Hi, my name is "withheld" and I am an atheist

[robvalue]

Heya, it's great to hear from you again! Levelling out sounds good I hope you stick around. Unlike religion, we're not going to expect you to believe anything just on our say so, and will encourage you to think and research on your own.

For those of us who are on the outside, whether they were always there or fought our way out, it does seem trivially obvious that it's all childish nonsense. There are many reasons people continue to believe, it's just they are not (what I consider) rational reasons. Also, what people profess to believe and what they actually believe are not always the same.

Number one on the list of reasons is indoctrination. They are literally programmed to believe this stuff is true beyond question, and their minds will fight tooth and nail to preserve this state of affairs. This is often supported by such things as fear of death, discomfort with not having a simple explanation for everything, and the need for there to be some sort of cosmic justice.