'Bad reasons' to believe in God

[Purple Rabbit]

There are neither good nor bad reasons to believe in god imo, simply because the adjectives bad and good indicate a normative assessment of reasons, where reasoning itself is non-normative. The two should not be mixed. It is therefore more appropriate to discern valid or sound reasoning on the one hand (i.e. that the reasoning itself is logically valid or sound), and morally justifiable on the other. Believing in god imho ultimately has nothing to do with valid reasoning at all, but with accepting as true even when evidence lacks. So, in the end believing constitutes more of an emotional than a rational decision process. In other words, believing in god is non-rational but can serve a purpose in harnassing a range of emotions on both the individual and community level.

- fear for the unknown
- fear of death
- fear of authority
- emotional bonding to parents
- mourning
- fear of community disruption
- ...

Though on the whole the 'net result' of believing imo is negative, some of these may even be morally justifiable in certain contexts. For instance when parents loose a child, the pain can be unbearable but faith can supply some support and reconciliation. Can someone point out to me why that should be a bad thing?