Somewhere, "lack of imagination" enters into the original question.

I know, the hardest time of my life was letting go of my parents when they died. I sat at their deathbeds, comforted them and would have wished to be able to believe to see them again. But no such luck, or however you want to call it. I had to cope with their loss without any hopes for a reunion.

So, I can relate with people not being able to cope with that.

As Kingpin said, to each their stories & reasons.
Personally, the mixture of logic,fear & greed did the trick for me. Yes, I'm afraid of hell, and yes, I want to enter paradise, and yes, I think the universe is too full of wonders to be ruled as an empty backyard.

(January 6, 2016 at 12:48 pm)AtlasS33 Wrote: As Kingpin said, to each their stories & reasons.
Personally, the mixture of logic,fear & greed did the trick for me. Yes, I'm afraid of hell, and yes, I want to enter paradise, and yes, I think the universe is too full of wonders to be ruled as an empty backyard.

Which is the classic god of the gaps. Don't worry. For the longest time I could relate with that line of thinking.

Indoctrination is a big factor.

It's so powerful that I think it is probably often fruitless to seek other explanations when it has occured. The mind is really good at throwing up defences against anything that threatens its deeply held lifelong beliefs.

Even for those who aren't indoctrinated, they are often saturated in a particular religion's mythology.

At the end of the day though, everyone is different. Everyone will have their own reasons.

(January 6, 2016 at 1:00 pm)robvalue Wrote: Indoctrination is a big factor.

I wouldn't say that. Unless our definitions of indoctrination are entirely different. I never was exposed to doctrinary religion. My parents did in no way enforce religion or tried to steer me in it's way.

But when I finally lost the last shred of faith, in the summer of 1990, I was sad. Sad for all the confidence and trust I lost. Sad, and insecure, because I knew, I could only burden myself with everything.

So, I can relate with all religious people. Not the radicals, since they make me even sadder for throwing their lives away. But with every person believing in some kind of benevolent force.

Indoctrination, in my understanding, is teaching [religious dogma] uncritically as fact. Of course, it could be mild, it could be relentless.

If you do that to a child, especially before they reach the age of reason, there's a good chance you can program them.

It is probably getting harder to do now, with environments being less insular and the internet on hand to instantly dispel bullshit. But it's still a lot to expect from a young child to research what their parents tell them.

I can relate to the feeling, because I got programmed as a child too. Just not anything religious in nature. The programming still haunts me today, even as anally logical as I like to think I am.

(January 6, 2016 at 1:10 pm)robvalue Wrote: Indoctrination, in my understanding, is teaching religious dogma uncritically as fact.

Noone tried that with me. And still I was sad to have lost the security. So I think, indoctrination is overrated, outside of radical circles.

Sure, I'm not saying it accounts for every case. But when it has happened, it is probably the main cause. It's a ridiculously powerful "tool".

The worst thing about it is how few people recognise it's been done to them, because they continue to view it all as undeniable fact.

I'm glad to hear it didn't happen to you

To answer the OP, my reason for being religious was because I had no reason not to be. I was raised in it from infancy. All the adult authority figures who I loved and trusted were religious. They all assured me that this was true. There was no reason to doubt this until I became much older, but even then it was a long process of dismantling the brands that were burned into my mind before I could think for myself.

My observation of those who become religious as adults is that they are looking for comfort in delusion. They are too fragile to deal with reality as it is, whether that be external circumstances or their own flawed selves. I've seen this over and over. It seems to me that the people who are the most invested in fundamentalism are those who "need" it to be true.