Why do people believe in religion?

[ellenjanuary]

Friday 16th October, 2009... the clock is ticking for the non-believer; back away... quietly.

The stupid brain probably just had another stupid thought...

Or in might have had THE thought. (gotta take your victories where you can. If there's any other mathematicians, philosophers, or quantum theorists around; you might wanna swing by my creationism thread tomorrow and take a look at this thingy I'm about to draw. Thank you.)

 

[Joe Bloe]

Why do people believe in religion?

An atheist must bear the consequences of his decisions. If things go well, he can take all the credit, but if things go horribly wrong, he must admit that it was all his own fault...there is no-one else to blame.

A Christian makes the same sorts of decisions but he cannot take any of the credit when things go well because he is obliged to "give the glory to God" - but the payoff comes when things go wrong. When that happens he can declare that it wasn't his fault and everything went pear-shaped because God has other plans for him.

You and I wouldn't be satisfied with that particular escape route, but people with fragile egos are only too willing to believe in a God who saves them the trouble of having to admit that maybe they have done the wrong thing.

 

[imaginaryme]

Friday 16th October, 2009... the clock is ticking for the non-believer; back away... quietly.

The stupid brain probably just had another stupid thought...

Or in might have had THE thought. (gotta take your victories where you can. If there's any other mathematicians, philosophers, or quantum theorists around; you might wanna swing by my creationism thread tomorrow and take a look at this thingy I'm about to draw. Thank you.)

How come my discontinued account still gets furballs? I'm jealous of myself.

The drawing in question is in my album. Not the Gwynnie, the other one. People still believe in religion because god is (or at least works through) the span of human conception. I was "keeping my cards close to my chest" in my earlier incarnation. Dammit Gwynnie! A fundamental error due to my own religious nonsense, for I believe in Open Source.

 

[zenzero]

Friend Deiderick,

Why do people believe in religion?

Have no clue at all.

that people who identify as religious, are (consciously) ignorant of certain facts of reality. They avoid scientific evidence and when it is in front of them they explain it away in the most pathetic fashion. It seems they care so much about their delusion that they actually fight to defend it. Why?

Personally Religion is a way to *Still* the *thoughts* and in that happening the individual merges with the *whole* whereas *science* is all about *Thoughts* to think deeply about a subject.
So in effect religion *STARTS* where science *ENDS*

Almost every debate with an atheist and a theist ends in the fake conclusion that it "is a matter of faith". This is ********. Something is either true or not true. The chances of a God existing are so small, that it seems a waste of time to even consider the possibility. It would seem like something a second-grade philosopher would one day write his only book on. It's a waste of time and resources, quite frankly. But somehow religion took over almost all of the world, abusing our weakness as a species.

When there is no *god* and what theist and atheists argue about are all imaginary all mind created or all thoughts.

Love & rgds

 

[one-right-thing]

A)relegion is nothing but simply running follow the name of a supernatural,unseen believe,much much bitter in taste and bad and struggled life on earth.
B)4 heavens books Zaboor (David),Torah(Moses)Ingel or Gospel (Jesus)Quran(Mohammad).
C)Adam was created from dust for what simply to tell the nouns to Supernatural(God).
D)Satan (Iblees or devil) denied to prostrate.
E)so fight started between supernatural and Davil
F)Human being got changes in his genes and brain cells (technically)by eating chemical fruit of some spcial prohibited tree and following this human enabled his self to fight,aggresion,killing,bad planning,forgetting all heavenly norms ethics and became one of the bad dangerous unatended creature in heaven.
G)Exile of human took place and earth was a real good place for him made in 6 days by supernatural.
H)Human can go back only in heaven with security clearances of many if's and but's other wise there is a clear way as Davil spoiled already that is a more worse fire burning process and rest of all ages human will spend in fire and hell.
I)i chose religion because i know when some one slap my face it never seen after banging my face but i feel pain and swolen face,i work hard but i never know this money will satisfy my mind or not and yes ..i am a smart i dont need much just a little life and little smiles of friends and family ..well well well....If i dont practice and dont consider some one who follow me but ;will i not be able to survive,? will i be a happy?will i be a lucky? yes off course i will be but for limited time period and i see one day my hairs all will be white ,i be in non-sense people and will beg more life for struggle at least a one-rigth-thing......no no no i will not be stupid to take such a chance with my one and only life which even i spend half asleep....no way...i understood a big secret..O lord fogive me.

