It just makes me want to headbutt people in the face at this point. Every conversation I've had isn't worth it. Maybe in a sense they're trying to comfort themselves. Not you. I'm already asking "why..." So if you don't actually know the reason stop suggesting there is one.

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

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

I believe that everything has a "cause" or "reason" that can be explained by science or social science. People may be starving while others are wasting or tossing food, so it's maybe borders or political barriers. The world population explosion is not helping either, thanks to some narrow minded approaches to birth control.

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.

It is all " according to legend bollocks", no fact or logic, miracles blah blah, religion rules only applies to middle east culture, another way of crowd control, in this ageing planet how real it l can be to try the explain everything with man orientated/sexist book, how come some females of this world can go along with this beyond my belief.
If anybody was able to transform water to wine would you realy kill him? No way.
We share this planet with some unbeliavable people and they believe earth is flat, they even have society for it.

It is oure bull shit. That is the reason religious people give to justify allowing bad things to happen. They convince themselves these people deserve what happens to them because they are not Christians or they perceive them to be not good Christians. The religious always find a way to justify things like that.

everything happens simply because it does,maybe we will know why,maybe not,but its a rule of life that shit happens,the tricky part for most folk,is dealing with it...

Choices give us humans on earth endless opportunities!! Only thing is some choices you make cannot be undone and they change you forever!!

What a great question. People say this a lot!
You really put it in perspective & I commend you for asking that person. It sounds like a load of crap privileged people would say, not thinking of others.

Yup. The average agnostic/atheist has a higher IQ than religious people, or even Conservative ones. Link-Survey: Racists And Conservatives Have A Low IQ. Surprise, Surprise! [wp.me]

I think its a lazy laymen term. "everything happens for a reason is a bull**** excuse. along with "its gods will"
at this point I have started assuming people that say these things are religious fanatics and I avoid them like the plague

I agree with you especially on the horrors that go one daily throughout the world and right here at home. School shootings, cancer, deportation, rape, and the list goes on. What is the reason for that? It always sounds like a programmed social nicety like "have a nice day" when there is no thought to communication with others.

Of course everything happens for a reason, god just is never the reason.

Some things happen for a reason...like a person is a total dumbass.

Balderdash comes to mind.

It’s nonsense.

I see no reason to believe that.

Bullshit.

Everything does happen for a reason, but that is not what they mean. The reason children die from starvation are to do with geopolitics, not because it is some god's will, which is what people usually mean when they say that. When someone close to you dies, or you fail to get the job you want, those things also happens for various reasons, just not the reason that that platitude has in mind.

Some time ago I had a conversation which revealed that the church goer that I was talking to thought that Jews were Christians. He reasoned that,
"Jesus was a Jew wasn't he?"
I'm quite amazed at how little the religious seem to know about their own religions and so often can't answer simple challenges. Could it be that the stock answer of
"God moves in mysterious ways".
was starting to wear thin in the mind of your acquaintance. One hopes so.

I always tend to correct them and say, "You can find meaning in and give purpose to everything."

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

I have gotten the "Gawd has a better plan for them" in regards to the death of children. To which I counter if Gawds plan is to destroy families, then he is a sick, sorry, son of a bitch who doesn't deserve any worship!

Your interlocutor confuses intention with causality. everything has a cause. that's not the same as having a reason. if you do not believe in a supreme being, then you do not believe the causality is the result of intention, and you do not believe in the possibility of such an intention at any rate. and even if everything DID happen for a reason, how would that justify everything that happened? i am surprised she couldn't answer you, though. i would've thought she'd fall back on the tired old cop-out "god works in mysterious ways." the while universe works in ways that are still, to us, largely mysterious, and whether or not we ever understand it all, or even most of it, the universe will chug along. it doesn't demand our belief, our faith, our understanding, our deliberate ignorance or any other thing. it isn't as sentient entity and it doesn't need to be prayed too, nor does it demand acceptance, so if we can change bits of it for (what we consider to be) the better, we're not betraying some sacred "reason." ask that confused person: "if everything happens for a reason, then we have brains and hands and willpower for a reason. with these tools we can change things for the better. we have this ability for a reason. you are defying your god's will by lazily ignoring his gifts." (sometimes you have to address folks from within their chosen reality, regardless of how well you know it's fantasy.)

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