I wonder how much of it is affected by the pressures that some religions can put on those who leave. A person who decides to become an atheist may face social isolation right down to his/her immediate family, and possibly even at work or social functions. If your communities' social activities revolve around a local church or religious denomination, leaving that church/faith could lead to increased stress and anxiety.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
