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Nine in 10 young people in the UK
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believe that their life is lacking
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purpose and a lot of people are turning
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back to religion. There is something
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going on.
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This is about the most important thing
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that anyone could ever find out about
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their life and God has made us for a
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purpose and the purpose flows from that
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meaning.
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I kind of reject that because this is a
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perfect example of a solution being
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provided without explaining exactly why
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it provides a solution and that's what
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people are doing in religious
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traditions. I hard disagree. For me,
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finding meaning and purpose is like a
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very practical thing.
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And that's what I want to talk about
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today.
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One of the reasons that I'm a Christian
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is because it's the best explanation for
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the way things are.
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But if Christianity were true, we would
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not expect the kind of suffering that is
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present in the world.
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What if I died from cancer at 1 years
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old?
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So someone violated God's commands and
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that had an impact on the world.
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So children get cancer because a few
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million years ago someone ate a fruit.
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If you want religion to provide
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existential comfort for people who are
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suffering, you have to do more in the
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face of children dying of cancer than
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some reference to mythical human beings.
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But if your worldview does not have a
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way of making sense of our moral
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intuitions about suffering, it's not an
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adequate worldview.
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What I would say to science and
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spirituality can really add is it's
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effective in terms of reducing
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suicidality, improving resilience,
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giving them a reason to wake up in the
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morning. And we'll get into that. And
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Alex, if someone's listening now and
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they feel lost in their life, is there
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any advice that you could give them?
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So, as an atheist, I'm offering a
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psychological explanation. So, I would
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recommend that they
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You're spot on, Alex. So, the first
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thing to understand is it is an internal
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feeling. And we found in our study that
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if you your sense of purpose increases
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by 68%.
