There are more bad believers than good atheists, so what use is faith?

🔥A child asks: “Lots of people live good lives without believing in God.”

🛡️The answer: That is true. People who do not believe can follow their conscience, live good lives, and practice great love. The purpose of faith is not to boast that “we are better than the atheists.” The purpose is to know and love God, to be forgiven for our wrongs, and to keep being changed into someone who loves their neighbor more.

Having faith does not make anyone good automatically. When a believer lies or turns to violence, that breaks Jesus' teaching and makes the Church's word harder to trust. Such wrongs must be admitted, apologized for, and put right, not excused. The existence of bad believers is not direct evidence that God does not exist, but it is clear evidence that their faith bore no fruit in their life.

🥊The pushback: “Religion has caused wars and violence too, hasn't it?”

💡Answering again: Violence committed in the name of religion is a real wrong and must not be hidden or treated lightly. It shows that human beings can abuse even holy teaching for greed and power. But the fact that a belief has been abused leads to no conclusion that God does not exist. We have to examine separately what Jesus taught and whether people followed that teaching or broke it.

✨Briefly: “People who don't believe can live good lives, and faith pins a ‘model of morality’ badge on no one. What faith is for is a relationship with God and being changed into someone who loves more. If that fruit is missing, a believer should stop making excuses and repent.”