 

[Storm]

A)relegion is nothing but simply running follow the name of a supernatural,unseen believe,much much bitter in taste and bad and struggled life on earth.

Wrong.

B)4 heavens books Zaboor (David),Torah(Moses)Ingel or Gospel (Jesus)Quran(Mohammad).
C)Adam was created from dust for what simply to tell the nouns to Supernatural(God).
D)Satan (Iblees or devil) denied to prostrate.
E)so fight started between supernatural and Davil
F)Human being got changes in his genes and brain cells (technically)by eating chemical fruit of some spcial prohibited tree and following this human enabled his self to fight,aggresion,killing,bad planning,forgetting all heavenly norms ethics and became one of the bad dangerous unatended creature in heaven.
G)Exile of human took place and earth was a real good place for him made in 6 days by supernatural.
H)Human can go back only in heaven with security clearances of many if's and but's other wise there is a clear way as Davil spoiled already that is a more worse fire burning process and rest of all ages human will spend in fire and hell.

Christianity is not "religion." It's A religion; there are others.

I)i chose religion because i know when some one slap my face it never seen after banging my face but i feel pain and swolen face,i work hard but i never know this money will satisfy my mind or not and yes ..i am a smart i dont need much just a little life and little smiles of friends and family ..well well well....If i dont practice and dont consider some one who follow me but ;will i not be able to survive,? will i be a happy?will i be a lucky? yes off course i will be but for limited time period and i see one day my hairs all will be white ,i be in non-sense people and will beg more life for struggle at least a one-rigth-thing......no no no i will not be stupid to take such a chance with my one and only life which even i spend half asleep....no way...i understood a big secret..O lord fogive me.

What the ****?

Seriously, dude, grammar and punctuation are your friends.

 

[Zenaphobe]

Looking back on my own experience, my belief in religion had a few prominent pillars I built on.

First, the pillar of culture. In America, Christianity is part and parcel of the cultural umwelt. I went to church as a child, went to Catholic school, and attended various functions put on by local churches. Was it any wonder that when I sought for a solution to a personal crisis that I would seek help in a familiar form like Christianity? I don't think so.

The second pillar was that of community. Belonging to something bigger than ones self is a powerful experience. Believing that answers to all life's questions are a near as a group of friendly and inviting people has a welcoming appeal to it. Once you are accepted as one of the group, you find it easier to immerse yourself in their world view. Having a mentor and a leader to give direction and encourage solidarity and the powerful influences of positive and negative reinforcement make strong bonds that encourage one to remain in good standing with the community of believers.

A third pillar was the relief from existential crisis. The fear of the ultimate unknown, death, can wear on a person and the offer of salvation is an attractive salve for the troubled conscious. Going back to culture for a second, if you hear from the time you are a child that you are a wretched creature deserving of Hell, it's likely this effects your mental landscape and the remedy of Christian salvation is pretty well known in society.

The fourth pillar was the insinuation of control. The run of the mill existence is one of being subject to circumstances mostly outside one's ability to control. We are cogs in the machine of the universe until we finally die. Faith offers a connection to the operator of the machine and an inside line to interpret ones circumstances in light of the "bigger plan." Now you are a somebody and no longer just one of the unenlightened. Knowledge of the plan maker is yours and life is no longer the winds of chaos beating against you every step of the way.


These pillars and a healthy dose of self preservation can generate a powerful incentive to embrace a religion, especially since we seem to have brains that make belief in the supernatural come pretty easily.

