Is there another motivation for christian belief?

[brewer]

I do t find that any of those apply to me.

Of course not.

[brewer]

Hope is probably just as strong a motivating factor as fear.

Hope for what? Got any examples?

[brewer]

I think it's more that we as a social species have a toolbox of cognitive primitives, like the concept of an invisible mind, or the belief in the permanence of our consciousness.  Concepts incorporating the tools in this toolbox can be acquired like second nature.  I think that it may be the ease with which we are able to appropriate these concepts makes it easy to believe there is a truthful reality behind them.  They are built on the concepts and behaviors which cause socializing to provoke desirable feelings.  It seems an easy slope to slide down, graduating from the comfort one acquires when indulging these tools to a belief that there must be a reality behind them.  In short, they are motivated by a search for truth, but the positive reinforcement which accompanies engaging in religious thoughts and behaviors greases the slide toward those particular truths.

I think fear is a non-issue initially.  I think initially, the cognitive rewards of religious practice overshadow any abstract contemplation of consequences.  Even after adopting faith, believers tend to think along the lines of, "I'm okay, but the other guy might not be."  I think that fear probably enters into it only once you contemplate abandoning belief.  When you still believe enough to feel that the consequences are real.

Interesting. A couple of questions.

Is the "social" aspect not a fear of not being accepted? Not being part of the herd?

What is the "truthful reality" or "search for truth"? Sorry, sometimes I can be dense. Is this the "cognitive primitives" being sought out to be a social animal?

[Angrboda]

Is the "social" aspect not a fear of not being accepted? Not being part of the herd?

No, it's more primal and basic. Take for example falling in love. We know that this event is correlated with a symphony of hormonal and neurological events, but all we recognize is the fundament--the emotions under these events. In a similar way, the social aspect is made up of various cognitive/neurological events that underlie our being social primates. The feeling of positive stroking we feel when we engage in conversation. The imagining of the complex of another person as possessing a mind, and our inferring things about what the various behaviors tell us about that mind. The cognitive machinery which allows us to impute a "psychology" to the acts of this other body/animal, that they have beliefs and motives just like we do. The ability to 'imagine' what the other might be thinking and why. These are the cognitive gears that mesh together to create our experience as social animals. Does a bear impute motives to the behavior of other bears? I don't know, but the act of imputing motives is a part of the warp and woof of our experience as social creatures that use language.

What is the "truthful reality" or "search for truth"? Sorry, sometimes I can be dense. Is this the "cognitive primitives" being sought out to be a social animal?

That part is disconnected from the more primitive "social animal" aspect. I was simply speaking of our desire to make sense of the world around us. We seem driven to searching out reasons for why the world is the way it is. I think that the theist, no less than the atheist, is considering the evidence before them and trying to construct a coherent story of why the world has that evidence in it. I don't think theists come to belief out of fear, but rather that they just want to make sense of the world and the evidence they have been exposed to. They're seeking the truth as much as an atheist is seeking the truth, and I think that is the primary motivation.

[Athene]

Hope is probably just as strong a motivating factor as fear.

Hope for what? Got any examples?

Hope as in, an additional motivation for Christian belief is likely the desire to maintain a positive motivational state.

[Angrboda]

Fourth, the desire to affect societal and political change can easily enthuse radicalism. For instance, the mentality behind extremism in the Arab world is in some ways analogous to voting, because individuals who vote and turn to extremism do so despite the high opportunity cost and the relative improbability of success in affecting political change. Yet, intriguingly, individuals do vote because they want to have a say in impacting their political outcome. Extremists, likewise carry the deep desire to influence change and, at times, so feel this desire so profoundly that they are willing to die for it. Radical Islamists often engage in a rational calculus and respond to pressing geopolitical issues where young men can be seduced into adopting the role of local actors to influence outcomes.

