do religious people really believe?

[Angrboda]

I think Daniel Dennett is right in his supposition that people don't so much believe in religious claims anymore, they simply believe in belief, that belieiving itself is a good thing in and of itself. His comments on the matter are probably more informative than my explanation, and are likely readily found on youtube or the web.

Beyond that, I'm persuaded that the explanation of religion lies in what is known as the "by-product" theory (or cognitive/neurological approach). Religious beliefs themselves aren't sought on their own merits, but perceptions and mental cognitions that can readily be given a religious or supernatural interpretation commonly populate the human mind as by-products of the ways the mind solves natural problems, such as understanding the behavior of agents, using schema to simplify categorical reasoning, and so on. It isn't that people believe the metaphysical claims in their nakedness. They believe in the reality of perceptions and cognitions which, themselves are cobbled together by the parts which make up useful cognition, much of which is devoted to essential social behaviors; the belief in the stories and metaphysical foundations is built upon the confidence in those "supernatural friendly" cognitions, and accept the implications that follow from a religious framework that is consistent with them, uncritically. They don't justify their beliefs from the top down, from theology to religious behaviors; the justification is bottom-up in that the beliefs are justified by the immediate sense-cognitions. Thus the question of specific beliefs and such, doesn't really appeal to external evidence, but rather is justified by self-generated internal evidence. The specifics of the entailed and subscribed beliefs are then secondary, and never need independent confirmation or support, and likely escape scrutiny as a result of cognitive dissonance for the same reason.