Why people are religious

[abaris]

I realize that. 

Reading though these posts and just being here on AF in general has shown me that many of you cannot fathom anyone else searching for truth yet coming to a different conclusion than yourselves. So you assume the person never really searched for truth and just believe what they do for petty, simplistic reasons.

In response, I cna only repeat what I said earlier. I'm amazed that anyone, who doesn't lock themselves out from our scientific knowledge, can believe in any of the scripted gods. We're talking about a gap of 4,5 billion years and give or take 3000 years after all.

[Catholic_Lady]

I realize that. 

Reading though these posts and just being here on AF in general has shown me that many of you cannot fathom anyone else searching for truth yet coming to a different conclusion than yourselves. So you assume the person never really searched for truth and just believe what they do for petty, simplistic reasons.

In response, I cna only repeat what I said earlier. I'm amazed that anyone, who doesn't lock themselves out from our scientific knowledge, can believe in any of the scripted gods. We're talking about a gap of 4,5 billion years and give or take 3000 years after all.

Touche. You cannot fathom anyone having different experiences than you and coming to different conclusions than you, unless that person was some sort of unthinking idiot or something.

[Edwardo Piet]

I think once someone no longer believes due to indoctrination, they believe for more mature reasons but I do think all reasons for believing in God contain one logical fallacy or another. Or just confirmation bias/cherry picking. Regardless of the more mature reasons, fallacies and cognitive biases lie therein, IMO.

[Mystic]

Your particular religion? Likely because either your parents were Catholic or because you've been raised around Catholic people.

There was a very particular reason why I, being born in mostly soft-Protestant UK, was also raised Catholic. That reason is because my grandparents came from the mostly Catholic Mediterranean where they were raised Catholic. It's not really any deeper than that. You inherit a particular faith from your family and, unless you decide to leave it, you get comfortable in it.

That is the reason why I was Catholic when I was 10, but the reason I am Catholic now is much deeper than that.

You know something I realized about myself. If I research other religions I always do it comparison with the religion I accepted already and take where it wavers from my perceptions of reality and truth as proof it is wrong. As well, I seem to make a lot of reasons for why a certain law exists in my religion that seems unreasonable to others, but, don't go look for that type of apologetic reasoning for laws that seem illogical in other religions.

At the same time I seek treasures in my religion with hardly thinking deeply about other religion treasures, thereby the treasures in my religion automatically will seem deeper and more profound.

I think this might be a wrong approach but it's not one I transcended. Do you realize a similar flaw in your approach?

I just thought about this right now and realized I didn't put too much effort in researching other religions.

[bennyboy]

That is the reason why I was Catholic when I was 10, but the reason I am Catholic now is much deeper than that.

Not buying it.

Obviously she grew into it and had her own experiences and social exposure beyond her parents.

[Old Baby]

In response, I cna only repeat what I said earlier. I'm amazed that anyone, who doesn't lock themselves out from our scientific knowledge, can believe in any of the scripted gods. We're talking about a gap of 4,5 billion years and give or take 3000 years after all.

Touche. You cannot fathom anyone having different experiences than you and coming to different conclusions than you, unless that person was some sort of unthinking idiot or something.

I can 100% fathom it.  I'm not an unthinking idiot and for many years I was a theist.  The notion that everyone who believes in God is an unthinking idiot is one of the most ignorant ideas going around in the atheist community.  My conclusion was just as set in stone as any believer's, but things changed for me and I moved to a different conclusion.  It happens.

[Silver]

The first quote in my signature perfectly sums up why religious people are as they are.

[Catholic_Lady]

That is the reason why I was Catholic when I was 10, but the reason I am Catholic now is much deeper than that.

You know something I realized about myself. If I research other religions I always do it comparison with the religion I accepted already and take where it wavers from my perceptions of reality and truth as proof it is wrong. As well, I seem to make a lot of reasons for why a certain law exists in my religion that seems unreasonable to others, but, don't go look for that type of apologetic reasoning for laws that seem illogical in other religions.

At the same time I seek treasures in my religion with hardly thinking deeply about other religion treasures, thereby the treasures in my religion automatically will seem deeper and more profound.

I think this might be a wrong approach but it's not one I transcended. Do you realize a similar flaw in your approach?

I just thought about this right now and realized I didn't put too much effort in researching other religions.

I can agree with this. In school and in college I learned a bit of the history and traditions of several other religions, but apart from that I can't say I've ever gone so far as to go to one of their services, for example. Well, I've been to a few protestant services, but that's it. I went to a Muslim wedding this past summer but the wedding ceremony didn't include a church service. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to explore a bit more. 

Lol though I did join a Mormon forum for a while... that was interesting.

[Catholic_Lady]

Touche. You cannot fathom anyone having different experiences than you and coming to different conclusions than you, unless that person was some sort of unthinking idiot or something.

I can 100% fathom it.  I'm not an unthinking idiot and for many years I was a theist.  The notion that everyone who believes in God is an unthinking idiot is one of the most ignorant ideas going around in the atheist community.  My conclusion was just as set in stone as any believer's, but things changed for me and I moved to a different conclusion.  It happens.

I can respect that completely.

[robvalue]

If I find out someone is a theist, then I assume their method of arriving at that conclusion is probably faulty. But I'll happily wait and hear what it is before making that judgement, and that judgement is just my own assessment and not important to any further relations with the person.

Other than that, I don't assume anything. I don't expect them to be any less intelligent, I don't expect them to "not really believe" what they say, and I don't expect them to be illogical regarding non-religious subjects.

They are just a person who has come to a different conclusion to me, and the rest I find out by talking to them individually.

When I talk in broad terms about what "many theists" do, I'm simply reporting on my own observations. Of course, I will have a relatively small sample size and so my assessments will not always be representative. All I can say is that it is a pattern of behaviour I've noticed in at least some theists. I wouldn't assume such a thing does apply to any particular theist though. Each is a blank slate as far as I'm concerned.

They have the opportunity to be a lovely person such as CL, KP and Deidre, or they can waste it by being a judgemental prick who says I'm simply wrong and evil and preaches bullshit at me.

What kind of person someone is, whether they are nice or horrible, caring or disinterested and so on, is what I ultimately care about. Unless I perceive any kind of direct harm they are causing, their beliefs are none of my business any more than they want them to be.