Why do people follow religions?

Answer 1

Some opinions

• People are insecure in their lives and need to feel comforted by something they can hope for. They don't need proof because they are so brainwashed that they know they are right, and when science proves religion wrong time after time, they will not listen. I think people with guilty consciences believe in God just so they can pray and be forgiven for whatever stupid thing they did. All in all, man created God, God did not create man.

• Well thats simple, even in our "advanced" society we are surrounded by gullible fools who believe in the unseen and uknown just because they are told so. Its like they are all trained to do what they are told(like a bunch of trained monkeys, well I should say apes because thats what we really are). But yeah just because people are mainly too stupid to think forthemselves, hence the correlation evidence from studies that show more intelligent people tend to be less religious.

• So many people are religious because that is how they were brought up. This is why people of Christianity, Judaism and Islam believe what they do, Childhood Indoctrination. There is no "subconscious" desire for religion, but for a subconscious desire to belong to a social community.

• There is no proof that there is no God and it is impossible to find any. Yes, many religions and their holy books have been scientifically proved wrong but not all. The Quran (Islamic holy book) has no mistakes, and it is perfect. It was revealed to the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) 1400 years ago, even though it has information on things that have just recently been discovered, as it is God Almighty's words, and it also contains facts that are still yet to be discovered. Not one part of the Quran has ever been proved wrong because it only speaks of the truth. The Quran is a miracle and it is proof that there is a God called Allah and that Islam is the only solution to humanity.

• The statement 'there is no proof for God' is itself a statement that cannot be proved. It is based on a metaphysical presupposition that God does not and cannot exist. The decision to follow such a presupposition effectively 'proves itself' to the person who chooses it. This is certainly their free choice to do so, just as it is the legitimate free choice of others to believe that God exists and has acted in history.

• Many people are religious because it gives them some kind of comfort and assurance or for a multitude of other reasons. Some use religion as an excuse to push the prejudice or hate they have for others. Others hold that since some kind of religious practice is found in all peoples and all cultures throughout history that it must be intrinsic in human nature. Others would hold that this is how man was originally created by God and that this is at least some, if not all of what is meant by the statement that man is made 'in the image of God.'Those who hold this latter view would thus contend that 'religion' is part of how man was made, although it has been corrupted by the addition of many practices which are not pleasing to the one true God who made man to be 'religious.' Religious practice in this view as man's attempt to reach God by his own efforts is ultimately doomed to failure as man cannot attain to the perfection necessary, nor to the knowledge necessary. This is why Jesus Christ came to die, to remove the barrier of sin, symbolized by the tearing of the temple veil at His death. He also came to reveal true knowledge about God and is Himself, being 100% equal with God the only way to God.

• 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (King James Version)

1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.

• Acts 1:1-3 (King James Version)

1The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: 3To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

• 2 Peter 1:16 (King James Version)

16For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

• There certainly is no proof of 'god', but there most certainly is proof for God, as personally incarnated in the Lord Jesus Christ and who was seen by many people. Many of these would certainly have never seen a miracle or met anyone at all like Jesus of Nazareth. Some were humble practical fishermen, another was a tax collector, another was thought to be a zealot etc. A variety of people from different walks of life, including the centurion who saw Jesus die believed 'truly this was the Son of God.' In any case, quite apart from The Bible, there is proof in creation itself, which defies any and all naturalistic explanations as it contradicts known scientific laws, and instead the unique earth 'made to be inhabited' points to an all-wise, all-powerful creator.

• The reason so many people are religious, even those who reject 'god' and God, is because we are made that way.

• Because we need something or someone to blame for our failures. It gives hope to a hopeless situation, brings comfort and free us from the vexation of thinking (for ourselves).

• Maybe this demonstrates the truth of the verse 'He has set eternity in their hearts.'

• There is plenty of proof that God is real! Just pray if you want proof. It's OK. God really will help you if you pray. It may take Him a while, but don't lose faith.

• People may believe in God because they have wasted their life on partying and drugs, and when they get really wasted some Samaritan takes them in and brainwashes them. The pope is behind it all.
• People believe in god because they are primarily right-brain thinkers, which outweighs the more logical-thinking left brain. An enormous percentage of the world is living with AIDs, cancer, and on and on and on. It is a brutal, brutal world. The majority of strong Christians are overwhelmingly engrossed in their own lives and what 'Good is doing for them.' They will pray for things in their own life, and if that thing turns out well, they will say... 'There is a God!'. Meanwhile, a 17 year old kid died in a car wreck within 10 miles of them that day.
• All humans who spend a considerable amount of time thinking eventually reach a point where they have to ponder things such as existence, the purpose of life, death, pre-life, what happens? Why? Being self-aware brings about these thoughts. If the answers are lain out before us, and indoctrinated to us from childhood, we tend to hold on to these explanations. They give us a meaning for our lives and let us know that we have a purpose for our existence. It helps to take away the fear of death if we 'know' that we will be going to a better place. In reality, we cannot 'know'. We can only believe. We can hope. We can have faith. However, faith alone cannot bring about the glories of heaven that we are taught. It scares many of us to even ponder that it might not be real. It is so much easier to believe. It takes away the fear. Many of us need it. Religion can be helpful to many people, when used for good. Missions across the world feed the hungry and build churches and houses for the poor. Religion can also bring about the work of the 'devil'. When people blindly follow the words of men believing it to be the word of God, their sense of what is good and just can become twisted by their desire to do what 'God' wants them to do, and they can commit atrocities against humankind without remorse. Go ahead and have your religion I say, if you can't handle the thought of being a good person just for the sake of it, but keep your head on your shoulders. Know when an act is the work of the 'devil' in angels' clothing.

