"People believe in God to cope with life"
Benefiting from a reality isn't a crutch, it's a byproduct. That's like saying a person who's drowning is weak for grabbing onto a life preserver. That's not weakness, it's wisdom.
“People believe in God because it makes them feel better about life.”
It’s often said that faith in God is just a psychological crutch — something people cling to for comfort. But benefiting from something doesn't mean it's false. That logic falls apart quickly.
If someone is drowning, and they grab a life preserver, we don't call that weakness — we call it wisdom. The emotional comfort that comes from believing in God is a natural byproduct, not a delusion (Keller, 2008).
In fact, many great thinkers have argued that it’s atheism, not belief in God, that can more easily be explained as a reaction to pain, injustice, or pride, rather than neutral reasoning (Lewis, 1940/2001; Plantinga, 2000).
Christianity doesn’t teach that belief is true because it feels good. It teaches that it is true regardless of how we feel — and that it happens to also offer hope, purpose, and meaning in a world that often feels dark (Craig, 2008).
Psychological benefit doesn’t disprove reality. Truth isn’t measured by comfort, but by coherence with reality. If God is real, then hope is not escapism — it's alignment with truth (Plantinga, 2000).
References
Craig, W. L. (2008). Reasonable faith: Christian truth and apologetics (3rd ed.). Crossway.
Keller, T. (2008). The reason for God: Belief in an age of skepticism. Dutton.
Lewis, C. S. (2001). The problem of pain. HarperOne. (Original work published 1940)
Plantinga, A. (2000). Warranted Christian belief. Oxford University Press.