how can such rational people like engineers believe in such irrational nonsense such as religion?

Question

i'm an engineer and work with a bunch of engineers. TONS of them are christians and believe the silliest crap i can imagine. why do rational people believe this crap?

Answer 1

I am an engineer too. And I don't believe in any religion... As an engineer, we are always taught to doubt and question whatever we are told or whatever we observe... But when it comes to religion, you are always told that you shouldn't question it very much.
With biology, chemistry and physics we can come up with answers or at least with theories to any question or phenomenon while religon only dictates a nonlogical explanation.
The simplest answer to your question I believe is to say that these engineers just couldn't overcome the social condemnation barrier, which is put in front of every member of our society by our elementary school teachers, family members and peers.
As an engineer, I have always tried to find a proof before I start believing in anything. And I am sure, all those engineers who believe in religon do have a feeling of unease in their hearth for believing in something they see no proof.
By the way, I believe in God. But the God I believe in is not something as described in three major books. And one last thing, I have read all three books before deciding on what to belive and also done a little bit research about ancient cultures in the same geography. What I find out is that all three major religions are a synthesis of previous myths and legends of ancient cultures living in Mesapotamia and Egypt.

Answer 2

You ASSUME that they are rational. My question is, how can you be so sure that they ARE rational?

I think it's just another form of brainwashing...like how Kim, Il Song convinced the North koreans that he threw pinecones at the Japanese and not only did they turn into grenades, he also drove them single-handedly from the Korean peninsula. People like you and me KNOW that such a story is absolute bs, but it's what the North koreans have been taught their whole lives and noone can go to NK and tell them how ridiculous the story is. The christians have been taught that the bible is 100% true since they were born. It is all they know. They may have heard of other religions and of atheism, but they've been taught that we are either misguided (humans are inherently stupid...that's why god has to tell us everything we know) or that we are acting on the devil's behalf. 'Well, the bible is god's word and it's all true-we know this because the bible says it's true'

Circular 'logic'...

Answer 3

Well, it is also irrational to believe religion is complete nonsense: there is just as little proof that it isn't right than there is that it IS right.
Spirituality serves a basic human need for many people. There is no problem with them believing in it UNLESS they confuse their spirituality with their rationality, which leads to such things as fundamentalism etc.

Answer 4

There is a real disconnect when it comes to religion. People who are reasonable and intelligent in every other department just totally loose it. Obviously being brainwashed from birth to believe these things plays a strong role. But religion really does have a stronger hook for adults than the Santa myth, to which it's often (and justifiably) compared, does for kids. I'm talking about fear of death, fear that the universe really doesn't make sense, that we have no purpose, etc. Religion claims to answer all those primal fears. And people would far rather accept the outrageous, infamous lies of organized religion than default to terrified ignorance.

Of course, those aren't the only options!

Answer 5

Your one hundred% the ideal option it quite is nonsense. So take convenience which you and approximately approximately oh possibly 2.5 Billion different do no longer seem to believe in one God. yet out of your 2.5 Billion there are some that believe in some type of God/writer/and so on.... so as that leaves ohhh we could be honest and say a million Billion of something are Atheists. ok so do the mathematics a million Billion of you're saying there is no God. Then there is 5 Billion of something persons on earth who say there's a God? so which you're interior the minority. so which you and you billion pals can shop on conserving on. through fact curiously you will be able to desire to be the neatest a million billion human beings through fact 5 billion others are all incorrect in accordance to you.

Answer 6

The first engineering feat that was done was due to religious belief and pagan practices which were made possible by building of the Pyramids of Egypt, The Stone Henge and many religious towers made for Buddha. Old Temples, Churches in Rome, China, Istanbul, Greece and United Kingdom are made thropugh Engineering knowhows and for sure. Many archeological findings were not without religious connection to it. So do not separate yourself so much as if you are the only one who is sane. Your knowledge of engineering was rooted out from the dreams of the religious who wanted to reach their Gods in heaven by erecting tall structures.

Answer 7

you don't need to believe in numbers to use them to count. I mean that they likely never think of the meanings of number theory or what it means to hold the religious beliefs they state. If they did they would no longer remain rational. Many people, if you ask about division by 0, can only tell you not to do it, some can tell you it is undefined, but few know why, or what it means.
People here get upset and argue that Evolution is against the word of God, but don't know quite why or how that is and what the conflict means. Most people live in separate compartments of their life, religion is one, work is another.

Answer 8

It is ingrained and jackhammered into them for a long time. Believing in any religious dogma is a result of putting your reasoning, logic, skepticism mechanisms in the off position. Some people have had so much fear pounded into them that they can't jump start those mechanisms again.
Darwin didn't stop believing until later in his life when he realized that it just wasn't reasonable to believe in those myths anymore.

Answer 9

One of the Disciples of Christ, Thomas, complained that he did not believe Jesus resurrected.He said, unless he could feel the place where the nails pierced Jesus' skin, he would not believe it. About a week after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to Thomas and said, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." St. Thomas was a person who had doubts, but those
doubts turned to faith. Jesus turned to him and proclaimed, "You have believed because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." This message is one which is directed to us who are distanced from the resurrection by time.

God is found in the love that we express to one
another. That's what God is trying to teach us through this story today. You don't need to see Jesus dripping blood. You don't need to see Jesus' hands and feel the nails. You have enough pain in your lives. What you need to know is-

that Jesus is here with you today, sharing your pain. You have touched a greater flesh than the flesh Thomas touched. You touched the Church. You have touched the Body of Christ. Reaching out, ministering, helping during times of need, spreading love to the lonely and giving light to those in the dark. That's the Church. That's what has touched you and that's what you are touching!

Answer 10

Maybe this will help. They follow the greatest engineer the world has ever seen, Jesus Christ. After all He created the universe, the world and everything in them.
He even created you and everyone who has ever lived. Look in the mirror and see what a good job He die with you and then claim He is not a fantastic engineer.
"9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:" Ephesians 3:9 in The Holy Bible.