Why Do So Many People Believe in God?

How the world and universe around us works is often counter-intuitive. If you think the god answer is technically wrong, do you think it’s perhaps the more intuitive one for many people?

actually, I’d be interested if atheists really think more people are “wrong” than a believer in any given religious sect does….

honestly there are probably more atheists than most single interpretations of religions…

Here’s one of the questions/assumptions that makes me *facepalm* the most:

“Ah, well you just haven’t been reading the right books/learning about the right interpretations/etc. How have you decided there’s no God without fully considering [insert personal religious preference here]?”

The sheer multitude of different facets and sects and interpretations of religious beliefs leave almost everybody a version of God/gods that they can get behind – from the fundamentalist, fire & brimstone versions of God to the “spiritual-but-not-religious,” deist, universalist versions of God. Why give up belief in God completely when you can simply pick your favorite flavor of comfort?

What about cases (if there are any) where someone converts to a religion after being an atheist? What convinces them to change their minds so fundamentally? It would definitely be interesting to hear from that point of view…

In my experience, people’s personal weaknesses get the better of them and compel them to believe in god. Not too long ago, I was talking with someone on an Evangelical forum about finding meaning in life, and I made the comment that my friends and family are huge contributing factors to my personal significance in life. The Evangelical tried scare tactics — “What if something happens to your family or friends, and you’re left alone? What then?” — to which I responded, “I still have my memories of them, and I’ll use them to motivate me to build a new life with new friends and a new family, both in their honor and in the interest of moving on with my life.”

At one point I told her that there is meaning to be found for anyone who is willing to look, and that her willingness to give in to a belief in god just because of that fear of vulnerability was, in my view, a major weakness.

What I gleamed from this reasoning of hers was that she felt she HAD to believe in god, just because without an eternal Big Brother to keep an eye on her, she would live in fear that those whom gave her life meaning currently may eventually disappear and leave her with nobody; the very idea that it’s even *possible* to be truly alone in the world, even for a short time, is enough to scare a lot of people into believing in god.

Which leads me to my first conclusion; that many people believe in god based on a (false, IMO) pretense that we’re “not supposed” to be alone or feel afraid in this life; if we fear something, or if we value something and fear losing it, then something is wrong. To me, that’s a part of life; part of valuing something is the fear of it being taken away. I don’t let that fear control me, I use it to motivate me to be stronger. Believers tend to let that fear control them, and the result is the creation of a personal value that can never be taken away because it’s “magical” and “eternal:” god.

My second point revolves around that great togetherness that I always hear believers (specifically Evangelical Christians) refer to when they talk about god. Let me tell you something; I went to a concert this past week in Atlanta (Warped Tour~) with two friends. We went expecting crowds of people, and little in the way of common courtesy.

Once we got there and started getting into the sets and seeing the different bands, I started to feel a sense of community with the other people there; we were all there, together, just for the sake of having fun, a bunch of complete strangers from all across the tri-state area, brought together from our obscure corners of reality just to share this once-in-a-lifetime experience of seeing our favorite bands. I met some of the coolest people I’ve ever met at that concert….but the real moments for me came not from the individual meetings, but just from the sense of friendship and community from the group overall. It was one of the defining moments of my life that I will never forget. For that moment, I knew that this was what people were talking about when they said that “they felt god.”

Of course, I see it as anything BUT a god. To me, that is the sense of community that humans crave naturally, that we seek in one another. We feel happy and content when we’re around people we can relate to and share experiences with, who can appreciate the same things that we can. It makes us feel closer, and it kind of pops us off the page of life (so to speak) and makes us feel more real; it gives us more dimension and makes us feel more a part of the world around us, instead of just silent passengers.

After hearing from Christians for so long, I realize that it’s this sensation they worship, not some god; they worship the sense of togetherness and community that people have when they share interests and motivations in life. They worship the feeling that this environment fosters, the feeling that “I should just do random nice things for random people because it’s nice;” that feeling that makes you just want to be a person like everyone else and acknowledge that everyone else is a person just like you — forgive their shortcomings, it’s all good! That kind of thing. When you have this feeling, all of the petty shit stops mattering, and you can suddenly see the important stuff very clearly.

I think that’s what believers really crave, and I think it’s a shame that this world conditions them to believe that it can only be found in an environment shaped by archaic (and sometimes horribly discriminating, self-deprecating or just otherwise harmful) religious doctrines. There are plenty of ways to experience human interaction; too many people are just too scared to take the chance for fear of rejection.

I would like to know why it is that religious people can’t look at the mass delusions of others and compare it to theirs. A christian will easily say that scientology is complete BS without a second thought but won’t look at their own religion with that same skepticism.

Also If atheists suffer from any similar delusions.

Here is my question: What percentage of people who profess to believe in God do so because they fear death or hell?

IdahoEV said “near-majority of Americans smoked tobacco. Did that make it a good idea”

Me and my briar pipe collection say yes.

