Does belief in God influence one's character?

My simple views here centre around how and what you view as God and once that is cleared,then comes the question of being influenced or not! Some of my friends have gone by the external manifestations which are rightly not the yardstick.If according to one - by taking a dip in the holy waters of the Ganges and offering flowers at the feet of idols chanting a few mantras and then go about doing all things which are morally and socially wrong - even devil would laugh at this godly act!!! But if one responds and remains alive to the voice of conscience, he or she is one who can claim to be influenced positively by such spritual thoughts. I wonder aloud how we can think and talk about 'value system','principles' without relating it to such spiritual content!!!

Spirituality ma affect moral conduct of an individual. But spirituality alone may not be behind how an individual conducts his worldly affairs. we cannot say that a non spiritual person must be immoral. There are also social values apart from spiritual. Social value could be independent of spirituality though a spiritually inclined individual's social behavior could be related to his religious belief of spirituality.

[quote]@Kalyani

Most of the virtues you have mentioned demand and presuppose as I believe - existence of a clear conscience - for example honesty,integrity etc - which one can't have unless he or she looks beyond the horizon of materilaistic world.It's absolutely true that all of us are at all influenced by such considerations. Similarly it would be equally fallacious to question the role of spirituality or higher moral thoughts looking at the aberrant behaviour of a few fake godmen or sadhus who always lived,live and would live like parasites![/quote]

Chinmoy, I agree with you that in order to have strength of character, you need to have a clear conscience and ability to look beyond the material world. and yet I am not of the opinion that spirituality enters into it, at least not fully. There are still people who are of a strong character and yet are non-believers.

For everything in this world, we can find some exceptions of course. Yet, we try to find the majority and try to fix it as the truth. That's all.
Yes.....all believers are not good and all atheists are not bad. There are many factors which can deeply influence our character and life. Our family, friends, studies, society.....are most influential factors. Also, through our genes we are getting some characters from our parents. They perhaps, cannot be changed. Isn't it? Many researches say, emotions of a pregnant mother can influence a kid's character.
Why can't we group such characters of individuals separately?
Can you tell anything about this...our character and such factors? Can they be changed?

Many things are still in my mind, though I can't connect them. Perhaps I can add them later

I have seen many people with strong family background, religious-wise behaving too weird and people with strong character who were born in not so healthy atmosphere, this is the company they keep or determination and goals they set for themselves those matters. Upbringing is part of the character but people with strong will power have the ability to change destiny.

[quote]For everything in this world, we can find some exceptions of course. Yet, we try to find the majority and try to fix it as the truth. That's all.
Yes.....all believers are not good and all atheists are not bad. There are many factors which can deeply influence our character and life. Our family, friends, studies, society.....are most influential factors. Also, through our genes we are getting some characters from our parents. They perhaps, cannot be changed. Isn't it? Many researches say, emotions of a pregnant mother can influence a kid's character.
Why can't we group such characters of individuals separately?
Can you tell anything about this...our character and such factors? Can they be changed?

Many things are still in my mind, though I can't connect them. Perhaps I can add them later [/quote]

Sandhya I didn't understand what you mean by "Why can't we group such characters of individuals separately?"

Regarding whether the character can be changed would be purely individualistic and also depending upon situations!

[quote]I have seen many people with strong family background, religious-wise behaving too weird and people with strong character who were born in not so healthy atmosphere, this is the company they keep or determination and goals they set for themselves those matters. Upbringing is part of the character but people with strong will power have the ability to change destiny. [/quote]

Very true! Upbringing does play a significant role, but the most important factor is the willpower of an individual and the choices that he/she may make for self. If I choose to stick to what I believe is right and moral, then no matter what the temptation is, I will never fall prey to anything that will compromise my character and integrity. Here it is important to note the word CHOICE!

I mean....we are inheriting some characters/behaviours from parents. They almost remain constant through out our life. According to studies, genes also play an important role to have criminal attitude in persons....as told born criminals. It is difficult to change such persons. Such persons are prone to crimes. So, I am excluding such people. Let us talk about normal people.

Do you know who Tulsidas was, who Kalidas was? They tried and changed their fate with best of their determination and will power to change for good.