• People follow religion because of insecurity and being brought up with religion and lack of research.

  _Yeah dude, you're absolutely right. Us christians are CONSTANTLY thinking of ourselves. In every situation All i can think is "how does this benefit MEEEEEEE".... I mean just look around you! It's not like religious people bother with stuff like CHARITIES, and DONATIONS to help people who are poor/sick.

  Don't you think believing makes everything more global, so you actually DO start to think about the whole WORLD, things other than yourself, while people who believe in nothing, although they aren't "evil", tend to think more of themselves, because that's what happens if you don't think you're going to get a reward for being a good person. Because "life's short"....

  All i know is people who are religious are more RESPONSIBLE. They don't point the finger and blame other people for what's wrong in their lives because they think it's "what God wants for them" or something, and take full responsability for whatever their problems are, don't they?????

  Religion possesses a powerful tendency to move with the times, but it doesn't really change in it's ESSENCE, if that makes sense. I mean, in all religions there is always some law of cause and effect. Maybe it's just the cause/effect that allows these believers to cope better: As a means of establishing a relationship with an otherwise unknowable, UNCONTROLLABLE situation, and then making effective knowledge and control of that situation. You could say your spirituality points beyond sciences gains and explanations.

• Religion is not at all necessary to be a good RESPONSIBLE upstanding human being. To say that religion helps us to be RESPONSIBLE and keep us from thinking that "life's short so I'll do what I want" is to admit that human beings are intrinsically weak. There are many many athiests doing wonderful things for society every day because they simply feel that you should be good to others. Philosophy is not religion and philosophy can provide the same moral and social guidelines as religion without the man made stories of religious texts.

• If you want to talk about "ESSENCE" talk philosophy. Religion clouds true morality, and how we can live to be great human beings by filling itself with false stories and vague references and worse, guilting people into believing that there is a deity who provides solace and forgiveness and will damn you to an immaginary place of punishment for all of eternity if you do not live in fear. It in itself makes humans cling to a crutch when there is no need for a crutch.

• Walk free from religion and simply be good, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, it's simple. If it's the community you want, join a reading group, or a town sports league, or take classes, there are infinite ways of being part of a community without succumbing to the mindless and sometimes alienating and dare I say hateful religious groups.

I bid you all peace and goodwill, go out and do something great for someone today, make life a little easier for someone else, YOU can make a difference.

Comments:

PS we don't need another christian basher! I think the question was that IF none of it is real, why would people believe it?

Additional Comments:

i personally am offended that you think us Christians think only of ourselves. we believe in so much more than what you are saying. we dont blame jesus for our sins he takes them from us and makes us clean. he accepts us for who we are. please stop bashin us. i'm a Christian girl and honestly i dont like people talkin like that about my Lord and Savior.

Answer:

The thing is that members of all religions tend to need an identity. You will notice this whether the person is a Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Baha'i, Wiccan, Eckist, Druid, Jain, Raëlian, Sikh, Taoist, Zoroastrian, Unitarian Universalist, New Ager, reconstructionist, LaVeyan Satanist, Scientologist, Rastafarian, Taoist, pagan, spiritist, humanist, Thelemite or any other religion.

((Too complicated an answer for anyone without a PhD in theology and psychology and probably 10 other areas of study.)) [This is the text of the last person to answer the question]

Actually, It is an answer derived from looking at and reflecting upon ones self. A better way to say it, Religion is comprised of it's believers. The more believers a religion has, the more impact it has on the community. Like Christianity, If for some reason, thousands of Christians renounced their faith suddenly,society could suffer and it would affect many people.

However, If thousands of people who are of a religious background that was fairly obscure, it would have little impact upon society at all.

Answer

The vast majority of adherents to a religion such as Christianity is that they realise that life, including science, medicine, economics and all other secular explanations of the universe do not answer the most fudamental questions. Science may answer, for instance, how the universe came into being and how we formed, but we have to turn to religion and God to explain just why the universe bothers to exist in the first place. Other questions? What is love? compassion? faith? Why is there suffering in the world? what is death? Why does there seem to be an inate sense of right and wrong instilled in us despite this being counter evolutionary (evolution dictates a preservation of self, but often humans are self-giving often at personal cost [in fact it has been shown that this behaviour can evolve in complex societies, see discussion]). Most Christians, Jews and Moslems feel that turning to God answers these questions.

Also, when they do so and put their trust in him,life invariiably feels better and more worthwhile.

From my own personal perspective, as a scientist for most of my working career, and also a Christian, I found that only by having a faith in God, and a personal relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, does the world make sense. I can explain the workings of evolution, of the Big Bang, and the chemistry that takes place within a living body (to a certain degree!!), but the big questions of life (see above) simply remained unanswered. Only by a commitment to a faith in God did all this become sense, and, at the risk of sounding arrogant, only after becoming a Christian did life feel so worthwhile and good - despite the ups and downs.

Answer 2

The reason is simply because it is the socially acceptable practice. The majority of people who blindly follow religion, does so because they were born into it.

Some follow because it presents the opportunity for personal rewards and progress. Some follow out of desperation for a better existence. The most significant reason however is that some follow out of an absolute fear of death and emptiness so religion is like after-life assurance.