Why do people "Believe" in Religion?

Because of "conditioning" , they are spoon fed on scripture since birth and have all this religious mumbo jumgo forced down their throats at a very tender young age, it is a form of child abuse...Children are pure and believe everything their parents and other "role models" in their lives tell them...There is a verse in their Bible about someone who says give me all your children and I will return them faithful, I don't know the exact words, but it is brainwashing kids who cannot make clear decisions for themselves, as I have said before It is a form of child abuse...

They used Hell and Satan as a scare tactic, and Heaven as a sweetener, anybody who truly believes in either is in my opinion very weak minded...There are plenty in the clergy who are trying to get all reference to Hell and Satan struck from the Bible as they admit it was and is a con...The entire Christian religion can be traced back to other cultures belief systems and they invented their own version of much older stories and beliefs...

Very soon the truth about all mainstream religions will be revealed as we enter a new consciousness and the Church and the governments of the world will have a lot of explaining to do, look towards 2012...

I will leave you with a quote from a Pope...."How well we know what a profitable superstition this fable of Christ has been for us.." ~~Pope Leo X (1513 - 1521)

In Light... )O(

Nostalgia. From my opinion I like religion because it reminds me of my childhood, and it gives me a chance to go back in time where nothing ever changes.

Religion grew out of a need to have an explanation for what is around us.

Lightning strikes a tree near you? Thousands of years ago that must have seemed like a higher power angry with something you did. Add a few more unexplained natural phenomena together and bam you have the start of religion.

What keeps religion going today? Part of it is that same bewilderment at things that the mind cannot immediately understand. Part of it is peer pressure; if enough people around you feel there is some wonderful afterlife that you only get to take part in by believing, there is a lot of pressure to cave to those same beliefs.

In most societies today there is a tremendous amount of peer pressure to believe in the popular religion.

In the United States I read that in the most recent polls 53% of people said they would not vote for a candidate that was not a Christian. It doesn t matter so much what that Christian might have done in the past or what type of person he/she is, just the person s stated religious beliefs.

Peer pressure.

Read the unredeemed captive, stuff like what happened in the book happen a lot in the real world, happen today, and much more frequently in all parts of the world during ancient times. People need someone to look up to, everyone's insane, and superstitions and stuff lead to "God". Is god real? maybe, sure, but guess who made him? MAN. Man created God, never forget that.

Alright heres my idea.

If i came up to you and said that i know of a person who made the whole world in a few days and nights, he kinda sorta had a kid, but it was born by a virgin, he chilled and walked on water...would you believe in me...probably not.

Regardless what is scarier....saying that once you die, thats it, your dead and your never coming back, just gonna rot in the ground...

OR

You go to heaven to be with god, all your dead relatives and are very happy.

Of course the former is scarier.

Religion was created to explain things, ancient societies had gods that raised the sun, controlled the oceans ect. Then science was able to explain currents and jet streams, earth rotation.

Religion is a way to explain what man can't (atleast at the time).

Its almost easier to say that everything is the way it is because God made it and wanted it this way.

Fact is more than one religion says if you don't believe in it than you go to hell. Basically atleast some of them are wrong and they will go to hell, even if they might have never had the chance to learn about christianity (and if that was the case, why would god not send them someone to give them the opportunity to learn) Or they are all right, in which case everyone who believes in something will go to their own version of Heaven and at the same time be stuck in another religions hell...Or none of them are right and religion gives people hope whilst on earth, nothing more.

Your decision

Spoon fed what a great answer so true. I belive no religions should be told to anyone under 18 years of age. I have wondered if I had been born in a country say pakistan or afghanistan and taught religion from an early age would I still belive it ? this I cannot say for sure, but I can say when I was young age 10 or so I was in sunday school with my lutheran grandmother and told the story of noah, I began asking questions like how is this story possible ? It is not possible to round up two of every species on planet earth and put them in a wood boat. For one you could not build a boat large enough to do this with any known substance wood or steel. Two you could not in a human lifetime round up all species. I have often wondered how anyone could ever believe in such crazy stories, I have a friend who works for boeing and I asked him about so called believers and he said "they are mindless fools" and I would agree. I think those who believe in gods noahs adams and eves know nothing of how this planet was created, how old this planet truely is, or where every single atom in our bodies and everything we can see feel touch or smell came from. a believer would say it was god who made it all but me knowing some science would say no ! We are all star dust literally star dust every single atom every single element was created in a star long ago when it exploded. This is a fact not any theory, in the very beginning or our universe there was ony hydrogen and a little helium it took millions of years for gravity to pull this hydrogen into stars. It took millions more years for stars to cook all elements lighter than iron, then a star explodes and creates the heavier elements like iron,silver,gold,uranium, vast clouds of these elements would millions of years later come together to form our sun, our earth,and everything we know see and eat touch smell. We all came from stars its a fact so believe it. Its not some rediculous story written by men thousands of years ago who had little to do but write down fictions they dreamed up. Now days if a person says god is speaking to them most of us would say they were nuts. So why should the past be any different ? The men who wrote all that stupid crap in the bible or koran knew nothing of this world. I believe anyone who lives in a civil society like the usa japan brittain etc.. and still believes in god adams eves noahs, etc.. they have not done any research in a scientific way to sway their beliefs for they do not want to believe in anything else. To find your religion is false is to find there is no afterlife no sitting of jesus' lap no seeing your long gone relatives, dead is dead. This is not a happy thing for belivers for it is hard to give up heaven.

I think most sensible people sooner or later question the veracity of their religion - Christianity, for example, that they were taught by their parents. However, not wanting to take the chance of going to hell, they continue to practice it.

Its a fantasy story that hinges on good and evil to keep you engaged, it also serves as a simple and unintelligent explaination as to how our universe has come to be. If one actually uses their intellect rather than blinding themselves by believing in a diety who has created them, they will quickly come to the realization that religion is something that is used to calm and subdue emotions about their existence, purpose, and prospect of death.

Religion also turned into a way to control people, by the fear of god. I can't understand why people can't see the facts, they refuse to see.

Because they are week minded fools

Were brain washed into it at a young age before they knew any better

Or were at a very difficult time in their life and turned to a church