Why Do Otherwise Intelligent People Succomb to Religion?

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In no particular order, these may apply in any combination:

1. Indoctrination
2. Social pressure / need for social group
3. Threats and fear
4. Inability to cope with the idea of death
5. Being uncomfortable not having answers to fundamental questions / need for constant, simple answers
6. Intellectual laziness (science takes effort to learn)
7. Placebo effect
8. Confirmation bias
9. Preferring comfortable beliefs over true beliefs
10. Refusal/inability to apply scepticism consistently
11. Need to feel special / need for purpose
12. Need for an authority figure / discomfort with "no one being in charge"
13. Overactive pattern spotting / jumping to irrational conclusions
14. Interpreting unusual events and mental glitches through the local mythology
15. Justification for bigotry
16. Sensations caused by group dynamics