5 Paths to Islamic Radicalization

It seems to me there is another factor that plays a role in motivating people to be Christian. That is the role of morality and virtue. Most of us have a desire to be good and virtuous. Supposedly, religion offers not just 'a path' to virtue, but the path to virtue. For people who are highly motivated by moral themes, or those who are sensitized to their own flaws, Christian belief seems to offer a method of gaining control over one's moral life. It offers practical steps toward a virtue filled life, even if the promise of that moral life is in some sense exaggerated. Regardless, it allows people to take charge of a very important facet of their lives, and that is a strong motivator. Who among us has not at one time or another been overwhelmed by feelings of regret and doubts about our worth? Christianity offers a framework in which such doubts can be managed by framing them with a theme of sin and redemption which offers the hope of escaping such angst.

[chimp3]

Christianity gives dumb people the right to be as smart as scientists without having to do all that difficult brain work at the university. All they have to do is read a couple of chapters in The Book of Genocide and they are all Nobel Laureates.

Christianity , especially fundamentalist Christianity , gives powerless people personal powers such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing hands without having to get a degree in medicine or political science , or learning to actually speak a real language such as Mandarin.

Religion (almost all religion) gives men who are basically losers the right to feel superior to at least one person. His wife. Even if she is smarter, stronger, and actually runs things around their home.

[Angrboda]

Christianity gives dumb people the right to be as smart as scientists without having to do all that difficult brain work at the university. All they have to do is read a couple of chapters in The Book of Genocide and they are all Nobel Laureates.

Christianity , especially fundamentalist Christianity , gives powerless people personal powers such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing hands without having to get a degree in medicine or political science , or learning to actually speak a real language such as Mandarin.

Religion (almost all religion)  gives men who are basically losers the right to feel superior to at least one person. His wife. Even if she is smarter, stronger, and actually runs things around their home.

So in other words, without the crass sarcasm, you're saying that Christianity is empowering. I think you would be right in that, and that would count as a benefit.

[chimp3]

Christianity gives dumb people the right to be as smart as scientists without having to do all that difficult brain work at the university. All they have to do is read a couple of chapters in The Book of Genocide and they are all Nobel Laureates.

Christianity , especially fundamentalist Christianity , gives powerless people personal powers such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing hands without having to get a degree in medicine or political science , or learning to actually speak a real language such as Mandarin.

Religion (almost all religion)  gives men who are basically losers the right to feel superior to at least one person. His wife. Even if she is smarter, stronger, and actually runs things around their home.

So in other words, without the crass sarcasm, you're saying that Christianity is empowering.  I think you would be right in that, and that would count as a benefit.

Well , I have witnessed this many times when I was lurking around pentecostal churches. People read a few simple passages, learn a few ritualistic behaviors , and they are smarter than any secularist scientist, politician, professor. Handymen and barbers empowered to feel superior to PhDs is not actually a benefit to society but perhaps to them personally.

[Drich]

When I analyze all the motivations I can think of they all come down to fear.

I won't go to heaven.
I will go to hell.
I won't be accepted.
I will be alone.
I won't be loved.
I won't be comforted.
And on and on.

When I boil any motivation down I come up with fear. Frankly, that's pretty fucked up.

Then once you're in, other motivations take over. Power, money, manipulation, superiority, .............

... and if one does not fear those things? Do you assume that their can be no other motivation?

I don't fear any of those things, and never considered any of them to ever be a motivating factor for what I believe. Truthfully there is only one Denomination that depends heavily on fear, and if you are not taught to fear few do. Rather We are all designed for a purpose and to find and full fill that purpose far outweighs any fear based motivation. Now some think they have found their purpose in work, family, the accumulation of things, or in substance abuse/drugs etc... But truthfully, nothing compares to playing out the role God has set up for you. There is a completeness and a sense of contentment In finding God and knowing beyond all doubt that he is with you in your day to day.

I do not follow God because I fear hell or being alone. I follow because I am made whole, and simply do not want to be 1/2 of what I am with Him.