Why are smart people so easily deluded by religion?

Question

You would think that anyone with half a brain and the ability to think rationaly would see religions for what they are, unfounded belief in ridiculous ideas. Why do some otherwise intelligent and educated individuals throw their intelect away and embrace such ludicrous beliefs? Is it fear of death? I can not understand how anyone who thinks about it can come to the conclusion that there is a god, or that their religion is correct. I welcome responses to my inquiry from god people, as I would love it if someone would make sense of this.

Answer 1

I think the answer that you are looking for is faith. Religion is more than just believing in a God. It is about morals and guides to a good life. It may have nothing to do with whether or not you go to heaven but just the fact you can feel good about yourself through morals a religion sets for you. It is also important when you are raising children to instill this into them and a good way to do that is through religion.

I believe you can apply science to religion and realize that some of it may be fictionalized but that is not the point. The point is that you understand the meaning and the teachings and apply them to your life.

You can believe in evolution but also believe there is a master creator- God.

That is my take on it. I hope that answers your question.

Answer 2

"You would think that anyone with half a brain and the ability to think rationaly would see religions for what they are, unfounded belief in ridiculous ideas"


It's not hard to be Atheist and say "I can't see God, and there's no evidence so he doesn't exist"


There's been a lot of things throughout history that people initially scoffed at and said were ludicrous, but then found they weren't. Why can't it be the same way with God?


How can smart people join a religion? Because they believe there's something more then life. It doesn't take much intelligence to take everything at face value and vehemently claim there's nothing more then what you see.

Answer 3

This is a good question. one I have been struggling with. There is a lot to be said about orginized religion.
Community
Fellowship
Charity
The General Teaching of morals

And Frankly those are things I would like my familty to be part of .. Thus I have started really research diffent churches .. the bible etc..

I say to my self ok lets look at my own beliefs .. 1 Is there a god : well I struggle with getting from dust ( particals) to human without help ( thus lets say god )
ok so there is a god . now what god .. well everybody seems to like this Bible thingy .. but even if I throw out the OT as the ramblings of a bitter people.. and look purly at the NT ... the more I look the less I see that deals with any verifable facts .. frankly I cant find any historical records for Jesus.. plus I think Pilate died 30 years before Harod came to rule so .. how did Pilate parade Jesus in front of him .. Well crap i was willing to give you Jesus as an acutal person.. now ... Not so sure ..

Answer 4

What makes YOU think you are not the deluded one? Belief in God is not necessarily a delusion. In fact it can be quite rational.

I have seen things that can't be explained in ANY scientific way and the ONLY explanation is an intelligent force (God) that is helping us.

I am a member of Mensa and many of my fellow Mensa members believe in an intelligent force beyond our comprehension.

For you to think that you know for a fact there is no God or intelligence beyond our is arrogance beyond belief. You are no different that the limited thinkers of the early years claiming that the Earth was the center of the universe. You THINK you know everything but it only shows how little you really know. You don't even know that you don't know everything.

I am not so arrogant that I think I know what lies beyond this life. I do know that energy can never be destroyed and that it just takes a different form. I do know that there is far too much that "Science" can't even come close to explaining.

Open your mind a bit and quit thinking you know everything. You don't.

Answer 5

A lot of studies have shown that the higher one's IQ is and the more educated one is, the less likely one is to be religious.

However, a lot of intelligent people are still religious.

I think that intelligence doesn't always help with a person's feelings of insecurity. They may find that their religious beliefs help them deal with insecurities.

Intelligence also doesn't seem to be any guarantee of sanity. In fact, the most brilliant people often seem to be more likely to be screwy in some way, or at least eccentric. This could work both ways in regards to whether or not they end up being religious.

A lot of people are willing to let themselves believe things that they have no proof of, and things that are illogical, simply because the idea makes them feel good or because they want it to be true. Also, even intelligent people tend to need to have friends and religious communities often offer an easy way to form social contacts.

Many people are also born into families that have some sort of strong tradition of belief in some religion. Many intelligent people may avoid scrutinizing their beliefs too closely, (or honestly), because they realize that they could upset their parents and/or siblings if they deviated from the accepted set of family beliefs. A lot of people are more interested in being close to their families than they are in having a firmly logical philosophy.

There are probably other reasons too, but I think these are some big ones.

Answer 6

Why would otherwise intelligent people not recognize their pride and arrogance for what they are and not realize that there must be more to life than what you see. I came to my religion from a place of complete rejection of it. And what I have seen and experienced since then only continues to confirm my belief. It is our experience and the experiences of others that lead us to whatever belief we hold. And I don't mean that I believe what I have been told blindly. I mean that I have carefully considered the sources, seen if what they said could be chalked up to coincidence, and decided for myself on the validity. I don't have all the answers, I don't understand why God does what He does sometimes, but I do know that He is a real presence in my life.

Answer 7

There's a reason its called faith. You have to believe in something. Go to a mirror, widen your eye with your fingers, and look at it. What makes you human. Is it that revolving eye in that gushy socket? What happen after that eye is poked. Viqeous humour may pour out, but you're still human. The 7/9 processes of life only do so much for you. Is a person who's brain stem's been crushed still living? Still existing? Spiritually still there? Why can people in China smile and laugh just as well as someone from Iceland or NY?
That being said, I've known plenty of people who were dumb as bricks and atheists or agnostic.

Answer 8

I'm not religious and I don't like organized religion, however, I have had some very odd things happen in my life that made me believe there must be a God.

I still have no reason to believe the bible is fact and I'm of course not absolutely certain about anything.

A good quote for this subject is: "There is more faith in honest doubt than in half the creeds."

Answer 9

Maybe it's a right brain/left brain kind of thing. Some people who are very smart might be drawn more to making conclusions about life based on empirically proven facts, while others who make decisions intuitively, based on their ideals of truth and beauty, would value thinking "outside of the box" and not be unduly bothered by a lack of proof.

Answer 10

I don't know, it seems like an incredible inconsistency to take a leap that far from logic when you are, in all other cases, a logical, intelligent, and mildly functional human being. It perplexes me too....maybe they just have conceded on trying to come up with their own answers, and say "Yeah, this religion looks nice" and go on with their lives, which is smarter than wasting their lives actually trying to contemplate the essentially unanwerable. Maybe it is a perfectly informed decision to just choose a group and call it a day....makes things a whole lot smoother....