What do you think is at the core of people that makes them choose religion or not choose. You can't say?

Question

education since many have shown on here they are very educated and still believe and many educated have chose not to believe. Is it personality? Pride, anger, disappointment, or something else? Family influence has shown to be on both sides of the coin. So it must be beyond this as well. What makes one open to the possiblity and not another?????????????

Answer 1

I have been on both sides of this issue. I was raised to believe, but rationally I could not except the idea that God was the judgmental insecure fruitcake my religion portrayed him as.

So I stopped believing. Then this happened to me.

Several years ago I had an unusual experience concerning an uncle, a distant relative who lived over a thousand miles away.

While driving my car I suddenly felt the unmistakable presence of this relative that I hardly even knew. He was more like someone I had heard about than someone I knew. It was very strange; it felt as though I was momentarily lifted right out of my physical body. I seemed to be suspended somehow beyond space and time, bathed in a love so intense It felt like I could have just disappear into it at any moment if It would have let me. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed to last forever at the same time. I realize how crazy this must sound. The experience was so strong that at first I was afraid I was loosing my grip on reality. I finally managed to chalk it up to an over active imagination.

Three days later I got a call from my aunt telling me that this uncle we are talking about had gone into a coma and died the day I had the experience. It felt like ice water had been poured down my back when she told me this. I had lost any real ideas of God or faith and had become somewhat of an atheist. Needless to say this experience caused me to rethink some of the conclusions I had come to.

I feel blessed to now understand that even in our darkest confusion something loves us so much that it went out of its way to assist me and bring me back to a state of absolute certainty about Gods love for us.
During the experience it seemed like there was a vast amount of information that I was somehow allowed access to. One thing that I came away from this experience understanding beyond any shadow of a doubt was that any Idea that God is unhappy with us or would judge or allow us to be punished for any reason is simply impossible.

I can’t explain the love I felt with words. They simply don’t make words big enough or complete enough to do this. The only way I can begin to convey this love to you is to say that there was simply nothing else there. Nothing but love. No hint of judgment, no displeasure of any sort. It is as though God sees us as being as perfect as we were the day we were created. It is only in our confused idea of ourselves that we seem to have changed.

I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck. Love and blessings.

Your brother don

Answer 2

All the things you've mentioned are part of whether we choose to believe or not to believe, whether it's education, personality, vices and/or family values. It's stunning, but when a family with many children is taught the same things in the same way, each is different in many ways. Why? Maybe it's because each child 'takes in' and processes the same information, but each perceives it differently.....individuality and free will?

Personally, I believe all one needs to do is to look around them...at nature, the world, inside themselves, and family values... my answers are there. And whether one believes in the "Big Bang Theory" and/or a "Supreme Being," one can, both at the same time. We're talking about intangibles, like the gift of Faith....one only needs to ask for it, and also realize/admit we humans are fallible. And, what about an after life...there must be more to this life than just the here and now, otherwise, we wouldn't have Hope. That's sad.

I always believed in God; Mom took us kids to church, but I still felt there was something missing.... it was a longing or a searching feeling, you could say. So, after talking with many people, clergy, all of differing faiths, and going to different church services, I finally realized that it was up to me to decide.

So, I did find what I still believe is the one, true church. And, that longing, or searching feeling has been long gone... over fifty yrs. gone.

It doesn't end there; each day is a struggle/challenge...between good and bad choices. I find the best defense is a good offense.

Answer 3

I think it has to do with our early beginnings, and our souls. If we were in an enviornment that helps keep our souls awake and receptive to God and the Spirit...then we are more prone. If we have a hard time or horrible happenings the great lie of Satan is to convince us to blame God often. Sometimes it is because when we choose to Love God that means changing and being a better person. The more questions that get answered the more we have. I think choosing to avert away from God helps us rationalize many things in our life that would otherwise not be ok. But I know many "good people" who dont know Jesus. But I know that in the end, we all have that moment, that chance. But it is up to the individual if they want to take it.

Jesus Loves us.

Answer 4

Most people are raised with religion or at least some teaching that a higher power exists, created us, etc....typically the non-believers either had experiences or just studied the things that caused beleivers to believe (the bible for one) and came to the conclusion that they'd been hoodwinked and religion was nothing more than mythology to keep the masses in line...

The people who question are more likely to turn away from religion, than those who just blindly accept (because it seems the thing to do)...

Answer 5

All that you mentioned.... negative experience with a particular "religion" is often cited here and has been expressed to me by many.... also each individual has a clear tendancy to think they are special and above others in some way. Even those with "low" self esteem have some sense of personal uniqueness. This leads to not wanting to be "told what to do". As it is difficult to getaway with breaking rules in society in most areas, that leaves "religion" as an easy to rebel against, perceived domintating force.

Answer 6

There is research going on into a region of the brain (Broca's or something like that) that may well be the seat of what might be loosely termed the religious sense. I would think it unlikely that that is all there is to it but it makes sense to me that it is something innate because I cannot understand belief in supernatural phenomenon without some biological cause, not in a deterministic sense I hasten to add, just a propensity.

Answer 7

I can't choose to believe any one religion (or atheism). If I don't have a reason to believe something, I simply wont believe it. I don't believe in a god, because there is no evidence of a god for me to believe. I don't believe in unicorns, because there is no evidence of a god for me to believe. I don't believe that my car never needs gasoline, because there is no evidence that my car can function without gas.

So, my lack of a religion is not a choice.

Now, that being said, I did choose to be a Christian at a young age. Everyone else was going to church, and it seemed to be the "in" thing to do. "Normal" kids went to church, so I wanted to go too.

I chose to "believe" the tales of church. Even then, that choice was tenuous, because 10 years later, I realized that all the stuff I chose to believe wasn't even anything I truly believed. I wanted to be "normal." I wanted to have a caretaker named God. I wanted to believe there was something better after this life.

Once I saw that there was no benefit to being "normal" and that the only evidence of God and the afterlife was in my strong desire to make them true, I reverted back to being an atheist. I guess you could say that everything I needed to know about faith I learned in Kindergarten. I didn't know about religion then, so I defaulted to atheism. And now that I know about religion, I have no reason to leave that default.

Answer 8

If neither Druidry or Wicca finally end up beautiful to you, additionally evaluate Heathenry or Hellenismos (Norse Reconstructionist and Hellenic Reconstructionist Pagan religions respectively) as there is likewise a great appreciate for nature and nature spirits/deities in those religions. Do your study to locate which direction is ultimately ideal for you.

Answer 9

well it all boils down to psychology

people WANT to believe for certain reasons. either the religion fills a psychological void, or theyve been brought up to beleive and to not beleive is strange, they may simply want to beleive. it all depends onthe individual

on the other hand people who dont beleive also beleive for different reasons. i dont beleive because ive studied the religion and can see the holes, the absurdities and the evolution if the religion over time. its mythology. simple as that.

everyone has their reasons, no matter what side theyre on.

Answer 10

Good question, I have often pondered this myself. My opinion on this is that it has to do with religion gives somepeople comfort, a sense of security and knowing that whatever god they worship protects them. Ask a little child who protects them, they will say their parents or a friend, ask an adult they will say god. Maybe this has to do with the need for someone when you grow up and become independant for protection against the world.