Why people are religious

[Angrboda]

[Mystic]

The fact that there are multiple beliefs upheld by nothing more than faith should speak volumes for anyone.

It should. It should make us realize, we have huge chance of being deluded ourselves.

[abaris]

Some people it's fear.

Some people it's tradition.

Some people it's social stigma if you don't believe you will get unowned by family and friends. 

Some people it's a life or death deal. 

Some people it's due to education reasons.

Some people it's due to they are ignorance and unwillingness to accept fact over fantasy. 

There are other reasons but this is just the general bit of it.

Well, hey, I would have loved to continue believing, but it was impossible. I never was a staunch believer, but knowing what I know about the world, it's history and the universe, I just couldn't muster any belief anymore. I can actually lay my hands on the final moment. 1990, summer, when I sat in a clearing in the woods and started to reflect on what I knew and what I believed. It was a catholic way of the Cross. I sat there, looking at the images and suddenly I came to the conclusion of all this being too simplistic. It sasddened me, as I said, but there was no turning back from that point.

[Old Baby]

I'm Christian because I believe it is the truth.

I have always been confused by the religious aspect of truth as compared to the scientific aspect of truth.

I mean, children are taught that Santa is truth.

Is it no different with religion, that children are taught that god is truth?

I was taught both Santa and God.  I stopped believing in Santa at 9 or 10 and God at about 36.  

Santa was just a fun thing for me to believe and a fun illusion for my parents to create.  There wasn't any aspect of having this belief that could lead to disappointment or confusion, at least not until the time that I stopped believing.  Even then, I knew I was still going to get presents, and that was the important thing.  The fact that the presents had come from my parents all along seemed irrelevant. 

God is another matter entirely.  My Christianity was built upon a foundation of fear.  I reject the notion that any small child can truly love God, but this was drilled into my head none the less by teaching me to sing childish songs like "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children".  Still, my devotion to Christianity at that age was based firmly on a fear of eternal torment.  It's hard to shrug off childish notions when they're so well branded on the young mind, and unlike my belief in Santa Claus, there was no one letting me in on the myth.  My family and all the authority figures in my life believed it.  Adding to the fear was the baggage of guilt I carried throughout my adult life, striving to meet an impossible standard and failing again and again, then blaming myself and repenting of my humanity, wondering why I could never feel the passion for Christ that others felt.  I worried that my apathy would be my eternal damnation.  I wondered what would have to happen to break me down and make me devoted, and I prayed to be broken out of fear for my own soul.  I gave God permission to give me cancer or some other terminal illness if that's what it would take to save me while the saints that surrounded me asked for prayer for trivial matters or for God's prosperity to rain down on them.  I can't speak for the more liberal forms of Christianity that never seemed to take the source book for religion very seriously, but as a bible-believing Conservative Christian, this God teaching equated to a life defined by guilt, confusion, false hope, and self loathing.

[Silver]

It should. It should make us realize, we have huge chance of being deluded ourselves.

The delusional are unaware of the fact that they are delusional.

[Mystic]

The delusional are unaware of the fact that they are delusional.

Yes. And even let's say some person was upon the right religion, are they justified in belief in it or do they believe in it for the same delusional reasons people believe in their own religions which are false?

That's another question.

[Silver]

Yes. And even let's say some person was upon the right religion, are they justified in belief in it or do they believe in it for the same delusional reasons people believe in their own religions which are false?

That's another question.

The problem begins when one thinks there is a correct belief in which to believe. When one forsakes that delusion due to the fact that there are multiple beliefs in which one could believe, then one is truly free.

[Regina]

Yeah, but that came to be in some way. You haven't been born with the catholicism is true gene.

Very true. So then the real question is, why do religious people believe their religion is true? That's a long answer.

Your particular religion? Likely because either your parents were Catholic or because you've been raised around Catholic people.

There was a very particular reason why I, being born in mostly soft-Protestant UK, was also raised Catholic. That reason is because my grandparents came from the mostly Catholic Mediterranean where they were raised Catholic. It's not really any deeper than that. You inherit a particular faith from your family and, unless you decide to leave it, you get comfortable in it.

[Mystic]

The problem begins when one thinks there is a correct belief in which to believe.  When one forsakes that delusion due to the fact that there are multiple beliefs in which one could believe, then one is truly free.

That seems like an illogical way to go about it to me personally.

[Silver]

That seems like an illogical way to go about it to me personally.

That is your way of defending yourself against the truth. To hold onto the lie is simpler.