My hypothesis

[Harry Nevis]

Religion is like a parasitic organism and its ideal environment is an ignorant society. It is dying in our information age.

Two or more religions can form a daughter religion and over time a religion will reproduce itself with variation in a population according to selective pressures (known scientific facts).

This model predicts that many religions should appear spontaneously in ancient history (no selective pressures) despite low population and that religion should go extinct in the near future despite high population.

So essentially, the population of evolution deniers is dwindling according to principles of evolution.

Except...religion (especially Christianity) is growing at unprecedented rates in parts of the world historically not Christian--and is expected to increase in real numbers globally and keep up with the world's population as a %. So...there goes your thesis. Pew Research

A note about Muslims--they are growing fast, however in some countries being a Muslim is mandatory and/or the entire population is counted as Muslim. It would be hard to parse that to support either of our positions.

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You can keep your condescending crap.

How have we hidden ourselves from religion?  Because we won't buy unsubstantiated crap? I'm as conscious of religion as I have ever been, thanks to the greed, hypocrisy and lies spewed by American Christianity. Although what these "tools" are that ISIS is using is beyond me. Or the crap about my temples of higher learning.  Didn't know I had any.
But its not hard to see why so many, especially in America, turn to Christianity.  It cost you nothing, you can kick back and not have to think or reason because someone else does your thinking for you. You can keep all you bigotry and hatred because, after accepting god, you're doing his work. You can feel special because you have Special Knowledge. You have a Personal Relationship with Jesus! There's a whole bunch of people you can now feel superior to. And the bible verses can mean whatever you want them to, because you can't possibly be wrong - and you don't even have to read it!

What a con.

You are assigning reasons why people become Christians--all of them derogatory. Talk about condescending. 

I wrote this a while back:

While not universally true, I believe it is the appeal of Jesus as a person coupled with his teachings that draws people. Why do these things resonate with a large number of people?

It is obvious that we are somehow wired to believe in God/higher power/supernatural/purpose/destiny etc. Of course you will say this is a product of our evolution. There are several theories centered around the adaptive values of religion (social solidarity for one). However, these theories presupose naturalism. So the result of this reasoning is that if God did exist or did not exist, we would still be wired to believe God exists.

I think another reason this resonates with people is Jesus' main message that forgiveness, personal peace, a relationship with God, and eteral life is possible.
a. there are a lot of people, who have had tough experiences that find the forgiveness and internal peace very appealing.
b. when you meet somone who has been a Christian a long time and exemplifies Jesus' teachings and shares how God has been a constant comfort and support to them in their daily lives, it is very appealing.
c. eternal life, how can you beat that? This component also helps you make sense/cope of the shortness of life, tragedies, and pain endured while we are here.

Another appealing quality of Christianity is having the question of purpose and place in the universe answered. a. with atheism, at best, you are a happy accident with no purpose that will very shortly die and cease to exist.
b. contrast that with the purpose of man is to "Glorify God and enjoy him forever". We were created for a reason and daily life has purpose and you really want others to know what you have found.

In addition, Jesus modeled his teachings of love, compassion, and forgiveness for your fellow man and in doing so set an example that, if aspired to, would result in a very fulfilling life. Perhaps you are not old enough, but once you contemplate the brevity of life, finding fulfillment becomes important.

And none of these reasons require anything more than what wishful thinking requires.  Believing because it feels good.  I am old enough to contemplate the brevity of life, and it's too brief to accept on the word of an oft-edited old book that there is a god.  Especially when it seems that most of the believers I run across have much more of the attributes in my description.  Having a "personal relationship" with a god, or just believing a god is there, seems to be the biggest decision one could make in one's life.  But most I've run across have given it less thought than where they want to go on vacation next year.  I've rarely seen a positive change in behaviour.  Mostly it's just a way of being judgemental while proclaiming that I know what god wants and you aren't it if you don't believe.  I think very few actually believe.  They believe in believing. You can see that in the persecution complex so many have, shouting religious intolerance when anything they want to be called "practicing their religion" is challenged. And in the redefinition of words like "evidence", "fact", "love", etc to try to fit their stories.  It's embarrassing.