By on ( Leave a comment )

The Muslims, the Christians and the Atheists Need to Talk: While the Majority In Indonesia and Turkey See the Necessity of God for Morality, Only 15% of French Do

hagia-sophia-and-sultan-ahmet-mosque (1)

Istanbul. Blue Mosque in the foreground and Hagia Sophia in the background. The Muslim Times has the best collection to promote Monotheism and to refute Atheism

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

The demographics in this poll speak of how most of humanity is living in their bubbles despite the world having changed into a global village.

France is known for its secular Republicanism and is among the top five most atheist countries in the world. The country has a long history of irreligion, dating back to the French Revolution. Some examples of France’s secularism include:
  • Public school students are not allowed to wear religious symbols.
  • There is no specific curriculum in French public schools about religion. 

According to a 2022 poll by Viavoice, 30% of French people identify as nonbelievers or atheists. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 23% of French adults identify as atheists.  Even though these numbers are not huge, yet the survey about need of God on morality yielding just 15% have theistic leaning shows a huge impact of atheism on even the believers there.

It should be a wakeup call for those Christians, with any Islamophobic vein in them, no matter where they live that in their war against Islam they may eventually lose everything to atheism.

An open and friendly dialogue between the best of Islam, Christianity, agnosticism and atheism is needed all the time to guide humanity towards greener pastures.  For the open minded Christians let me share a video reflecting the common endeavors between the best of Islam and the best of the Christian tradition: Remarks and Poem by Hamza Yusuf for Alvin Plantinga Templeton Prize 2017.

We often focus on our interaction with one person at a time.  One Whattsapp group at a time or one news channel at a time.  But, there is a constant conversation going on between civilizations, countries, and societies, formally and informally and we need more of that.

In a triangular candid conversations between the 2 billion Muslims, the more than 2 billion Christians and others better truths come out not only for humanity at large but also for the individual groups.

While the French may learn a greater role of God in all things moral the Muslims may learn from them how to interpret their understanding of the Divine Law in the Quran in greater light of reason and science.

Additional suggested reading:

Do Religious or Spiritual People Make More Ethical Employees?

Richard Dawkins admits a world with no God would be immoral

Dr. Zia H Shah’s interview by Voice of Islam: Is Morality Objective or Subjective?

National Geographic Video: All Knowing, All Seeing God Keeps Us Away from Crime and Sin, See the Evidence

The West Needs Islam: Because Ashley Madison Revealed 38 Million Cheating Spouses

63% of Americans say it is NOT necessary to believe in God in order to be moral

If the Atheists and the Christians Debate, Islam Wins!

Religious People Are Less Smart but Atheists Are Psychopaths

If organised mainstream Christianity is on the way out, what will replace it?

Do atheists secretly believe in God? Finnish Study

Theists have an additional factor deriving them to be moral, namely a belief in All-Seeing God. I do not want to argue this issue at length here, but would just suggest watching 6 minutes of a recent 50 minute documentary by National Geographic starring Morgan Freeman, season 01, episode 05, starting at minute 32 of the video below and focus on the work of a New Zealand researcher, Jesse Michael Bering, with 6 year old children, how a belief in invisible Princess Alice affects their behavior and their honesty:

Just like a belief in invisible princess Alice makes the 6 years old more honest, a genuine belief in All-Seeing God can improve the character and the morality of the believers.

The above researcher, Jesse Michael Bering (born 6 May 1975) is an American writer and academic. He is Associate Professor in Science Communication at the University of Otago (where he serves as Director of the Centre for Science Communication), as well as a frequent contributor to Scientific American, Slate, and Das Magazin (Switzerland). His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Guardian, and The New Republic, and has been featured on NPR, the BBC, and elsewhere.

Categories: Catholic Church, Catholicism, Catholics, Christianity, France, Morality/moral values

Leave a Reply