why do people believe in religon?

Question

I agree that It is often difficult to engage in impartial scholarly or scientific inquiry into the origins of religious doctrines, particularly when those critically examining the foundations of the revered truths are often placed in jeopardy by their societies.

Answer 1

Here's a wacky thought: what if at least one of the religions is true? Sure, there may not be a ton of direct evidence lying around, but any logician will tell you that absence of proof is not proof of absence. A reasonable person has to consider the possibility that religious people are right, even if they do sound ridiculous at times.

And if a religion is actually correct, might that not be justification enough?

Of course, we could also break this question down into any number of sub-questions like, "What is sufficient evidence to reasonably substantiate a particular religious claim?" or "What proportion of a religion's claims must be false before the entirety of the religion may be considered fallacious?" or "What inevitable conclusions can we draw about a religion that is true but which has an insufficient basis for reasonable belief?" And that's just for starters! Of course, there's no point starting in on these here... each one is at least a whole separate topic on their own!

Answer 2

Here is a list of REAL reasons complied by me:

1. You were told these things as the child, dragged to church/mosque/temple on weekly basis, got convinced that what was repeated 100 times is true, and then never questioned it.
2. You became afraid to truly DIE, and since you are weak enough to just accept your own death, you grasped at straws -- and were ready to believe anything, this is when i heard somebody say "your soul is immortal, if only you become Christian / Jewish/ Etc" you can live forever. What a good deal you thought, and then you were not a scared
3. You had some kind of a problem in your life, you were sick, addicted to crack, etc... then you got better and decided that it is due to God helping
4. You live in a religious society and have no choice, you are coerced to believe or die.

That pretty much covers it.

Answer 3

During 1800s, Anthropologists had a problem as to how
to classify human beings. One researcher proposed the
expression "intelligent animal". After advanced studies
on monkeys, it was dropped. Another researcher proposed
"tool using animal". After observing some animals
making wooden tools and sharpening them with knife like
stones, it was dropped. Another researcher proposed
"weapon using animal". A decade ago, a rare film was
shot in African forests. One short monkey was hit very
badly by a big monkey. The short monkey prepared a
wooden knife using stones and hid it on the top of a
tree. After some days, when the big monkey came to
attack the short monkey, it ran up to the tree for the
weapon it has hid and killed the big monkey. The one
thing that the anthropologists found with any group of
human beings, even if they did not have contacts with
the out side world for thousands of years, is
spirituality with some form of religion. So, man is a
"spiritual animal" if you want to call him that way.

The Upanishads say that "Manush" (human) was so named
because he has "Manas" a mind higher than that of the
animals which realises the divinity in creation. It was
present since the creation of human beings. Religion is
the characteristic feature of most of the human beings.
It is as eternal and and as unchanging as the Almighty.
Disbelief by a few will not affect it.

Answer 4

Revered truths are often placed in jeopardy by their societies. This is due to the unreasonable reactions of humanity.

Inquiry into the origins of religious doctrines, particularly when those critically examining the foundations of the revered truths.
It appears that at sometime an innocent witnessed an occurrence that caused a man to believe in something greater then him self. When this occurred he took worship and named that deity. However, something later greater occurrence happen to a man called Abraham and the deity named him self and requested of this man worship (a form of Love) and trust. From this it's self came truth and was passed down from generation to generation until man decided and was inspired to write it all down for future inquiries and lessons in truth. Later the Truth became one of us to show us that truth does exist.

(Jhn 1:14) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
(Jhn 1:17) For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
(Jhn 4:24) God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.

Answer 5

"scientific inquiry into the origins of religious doctrines" - that is a non-sequitur.. Read Carl Sagan's "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark"

Answer 6

IMHO.....I think it's a human condition. Many people NEED to believe in something more powerful than themselves.
I try to keep an open mind. To my mind tho, taking religion as a valid theory, I think the theory that we were seeded here by an advanced civilization from another planet is just as valid. Could argue for either side all day long.

Answer 7

I think because societies need the regulations and guidance that religions, regardless to their origins, provide. If you take a closer look at laws in a particular society, you will find them affiliated with the dominant religious beliefs in that society.

Answer 8

D'holbach had some interesting things to say regarding this issue in his book Common Sense. i couldn't be able to pick better words than this german phillospher. Hope it helps:

When we examine the opinions of men, we find that nothing is more uncommon, than common sense; or, in other words, they lack judgment to discover plain truths, or to reject absurdities, and palpable contradictions. We have an example of this in Theology, a system revered in all countries by a great number of men; an object regarded
by them as most important, and indispensable to happiness. An examination of the principles upon which this pretended system is founded, forces us to acknowledge, that these principles are only suppositions, imagined by ignorance, propagated by enthusiasm or knavery, adopted by timid credulity, preserved by custom which never reasons, and revered solely because not understood.

In a word, whoever uses common sense upon religious opinions, and will bestow on this inquiry the attention that is commonly given to most subjects, will easily perceive that Religion is a mere castle in the air. Theology is ignorance of natural causes; a tissue of fallacies and contradictions. In every country, it presents romances void of probability, the hero of which is composed of impossible qualities. His name, exciting fear in all minds, is only a vague word, to which, men affix ideas or qualities, which are either contradicted by facts, or inconsistent.

Notions of this being, or rather, _the word_ by which he is designated, would be a matter of indifference, if it did not cause innumerable ravages in the world. But men, prepossessed with the opinion that this phantom is a reality of the greatest interest, instead of concluding wisely from its incomprehensibility, that they are not bound to regard it, infer on the contrary, that they must contemplate it, without ceasing, and never lose sight of it. Their invincible ignorance, upon this subject, irritates their curiosity; instead of putting them upon guard against their imagination, this ignorance renders them decisive, dogmatic, imperious, and even exasperates
them against all, who oppose doubts to the reveries which they have begotten.

Answer 9

There are reams of studies on this, in fact, just last week, nytimes had a big article on research into this area. Basically humans are wired to look for an intelligent agent behind natural occurrences.

Answer 10

They believe because it is more terrifying NOT to believe. Humankinds greatest fear is death. Religions ALL try to remove that fear by supplying some kind of afterlife for those who are pious. No one wants to think that death is the end. It takes an intelligent, strong mind to face that fear without instead making themselves feel better by adopting a religion. Add this to the fact that all religions supply their followers with neat, handy rules for living and take away the need to make value judgements and decisions about behavior and you have a sure-fire product.