no concerns or doubts that God is real, that he cares and loves all mankind. I also believe he expects us to care for one another.“

SRinSCarolina said, “I think we cannot ‘see’ God yet. We only knew about atoms in the last seven decades. We just may not yet have the vision or the tools to ‘see’ God but that does not mean He is not here.”

Some of our readers took issue with the response of Sam Harris, who represents an organization dedicated to promoting “secular values.” George Bailey said, “What’s striking to me is the compassion and meaning given by each of the entries except the atheist, who chooses to describe those with whom he disagrees as ‘stupid’ and ‘childish.’ “ profart agreed, “Boy, does Mr. Harris come off looking like a callous idiot. I hope he doesn’t really represent atheists.” And Karen said, “Come on, CNN, the only atheist you could find is a callous jerk? Seriously?”

But Injun Trouble said, “There is but one sensible entry in this article, and it is Sam’s. Period.”