OK... Can somebody tell me WHY it is people actually are religious? or have "beliefs" in ANY particular faith?

I think it all boils down to - people NEED something to believe. They need to believe there is a God (of some sort) that there is a Heaven so that you don't just rot in the dirt *shrugs*

By paragraph:

1. I can't speak for other people, I can only give you my own opinion.

2. Why do you have an "issue" with it in the first place? Why have an "issue" over something that is personal to other people. Religion is used as the last straw to fuel the flames of war. Most wars are not caused by religion, they are usually caused because of land, economy, and power. This is true even for the Crusades. Religion gave them an excuse, but the real reason was land.

Besides not everyone who is of faith plays a role in wars. You would think it to be wrong if I said that "atheism is wrong because of Stalin" The Bible doesn't preach antiwar, war is a fact in the Bible and it doesn't shy away from it.

3. You only think that you are the only ones who question the Bible. Believers also question the Bible, siill I honesltly believe that atheists question it with the intent to refute it; believers do it with the intent of understanding.

4. Now that is just silly. You have no proof of big bang, but you only believe it because scientists say that it is true. Sure there possible remnants of it, it is also true that those remnants could be anything. Also most atheists are so wrapped up in the "How they did what they did in the Bible". The Bible is so much more than that.

5. You see, I don't care about dinosaurs. They are extinct and have no impact on my life. If the evidence comes from my own belief then that is fine with me. It may not be enough for you, but it is enough for me.

Perhaps the evidence is thoughts beyond myself projected outwards.

6. Which version of Mission Impossible. The original series outsmarted the bad guy, they didn't use fake mask like Cruise did. As for James Bond, sure it is fictional but it is distortion of reality too.

___

I hope this isn't a bait question. I hate wasting my time on them.

Like so many others you didn't do your homework. Why is it that the worlds greatest Jewish Orthodox Professors from Harvard Law school, researched the History of Christ and then converted to Christianity from Judaism where Christ is taught not to even have existed?

You have no faith and that's why you ask about it. Can I explain to you how if feels to be rich if you were always poor? You need to understand that the type of life your living is self based and completely clouded. If you weren't just living in even a slight delusion you would know that at the base of all wars their are others who are in complete control. Granted Religion has always played a part...But religion and faith filled belief and understandings of truth are two very different things.

Do your homework because all of your accusation or assumptions I should say are completely wrong and have already been proven factual in the world around you.

God bless you on your search for real truth and maybe enlightenment.

And P.s, religion is all people talk about, opposed to sports politics and the weather.

I'm not really sure. Maybe people want to believe there is something more. That this isn't all there really is and that there has to be something after this so why not make it wonderful? Oddly though there are several stories intertwined in a handful or more of the religions or sub-religions that are similar. That always tripped me up in my not believing. I always found it strange that there were quite a few places that had a story similar to "noah's ark" where there was some great flood. Along with other stories that are so much the same but told from totally different sides of the world. It makes it hard to disbelieve everything. But you are right, we are humans should question things. But we as mortals die, we perhaps want to think of our loved ones and those who came before us somewhere better or even perhaps their souls walking among us still. I guess that's why its called faith. None of us really knows. And those who do never come back to tell us.

man i couldnt agree more, i mean Scientology is the butt of todays religious jokes but it isnt any more ridiculous than any other religion which asks you to accept things on faith.

ive spent my whole life so far trying to understand what these people get out of it, and my best conclusion is that they just simply like it. Reality doesnt matter so much to people of faith as having something they can feel secure and comforted in, which ultimately ends up being more real to them than what you and i call reality. However you cant just disregard them either, because how they experience their world and their life is really, in theory, no better or worse then how you experience and understand your world. I was once asked the question if i dont believe in god, what do i believe about the world (this was before i decided god must exist, not necessarily a christian or religious god however), and i replied that i could believe in my senses, my faculty's for logic and reason, and the views of others who seem to operate within the constraints of these two ways to understand the world. He then asked "well why do you think those are more truthful than understanding the world through faith". I could only answer that it seems to make more sense based on experience, but that from a theoretical standpoint it makes no more sense than faith. What i mean to say, i guess, is that understanding your world through faith has several benefits, as does understanding it through reason, and that to get a truly balanced view you must find a way to understand both of them in the same framework, and incorporate both views into your final worldview.

Well first off we don't all simply believe what is written in some book. I sure as hell don't.

The reason most people do is because religion is a mind virus. What I mean by that is our ancient ancestors were far less advanced than we are now. So they were more likely to not only believe in crazy things, they were more afraid of the world around them, because they didn't understand. From that point, powerful people realized that religion was a good way to control the ignorant people. That is why "God" needs our money all the time.

It is far fetched but people are afraid to question. It's like being cheated on by someone you love, deep down you know it's going on but you are too insecure to admit it.

Blueairfalcon: Why don't you enlighted us all to the "Evidence" of the bible before you start calling someone ignorant of history! Come on...I am waiting for your "Compelling evidence"

the old books /bibles have always promoted wars as such since the Hebrews were a small bunch at the outset and had to conquer as they went along to so increase their numbers and so on. the history of the Jews is far older than they say so i would disregard the whole lot except for some psalms and Isiah. the new testament is just a little better, but there again Jesus never wtote one word of it, in history no great teacher ever writes things down even today this is true they have disciples to do this work, one such being is Benjamin Creme in uk.(look him up)as to dinosaurs they were on earth at the same time as we humans and they almost killed us off being so large they destroyed our villages etc, so they were taken away from us via death

Not few of us question this. There are more people than you think, but maybe just not around you. I come from Europe and can say that most of my friends are atheist. This thing is cultural, it varies from nation to nation, check some statistics. I would say that americans believe it like you described and this is just stupid for me.

Why do people believe? Probably because they feel secured that way...something greater is there that will protect them from harm, also to console themselves. They use it for all the things they don't understand in life and simply say: ¨God has mysterious ways.˝

Most of wars were battled in the name of religion so for me, religion is something that brings more bad than good.

But I do believe that long time ago, there was this guy, who tried to change the world for the better and if he by any chance sees now what he's done....he must be turning in his grave!!

In conclusion, people simply believe because they are stupid and too lazy to actually think!No offenses!!

I believe, because I have personally experienced God in my life.

In various times when it looked like there was no way out of my trouble, He has helped me. And I know it isn't a coincidence, because of the degree of severity of the situation.

I'm speaking for myself here, and not on the behalf of the entire Y!A R&S Community. I'm not saying this is why everyone who believes does so. This is merely my opinion.

EDIT: And Euro, good answer!

Many people are religious because this is what had been taught to them either directly or through the normal socialization process.

Other people because of a religious experience.

Other people after pondering the question of the nature of man and the meaning of life.

"...how can it be that religious people simply "believe"... Having no evidence/proof of ANYTHING whatsoever of the factual contents of the Bible?"

You could learn from facts; you could learn as well from mere stories.

If some treat the Bible as mere stories, they could nevertheless learn from it. If some treat the Bible as facts, they could learn as well from it. Facts or no facts, everyone could learn from it. What is important is your attitude about what you've read.