Though I now find the arguments for personal gods and the supernatural to be unconvincing, I can see the attraction in accepting them and I don't think one has to be an idiot to do so. In general, it's the fundamentalists who I consider a threat to democracy and progress, the liberal believers are generally pretty decent folk.

 

[imaginaryme]

Wrong.


Christianity is not "religion." It's A religion; there are others.

It's a conspiracy. Try this home experiment. Go to the bookstore and look for "religion." The one in my hood only has Christianity and its derivatives suchly defined. My Koran came from the "Eastern Religion" section - and the way things are going, that section will soon be called "mysticism," then occult, then banned...

What the ****?

Seriously, dude, grammar and punctuation are your friends.

True enough.

 

[Katzpur]

It's a conspiracy. Try this home experiment. Go to the bookstore and look for "religion." The one in my hood only has Christianity and its derivatives suchly defined. My Koran came from the "Eastern Religion" section - and the way things are going, that section will soon be called "mysticism," then occult, then banned...

Books on my religion are already found in the cult section of most Christian bookstores.

 

[Apex]

Books on my religion are already found in the cult section of most Christian bookstores.

Does this mean we win?

 

[Katzpur]

Does this mean we win?

Absolutely. Other Christians hate us a lot more than they hate non-Christians, don't they? I guess it's because Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. make no pretenses about not being Christian. But you know those Mormons, trying to convince people that they're really Christians when everybody knows they're not. It can be so aggravating.

 

[Vile Atheist]

Other Christians hate us a lot more than they hate non-Christians, don't they?

I don't know about that...

There is quite a bit of vitriol to us atheists lol. Granted, there is definitely some in the other direction.

 

[NathanAbbott]

Why do people believe in religion?

As the grandson of a Baptist preacher, I've pondered this my whole life. *I couldn't find a single answer, but I've concluded that the answer might contain some or all of the following:

1. *EXISTENTIAL AWARENESS - Man is the first animal to develop the ability to contemplate his mortality. *Inventing invisible gods may be a consequence of his inability to accept it. *For a stage of human development, religion may have provided an evolutionary advantage , in that it allowed man to be productive, in lieu of spending his days mired in existential dilemma, reading Sartre & splitting hairs. *Asking "why?" diverts much time from agriculture & child-rearing. *Maybe we lose this this ostensible beneficial mass delusion in the next stage of human development.

2. *FEAR - *Faith/religion seems to be a response to fear, NOT a search for truth. *Religion seems to provide comfort & free us from the destabilizing effects of fear, so that we may be productive.

3. *INDOCTRINATION - this has been covered well in previous posts on this thread. *I might add that when the first humans with the capacity for speech were faced with the dilemma of explaining to baby why grandmother is no longer around, the option of a pleasant, comforting lie was more appealing than explaining the harsh reality that her rotting carcass was worm food. *As baby matured, no one was anxious to confess the lie, so when baby had children, that's the story they were told.

4. *SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST/ EXTERMINATION - historically, most religions purged non-believers. *In the Old Testament, the life expectancy of an atheist wasn't very promising. *Religion seems to be a beneficial tool for uniting communities/social harmony. * If there is a genetic predisposition to religiosity, I have to imagine it was favored by culling the non-believers.

5. * HIVE THEORY - when seen as a single organism, humanity resembles a hive. *The drones or worker bees labor without question or complaint for the greater good of the hive. *They follow orders. *Maybe religiosity is an evolutionary mechanism to align the troops. *Everyone can't lead. *All leaders & no followers would be an evolutionary disadvantage. *Nothing would get done. The hive would not survive. *Human drones do not appear to even want to think for themselves, only to follow.

6. *CONTROL - the "Noble Lie", as stated in Plato's Republic, is a lie, usually of a religious nature, knowingly told, by a leader, to maintain social harmony or to advance an agenda. *When Constantine commissioned the Council of Nicaea, in 325 AD, he*united the many religions of Rome under one roof (the Roman Catholoc Church) and bound Rome's many holy books into "the Bible"(hence, all the contradictions). *Remember, Rome conquered many different lands, each with it's own religion.