The cigarette companies with their stinky paper, stinky chemicals, and wasteful packaging ruined the beautiful thing known as ‘smoking’.

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I hated that line from Contact, with Joss asking to prove love. I had an instant answer when I heard it at the theater. Add up the evidence (the birthday cards I made, the fact I always remember to call, the little things I’ve done for him, how I speak about him to others, etc etc etc) And add up the evidence that I don’t have love (er…) The evidence heavily shows an emotional attachment. Now what tangible things has your god done for you?

Sagan did a great job writing Joss. He seemed like a theist you could really get along with. Yet, when you deconstruct his arguments, they are nothing but fluff.

_____

As for Hemants question, I would ask this of a good skeptic.

Statistically, the more education a person receives, the less likely they are to be religious. Those who remain religious are less likely to subscribe to a fundamentalist position.

What could be the cause? Is it the effect of education on critical thinking, or the cultures of our universities? Are there any (real) universities in the world that have an opposite trend? What is the rate of recidivism to religion after college?

Another possible question:

Why are atheists so determined to believe that God doesn’t exist, when scientifically you can’t prove the non-existance of God.

Why would so many people believe in a god if we have natural explanations for so many phenomena attributed to God?

Which phenomena? Just curious.

Is there any objective information on the reason that people become atheistic compared to becoming theistic?

Is theism functional on the societal or individual level. Does it yield some kind of benefit to adherents?

How can we tell if problems that people have with religion are inherant to religion or to human nature. Are there any objective studies of behavioral changes that occur when a person gives up religion?

Tim D. –
Two comments; looking at Christianity from a Buddhist perspective… perhaps we’re not supposed to fear death and losing things because these fears often lead people to delusional behavior. Kurzweil is brilliant with technology but some of his ideas about where technology is headed seem more based on emotional need than on an objective study of where technology is headed.

I realize that it’s this sensation they worship, not some god; they worship the sense of togetherness and community that people have when they share interests and motivations in life.

To some extent, I think that’s true. Of course, there are numerous things that people do that get in the way of this type of experience which religion, if working properly, helps to correct.

Of course, these communities have a source, both on the individual and the political level.

Do atheists really believe billions of people are mistaken about their beliefs?

I think for most atheists, no evidence = no belief, and it ends there.

No evidence does not equal believers are wrong. It just means that they believe without evidence, something that most atheists don’t do.

With or without evidence, a belief can be right or wrong, but a lack of belief cannot be right or wrong. For most atheists, zero evidence brings zero belief, an empty set that cannot hold correctness or incorrectness.

For most atheists, it is not a question about the right thing to believe, it is about the right thing to do, which is simply to refrain from beliefs in the absence of evidence.

Do atheists really believe billions of people are mistaken about their beliefs?

Seems to me that whether or not a god exists, due to the differing natures of religions the vast majority of humanity HAVE TO BE WRONG.

If the God of the Old Testament (or another god of your choice) magically made his presence known to everyone in some incontrovertible way you could no longer claim to be an atheist. However, would you worship such a being?

That’s a really good question, and I definitely think it should be addressed. My answer would be no. Anybody who thinks it was ok to murder all those Egyptian firstborns (and everybody else he murdered in that book) gets no worship from me, period. I don’t think Christians get that. I have judged their god, and found his morals despicable.

Two comments; looking at Christianity from a Buddhist perspective… perhaps we’re not supposed to fear death and losing things because these fears often lead people to delusional behavior. Kurzweil is brilliant with technology but some of his ideas about where technology is headed seem more based on emotional need than on an objective study of where technology is headed.

Well, obviously fear is “bad” in the sense that it’s not a pleasant sensation. What I meant was that we can expect to feel fear and discomfort at times in this life. It’s completely and 100% unrealistic to think that you should never feel any kind of negative emotion in life, which seems to be one of the root causes of this fear-based conversion that I encounter so often — that we HAVE to believe in god because if we don’t, we have to deal with the normal system of learning to value something and then accepting that it may one day be taken from us. To me, that is a fear-based belief system.

2nd…I don’t know who Kurzweil is….

To some extent, I think that’s true. Of course, there are numerous things that people do that get in the way of this type of experience which religion, if working properly, helps to correct.

I think that any good community effort — religious or otherwise — can help to correct certain behaviors that work against this, yes. But I dare think that to say that religion, “when working properly,” is the solution, is somewhat of a copout; when is religion working “properly,” exactly? What about that community is exclusive to religious principles?

I mean, I could easily say that human interaction, “when performed properly,” fixes those same issues.

What about some question regarding whether we’ve been evolutionarily conditioned to believe in God?

I would say billions of people are probably wrong about lots of things. Why is one more thing that they may be wrong about such a leap?

I’m sure you could get a billion people to think that monarchies are wrong, and find a billion people who think monarchies can be great and are good. You have a billion people wrong about something.

