Why would you want to believe in god?

[Spooky]

Short of indoctrination and maintaining familial ties, why believe?  Assuming an person has no psychological or developmental disabilities, the lack of evidence, or masses of evidence to the contrary should be obvious.

What keeps an otherwise intelligent adult believing in the supernatural?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Disinclination towards thinking.  Believing is easy, thinking is tough.

Boru

[Longhorn]

Momma sed there's a man in the sky

Get 'em while they're young....and vulnerable.
Leave the kids alone and watch religion disappear.

Most people don't examine their childhood beliefs, they just go on believing. And even if they abandon one type of woo, they often find another. Fool me once, and I'll keep being fooled, because you didn't teach me to think for myself.

[Spooky]

Momma sed there's a man in the sky

Get 'em while they're young....and vulnerable.
Leave the kids alone and watch religion disappear.

Most people don't examine their childhood beliefs, they just go on believing. And even if they abandon one type of woo, they often find another. Fool me once, and I'll keep being fooled, because you didn't teach me to think for myself.

Kind of sad if you ask me.

[Metis]

I can see reasons why one might want to, obviously there is the comfort aspect of having a parental figure always watching over and helping you but the aspect that has always interested me far more is the cultural aspect.

All cultures have little shared memes, to borrow the term, that are both relatable to everyone else in the culture and serve as a building point for a social bond, weaker than kin but a recognition of some similarity between you. It could be foods only served in a specific locale, a local dialect, a predominant style of dress in an area.

Religious beliefs are far more interesting in that they can transcend familial and cultural bonds and as we can see in the cases of religious fanatics loyalty to fellow believers actually can come above blood and marital ties in priority of importance. Religion can create very tightly knit communities who given the right situation can achive goals that other wise would appear impossible. Almost all of the Orthodox Churches across the US were founded by some old granny and her fellow vultures from Eastern Europe who devoted their spare time to fundraising for it to lead to the construction of some gigantic local landmark.

I mean seriously, for what other cause but religion would minorities at the time known for being deep in poverty gang together to cough up something like this?



The level of intimate connection and trust the devout believers feel towards others of the faith is something that continues to astound me, and sometimes I do wonder what that must be like. In some Churches, oddly enough the Westaboro Baptist Church are an excellent example of this, they have a very closely knit support network. Communal identity and a sense of belonging are often tied to, produced and maintained by religion.

[Simon Moon]

Compartmentalization.

[Longhorn]

Kind of sad if you ask me.

Very. Preying on impressionable children to keep the cash flowing, fucking up their brains to get them hooked on belief. And then the kids do it to their kids, and so the vicious circle continues.

Truth doesn't need brainwashing to survive. Religion is a self confessed lie.

[brewer]

Don't forget the big promise at the end if you are a true follower. Eternal life as long as you believe and do what we say, even if to good to be true they can't turn away from the chance.

[Salacious B. Crumb]

I don't see anything wrong with believing in some sort deistic type of god, or in a spiritual ietsist type of one, as long as they don't rely on god to do things for them, or leave something important in their lives up to prayers. I guess the only positive reason to believe in a type of god like that, is to bring about some sense of peace, happiness, purpose, etc (because of an afterlife, I presume). But, pretty much everything else is pure poison to yourself, those around you, and society as a whole.

[Minimalist]

For some people it is just easier.