Why are people Religious?

Question

Im an atheist. I'm just wondering with everything thats out there like science, the fact there has been and still are more than one religion, (which suggest its more cultural as opposed to a finite truth), The fact that studies show prayer has no effect. Applying your life to a book that was written by a bunch of virtually non - educated (in the modern sense) at a time that history has shown there were many so called saviors or profits (people who have no education are usually much more gullible i guess) doesn't seem rational. Im not saying that there are no good points in religion but there have also been as equal or more bad points - like hating those who dont believe in you god and then killing them ;).
Basically i'm thinking this; why do you think your so special for believing in something that really can't stand on evidence; i.e faith? Why would God do that? It's really not efficient if God does want to prove God exist.

Fellow atheist - i want to get the religious perspective not our prospective.

Answer 1

Most of the population on the planet are very weak people. They need the religion to find meaning in their lives because they can't find it themselves. Rather sad.

I think these people are the ones that are going to eventually blow us all up.

Answer 2

I am an atheist as well, but I don't agree with your accusatory tone. I think that, instead of telling people that their beliefs make no sense, you should try to understand where they are coming from. And to do that, you have to truly consider the possibility that their religion is true. That's the only way you can begin to get things from their perspective. Let's say that Christianity really is true, despite your objections. Let's say that a person really did raise from the dead 2000 years ago, and that a group of people recorded it for posterity. Does it then matter how educated they were, or that there is more than one religion? No, not really, not from their perspective. It only seems like a glaring problem because you're on the other side of the fence. There are plenty of things that look like glaring problems with atheism if you're a Christian though. For example, many Christians will retort that atheism can't explain the complexity and beauty of the world. How could something as complex as the human brain, or even a single-celled organism, arise unless there is a God? Now, I don't think this is a problem for atheism, and I also think there are serious problems with religion. But you have to go deeper than just saying, "Religion is obviously illogical; why do you believe this nonsense?" Because someone could just as easily substitute "atheism" for religion, and back it up with a pretty good argument. So if you're interested in why people are religious, approach it seriously. Don't try to ridicule, try to understand.

Answer 3

I just share my opinion.
Which God do you not believe in? Is it the God who sits in heaven, commanding people, making us sinners and then reviving them and taking account of our actions in a notebook and evaluating them to punish/reward later.

If that is the case, there are two non-believers now. Come on, these are childish stories, to introduce Godhood and discipline to children. It may have its importance but we have to Grow UP.

In Hinduism and I think in most religions, God is one who is the primordial cause. Without him we and the creation could not be.
Scientifically, If we say that this creation has happened, then for any creation to happen, there should be material cause and an intelligent cause.

Inert things cannot create. A stone cannot create anything, but a human can. Similarly you cannot create anything from nothing. If this varied creation is accepted, then the creation has started from a cause which is both material and intelligent. That cause should exist by itself (for if it is also a creation, then the logic applies). This does not violate science. A thing which is both intelligent and ever-existent is one from which creation should have ebbed out. This is the only scientific presuppositon and not an assumption.

That prime thing is called God in general Religion, Truth in Philosophy and through different names in different religions.

So as per religion GOD IS (in this way, which I dont think can be rejected by any rational person).

However the problems that you have mentioned is not because of religion but the interpretation of religion. The problem is everything is misunderstood.

Prayer is not begging, if so it has no effect. To be brief, Prayer is a scientific mechanism of tuning ourselves internally. Similarly the view on prophets and saints is wrong in the sense that you are evaluating them in terms of modern education. Modern education is just a collection of facts to carryout the bread winning exercise.

Religion is the best tool to train man to be the Master of all situations and to fulfill the vacuum of incompleteness, sorrow and stress created by our misconceptions. Just as any good product has its duplicates, so too there are many gullible people cheating the every begging crowds who wish to solve all their problems through miracles. A person who really prays demands nothing, but surrenders completely to the will of the Lord. That is devotion in most religions.

Religion is an exercise of self tuning. In our perception there is no point branding ourselves as an athiest or a particular religionist. Let us find the real message of our ancestral religion and then understand the great teachers of the world not with the modern education point of view, but their maturity in terms of their peaceful state.

Religion is the solution to all our day to day problems. Even if you go to an island, you cannot leave your mind. The problem is in our mind and not in the beings. It is in our perception. So let us expand our perception and live contended in the midst of the challenging surroundings. How to do this is the entire teaching of our Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita, where a dejected man of action is raised by the wisdom words of the Lord). There is a download the installation version of this book with English translation and commentary. If this can help you, you can have it.

http://www.chinmayauk.org/resources/downloads.htm

This is only my perception. I believe that everyone should take up their ancestral religious study alongwith other study that they feel could assist them in order to grow spiritually. The Kingdom of Heaven is within us is the experience of all saints. May we all reach that natural state of ours with our own efforts.

Answer 4

I believe Religion in a modern sense has become so deeply instilled within the minds of society that it has evolved into a simple monotonous task that many find indisputable to comprehend and yet unable to reform against. My inability to conform with societies idea of religon has guided me to my own spiritual euphoric state of mind in which I thrive to live for my own being making decisions that I can jurisdict are the correct ones.

Answer 5

I don't think I am so special, I believe because it feels right to me and I take comfort from it. I do pray and I have seen prayer work but that is me.
I have seen God's proof but that is my own experience. Truly religious people are because we feel God in every fiber of our bodies, hearts and souls. Can't really describe it but it is amazing. We don't need to convert or bash, we need to show by actions/examples not fancy words. By living good positive lives and trying to make the world a better place, without telling people they are damned because they feel different.

Answer 6

I think it's because religious dogma is easy to follow as it's thrust upon you from an early age often, but science is a bit harder to understand and you have to put in a bit of bookwork to get a reasonable grasp of it.

Answer 7

Some people were brought up that way in their parents' households. I was one of them but I didn't become a Christian until I was going into my sophomore year of college! My parents and I always attended church but they never really preached to me because they felt that I would be better off finding my own path.

While finding my own path, God found me :)

Answer 8

God gives us plenty of evidence to believe in him. Doubt comes when we fail to stop long enough to observe all the evidence. And when doubt turns to lack of trust, we are in danger of ignoring God altogether. we should never doubt our salvation. Once we become Christian, Satan can never snatch us away.

Answer 9

There's religion for several reasons. I don't like any of them. That's why I'm more leaning towards Atheism now.

Answer 10

with out reading a damn word you wrote... HOPE! Religious people want to believe there is HOPE after life.