Why do you think some people can believe in God(s) and others can't? What factors separate the two sides?

Question

Believers and non-believers have reached opposite conclusions on the same issue with equal conviction. I find that fascinating and perplexing. Personally, I am a non-believer and don't really understand how people can honestly believe in God(s). And there are believers who don't understand how I can't believe. What is that people to be so far apart on the same issue? What is it about the way believers think that non-believers lack, or vice-versa? It has to be complex than just faith or a lack thereof.

Answer 1

There's almost certainly a large genetic component to it.

It's not a "God gene" or anything that silly, but much more likely belief in God comes from genetic predispositions to things like:

- discomfort with uncertainty,
- a sense of understanding when given a story,
- a tendency to attribute movements to intentions,
- a tendency to see patterns in randomness.

Answer 2

There is a great deal of research that indicates the answer is genetic. In fact there are a number of genetic markers that can be shown to be strongly correlated with higher religiousness or with higher secularism, and are 80%+ predictive.