Anything there is an opinion of. I’m sure there are a billion people eating something today they think is healthy, but is not. A billion people who have some piece of misinformation about the Roman Empire, or how computers work or the merits of Locke’s philosophical works. We shouldn’t be surprised that people can be wrong about something.

I was discussing similar matters with a friend the other day. He is an atheist but believes that most people need religion. He takes the cynical view that most humans are too thick to grasp the realities of the universe and need a religion to fall back on to keep them from acting in a way that is damaging to society. I said that that sounded an awful lot like saying that morality comes from god. He says no, god comes from humans trying to understand the moral compass built into their biology. I am not sure I agree but then I have much more angst toward religion than he does.
I posted on a few of my reasons for not believing on my blog… http://feveredintellect.blogspot.com/2009/08/five-reeasons-

Question: For the average religious believer out there in the world how much of their belief is based on an intellectual examination of the evidence and how much is predicated on non-intellectual factors (such as acceptance of authority and tradition or a desire for social conformity or etc.)?

A lot of what determines the questions you should ask is based on what is the purpose of your interview. If your purpose is to explore the research and findings of this expert then that leads to a certain type of question. If the purpose is to request insight into this specif topic then that is a different type of question (or a different focus of the questions).

Here are some open ended questions that might be useful:

What is the basis for peoples religious belief? Is it the same basis around the world? Across cultures? Across individuals?

I’d like to read the guest’s stories on how religion has evolved to deal with changing social and scientific issues and what directions that will lead religion in the future.

I’ve had Christians tell me that if scientists ever create life in a test tube they’ll re-evaluate their belief in God, but I suspect they simply think it’s a safe bet and will never happen. What new scientific or social frontiers might challenge the theistic beliefs of large numbers of people?

@ Richard Wade – you’re supposed to offer more questions, not answer them (assuming you’re not the interviewee).

Revyloution Says:
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:34 pm

“Brad, what or who can you prove is non-existent, scientifically? I was under the assumption that proving non-existence is impossible.”

IMO, there is proof for the non-existence of the biblical god. The Christians god comes from the bible, science has proven the bible false. Can’t forget all the contradictions also. I was very religious.Basically grew up studying with the JWs. {was never baptized} Science, the contradictions and common sense turned me into an atheist. For me,a negative was proven. Same goes for all the other “pagan gods.”

sc0tt,
Yeah, sorry. I asked one alternate question and then got on my soapbox about the others. Maybe my answers could be said in the form of a question. “I’ll take religious social psychology for 100, Alex!”

Here’s a question: As more people and more societies become increasingly secular, do you think there is a tipping point, a percentage of non-believers or non-practitioners where secularism will begin to greatly accelerate? If so, have you seen any local, national or regional examples of that? Will we reach a global tipping point for secularism, and if so, when?

I would say that so many people believe in God simply because they WANT to believe it on a purely emotional level. If religion didn’t promise an “afterlife” or the parental substitute of a “higher power” looking out for them, then things would surely be very different.

The sad thing is that when challenged on their belief, they will go to ridiculous ends to rationalise it because by that point it has completely consumed their own self identity.

Religious belief is popular because it is easy. The premise is that by the simple act of believing in certain things, you get an infinite payoff in eternity. It’s part of human nature to want something for nothing. That is why the human species has been religious for so long and why many will continue to be so.

Its also quite silly.

Now I have a question. What gives the person the right to determine whether or not a person actually believes in something? Come on people stop being idiots. Also atheism is belief in no god, agnostic is the belief that the truth can’t be known. Atheism still requires a degree of belief whether you want to admit it or not. This is just the pot calling the kettle black. Now I imagine some one here is going to insult me, but hey insulting me would only prove I have struck a nerve.

Millions, (possibly billions if you do the maths) of people, for hundreds, if not thousands of years, thought the earth was flat. Turns out it isn’t…
So yes.. atheists really do believe billions of people are mistaken about their beliefs.

Luckily, not everyone on earth is a sheep. Some people like to go outside of the norm, of whats accepted or believed, and challenge it properly. They’re called scientists and atheists.

I completely agree with you. And it’s not just the pressure of not wanting to be different, but also the fear of “what if there is no God?”, which of course people like you and I have already come to realise and accept that it’s highly likely to be the case that there is no God.
Besides which, God is something we as humans created, a concept we devised, full of extremely human only related traits and emotional linkage. So if it’s something we created, something we thought of and then preached and taught, that surely doesn’t make it true? I could start preaching some utter nonsense that I conceived and people would laugh at me, but in reality it’s no different to believing something someone else once told you to be true…

God made man in his own image? Man made God in his image more like… lol

Yes, it’s called science.

Millions, (possibly billions if
you do the maths) of people, for hundreds, if not thousands of years,
thought the earth was flat. Turns out it isn’t…
So yes.. atheists really do believe billions of people are mistaken about their beliefs.

Luckily, not everyone on earth is a sheep. Some people like to go
outside of the norm, of whats accepted or believed, and challenge it
properly. They’re called scientists and atheists.