Why people are religious

[Whateverist]

Personally I think that some people are reluctant to say the real reason for fear of ridicule, or indeed they don't actually know the real reason. They often, intentionally or otherwise, present strawman reasons so that they don't actually care if they get cut down.

Regarding indoctrination, I do understand that most of the time it's probably done because it's felt to be in the child's best interest. I just happen to think that it is totally not in their best interest at all. If it's true, it will still be there when they've learnt how to think. If you're worshiping something that has already started scoring black marks against children that can't think properly yet, then he's more evil than I thought.

I was at a public library about a year ago and overheard a woman home schooling her two small children.  I was a believer then, but still horrified by what I heard.  They were taking turns reading out of their science text book, which read like a more exhaustive version of the Genesis Creation account.  I don't remember everything I heard, but I clearly remember hearing the little girl read "...when God made the mountains..."  Again, I was a believer and I still felt that this was child abuse.  Those poor children are going to grow up with so much prejudice and ignorance about how the world actually works.

Yeah, once more the mark against religion is really a mark against fundamentalism and blind allegiance to dogma.