The benefit of this consolidation? *Constantine could more easily feed Rome's war machine. *Death became honorable; "he died for God & country". *The church became a mechanism to comfort mothers, *propagandize the war effort with hymns ("Onward Christian Soldiers", etc.)... and spy on the populace via the "confessional". *When you're at war with EVERYBODY, it's best to keep an ear out for plots, coups & insurgencies.

Constantine was such a stand-up guy, he boiled his pregnant wife alive.

=========================

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful"
*~ Seneca, 50 AD

=========================

 

[bulmabriefs144]

It is more than obvious, that people who identify as religious, are (consciously) ignorant of certain facts of reality. They avoid scientific evidence and when it is in front of them they explain it away in the most pathetic fashion. It seems they care so much about their delusion that they actually fight to defend it. Why?

Nice OP btw. You just called everyone who worships religion an idiot for an ego boost. An ego boost that wasn't even valid, because it shows how little you actually know.

Scientific evidence I've seen so far proves the existence of Big Bang and Evolution, among other things. It does not however, supersede or even begin to disprove Origin. If I evolved from Cro Magnon or whatever, I can believe this, but the evidence you seem to be ignorant of is that without some sort of Origin, whatever we wanna call it, I'd not even be stuck as a slime, I'd not exist at all and neither would you.

People believe in religion, because they actually put the thought process to the logical extension (if not, they can get suckered out of religion), and realize on the most basic level, I'm here and you're here, that means we exist. A western omelet with sausage, cheese, and peppers does not just pop into thin air. But somehow you expect an entire universe to, and have the gall to insult other members for having insight you don't?

There is quite a bit of vitriol to us atheists lol. Granted, there is definitely some in the other direction.

It's because of stuff like this. If you wanna not believe what's in front of your eyes (quite literally, everything that exists is a creation), that's up to you. But calling people idiots for doing it, and getting "offended" when other people worship in front of you, is offensive.

 

[haribol]

It is out of morbidity, remorse and consternation man believes in religion. A healthy man does not need religion, and when he recklessly finds no refuge in a world of turmoil, war and caprice, and when he has nothing to bank on, it is religion he finds fortifying.

This is mockery though it seems to pay, give him some vitality when he is spiritually moribund.

Religion is the ultimate resort one turns to when swayed by pessimism.

 

[sandandfoam]

It is out of morbidity, remorse and consternation man believes in religion. A healthy man does not need religion, and when he recklessly finds no refuge in a world of turmoil, war and caprice, and when he has nothing to bank on, it is religion he finds fortifying.

This is mockery though it seems to pay, give him some vitality when he is spiritually moribund.

Religion is the ultimate resort one turns to when swayed by pessimism.

Are you speaking of youself or humanity?

If the latter, by what right do you presume to speak for me?

 

[Storm]

It is out of morbidity, remorse and consternation man believes in religion. A healthy man does not need religion, and when he recklessly finds no refuge in a world of turmoil, war and caprice, and when he has nothing to bank on, it is religion he finds fortifying.

This is mockery though it seems to pay, give him some vitality when he is spiritually moribund.

Religion is the ultimate resort one turns to when swayed by pessimism.

So, all believers are "unhealthy?" Nice stereotype you got there.

 

[haribol]

In fact all i want to say is religion is born of fear and uncertainty. Man is mortal and everything he encounters in nature is admonishing, be it a thunderbolt, floods or typhoons. Man sees the wrath of god even in drought or in the torrent that drowns his settlement.

 

[sandandfoam]

In fact all i want to say is religion is born of fear and uncertainty.

Why do you believe this?

 

[haribol]

Why do you believe this?

I believe this because I have seen people are getting corrupt in the name of God and religion. I believe this because tall temples and monasteries are erected to dwarf humanity. I believe it because it has deluded people to behave irrationally, stupidly and often violently. I believe it because more battles were fought through religious fanaticism to assassinate the innocent. Religion is anti-scientific.