[quote]I mean....we are inheriting some characters/behaviours from parents. They almost remain constant through out our life. According to studies, genes also play an important role to have criminal attitude in persons....as told born criminals. It is difficult to change such persons. Such persons are prone to crimes. So, I am excluding such people. Let us talk about normal people.[/quote]

Born criminals??? I hope you are not talking about certain tribes/communities in India who were legally labelled as Criminal Tribes by the British! There is no such thing as a born criminal, situations around them mainly dictate what they become. Mostly the people who are forced to committing crimes belong to such categories, they are caught in a vicious circle with no way out, their children with eyes and ears open see what is happening to their parents and their people and they too are forced to become a part of it all! But these are also exceptions, amongst such people as well, there is bound to be some who refuse to be a part of such happenings and choose to make himself an honest person.

yeah belief in god definitely influence one's character. A person who believes in god definitely fears to do mistakes.

[quote]I mean....we are inheriting some characters/behaviours from parents. They almost remain constant through out our life. According to studies, genes also play an important role to have criminal attitude in persons....as told born criminals. It is difficult to change such persons. Such persons are prone to crimes. So, I am excluding such people. Let us talk about normal people.

Born criminals??? I hope you are not talking about certain tribes/communities in India who were legally labelled as Criminal Tribes by the British! There is no such thing as a born criminal, situations around them mainly dictate what they become. Mostly the people who are forced to committing crimes belong to such categories, they are caught in a vicious circle with no way out, their children with eyes and ears open see what is happening to their parents and their people and they too are forced to become a part of it all! But these are also exceptions, amongst such people as well, there is bound to be some who refuse to be a part of such happenings and choose to make himself an honest person.[/quote]

So, are you saying our genes have nothing to do with our character formation???
Even science has proved it. But don't ask me how :P

I f genes were the only force behind our character formation the world would be full of monkeys. NO? :laugh:

Ultimately, an individual consists of 'brain' and body. All beliefs, nature, habits, thoughts, faith, spirituality etc are contained in this part. Brain is like an individual's CPU. There is no spirituality other than what is contained in one's brain. Thoughts and feelings are affected by material and social conditions. Talking of spirituality in isolation is infructuous. Mental conditioning is all that matters.

Character can be formed not only by our genes it may be by the atmosphere where are grown, society and our mind.

Character can be formed not only by our genes it may be by the atmosphere where are grown, society and our mind.

But some characters and behaviours born along with us. Suppose, you take 2 kids of 1 month age...who does not know anything. They are so young that they can't learn from their surroundings. Can you say, both these kids, even if brought by same parents behave in the same way. Never.....
You can even consider twins. Soon after birth, one may like to wake full day and sleeps well at night without disturbing others. But the other may be just opposite. As they grow we can see many differences in them, even if they are born to same parents and are growing in same conditions. Likes and dislikes of both kids will also be different. One may intake food well, but parents may find it difficult to feed the other. One may be naughty while the other kid may be quiet. Why they differ in their character, even if born in same conditions and brought up by same people in same condition? It's because, both differ by characters and these variations are due to genes.

[quote]
So, are you saying our genes have nothing to do with our character formation???
Even science has proved it. But don't ask me how [/quote]

If genes were all that mattered, then like Sunil said, the world as we know it now would be totally different, it would be more like "The Planet of the Apes"

Yes, genes do influence the way we behave but not on what we want to become ourselves by choice and inclination.

Yes, genes is also one among those factors for our character formation.

sandhya, I am saying that genes only not involves in character, even atmpshere, society, mind, previous birth effects and the some things comes along with birth too.

sandhya, I am saying that genes only not involves in character, even atmpshere, society, mind, previous birth effects and the some things comes along with birth too.

Actually many ideas are there in my mind. But they are not coming out. Perhaps they may come out as discussion progress.
Yes Sarala, you are absolutely correct. But what I am saying is our character is influenced by our genes too(one factor among several factors, that's all). So even if some criminals are believing God, some genetic traits are prompting them to conduct crimes. But through proper education, good education, good contacts...etc can also help such persons to suppress such bad traits to some extend.Here also applying good principles taught in religions can help such persons very much.
Each and everyone of us are changing everyday. Isn't it?

The issue is whether belief in 'God' is of any help. As 'God' is hypothetical concept, belief or otherwise in that entity has nothing to do with character. I do not know whether any criminal is atheist. Noted journalist and author Khushwant singh is a non believer viz. agnostic and he is definitely of good character.