Mixed comments on Reddit (by others).
Q : What are your main reasons for believing in religion?
I am not religious. I am also not exactly an atheist; I am apathetic. I discovered long ago that the existence of one or more gods doesn't make the slightest bit of difference. Morality is still morality, no matter where any deity falls on the spectrum. And here, are five general reasons, I have discovered, for a person's religiosity:
Community.
Many people are raised by religious families, and so continuance of that religiosity makes maintaining family relationships easier (Habib Fanny gives an excellent story about this, how hard it is to tell your religious family that you are an atheist, and the rift that creates). But more than family; many people who are raised as part of a church attend Sunday schools, bible camp in the summer, youth groups, church picnics, and so on. Often, they have friends that they meet through the church, and with 20th churches a driving force for that friendship. They become reliant on the church for their sense of community and belonging. That feeling is an absolute necessity for humans, and is difficult and terrifying to give up. I remember an interview with a few ex-Mormons; they claimed there are many secret atheists in the Mormon church, and reason they cannot leave the church is because the entire Mormon community will immediately cut ties with you. All of your friends, neighbors, family members, people you have known and cared about your whole life, gone in an instant.
Fear.
Not fear of god. Fear of something else, usually themselves. I've seen this one in a few addicts, ex-cons, and old people. My uncle, an addict, leaned heavily into religion while in rehab. He lost everything to his addiction, and is terrified of relapse, but clinging to God and religion allows him to feel like he has a powerful friend to help him in his struggles. A friend who went to prison for a violent crime treats his new -found religion the same way. He now has an entity to help him keep from sliding back into his destructive pattern. There is an old woman I know who got involved with the church a couple of years ago. She is old, and not in great health, and she lives alone. Her husband passed away. In addition to the sense of community, her religiosity allows her to feel that her husband of 50 years is still there, waiting for her. More importantly, having a god who is always present and who cares for her, personally, let's her cope with her fear of dying alone. She isn't going to die alone, her friend God is going to call her to live with him.
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Comfort.
We see churches everywhere and what's really impressive is that half of them are over 100 years old. And as a reminder of our mortality, sometimes there's a large cemetery nearby. Religion can comfort people when they think what happens to us when we die. It's a good story that you will go somewhere better than life was like on this Earth. No pain or hunger, and no more struggle. But we don't know if that is really true. It's the really BIG question. If there's a choice of a good place and a bad place, well let's go somewhere nice.
Pride.
There is a disgustingly large group of individuals who use their religion to pretend that they are better than everyone else. These are the people with religious ambitions: they want to be bishops, elders, deacons, whatever, so they feel like they have authority. A local doctor is one of these. Her loves to tell the story of how he used to be a godless heathen until he found Jesus and now he is the greatest person ever to walk the earth. He's really just an asshole, belittles his wife, doesn't take care of his kids, puts down others, etc., But not when he tells the story. These prideful people often quote scripture, especially when that scripture approves of something they did or disapproves of others. They believe that anyone who does not capitulate to them should be condemned to hell. These people are the worst among the religious. My brother in law is one of these. A real piece of s**t of a human being.
Personal gain.
This is where we really start talking about ministers and politicians. There is a great scene in an episode of the Simpsons; Bart says that the religious concept of the soul is ridiculous, and Milhouse says, “Why would they lie, Bart? What would they have to gain?” And it cuts to Reverend Lovejoy pouring the collection plate into a money-sorting machine. Think of leaders.of those megachurches, with multi-million dollar homes, private jets, and so on. That kind of opulence is directly incompatible with the religion they claim to espouse (Gospel of Mark, chapter 10). But man do they have a lot to gain by pretending to be religious. On a lower level, there is a complete asshole I know who owns a restaurant. He is very involved with the church; in return, church members go to his restaurant, and every month or so he gets a $1000+ order for some church event. There used to be a Catholic priest here who drove a new BMW every year, flew off on lavish vacations, wore Burberry coats and Prada shoes. It is also popular among counselors here to extoll their religiosity and offer “faith-based" counseling. These are all examples of people using their religion primarily for personal gain.
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There is evidence the Earth is a billion years old, not less than 10,000 years.