Why Do Otherwise Intelligent People Succomb to Religion?

[Jenny A]

I think it hinges primarily on the emotions surrounding hope.  Why are you sad when you go to a funeral?  What questions go through your mind?  Logic and reason certainly play a part, but don't discount the part emotions play in our decision making.  You want to know your loved one is in a better place and not suffering, it brings comfort to you.  That's emotional, not rational.  I'm speaking purely about "religion" and not "belief in God" as I think the distinction is important.  Einstein believed in an impersonal deity, but not religion of any kind.  Religion is solely to do with doctrine associated to a deity.  Religion offers answers to perhaps otherwise unanswerable questions, or answers that bring more comfort than alternatives.

Where does my baby go when she died?  Religion says she is in Heaven, this indescribable place of pure joy that you are free to allow your imagination to fill.  Non-religious answer says, she will slowly rot and decay in the ground or be ashes spread on the dirt or sea, nothing more.  It's empty and hollow and doesn't fulfill your emotional damage with your loss.  

Religion fills emotional voids.  Intelligence, though it does play a factor, is not the primary reason for accepting religion.

I watch my mother who is deeply religious and I can add another few things.  She appears to use religion a means of self reflection.  You can do that without being religious of course, but it provides the avenue she need to that.   Religion also answers questions that have unsatisfying (even if true answers) in the real world with more comforting answers (though probably not true) about why bad things happen.

Community is another big component.

I don't think intelligence has much to do with it.  Objectivity does.  For those of us fated to be objective, there's no choice.  Atheism it is.