Why do some people avoid religion?

Answer 1

Because they like to be free and live happily. Ironically, when you free yourself from the boundaries of religion, you enslave yourself by the bounds of passion and feeling and lust. So you must choose which forces are going to lead you: The clean forces or the polluting forces.

Answer 2

Some people blame religions for the choices of people, even though people have free will and sometimes are going against their own religion's practices with their behavior. The people who claim to be a religion, sometimes don't follow what they claim.

Answer 3

Religion and the belief in a deity are different. Many feel that organized religion is an institution that creates more problems in the world than it solves. These people may lead their lives in whatever they feel their deity directs.Other people avoid religion and religious because of their innate understanding that there is no god at all. If you don't believe that there is a cause why would you care to associate with an organization devoted to it.

Some people just ignore the question and go about their lives without thought to adeity or religion. As it is said the nature of good people is to do good and the nature of bad people is to do evil.

Answer 4

Because they do not believe that there is any conclusive evidence that a God exists and they are willing to take the eternal risk that He does not.

Other possible factors:

1) Peer influence. In high school, for example, the one or two religious believers in a class may be subject to ridicule.

2) Convenience; desires. No one wants "bothersome" rules, or limitations to their personal pleasure.

3) Lack of proper information. People have inaccurate notions about God, religion and belief. They've picked up tidbits, jokes, and "sound-bites," and on such solid authority they dismiss the entire topic.

4) Unfortunate experiences. Many have had personal hardships, or a harsh religious upbringing or education, and as a consequence may retain an unhappy feeling towards belief, without realizing that emotions and facts are two different things.

5) Many think that science, and specifically Evolution, have proved that there is no God. They don't comprehend that even if Evolution was an unquestionable fact, it would not automatically follow that God isn't there. They also seem unaware that there are a significant number of highly-qualified scientists who do not believe in Evolution.

6) Many people have simply never delved into the subject, to see if God's existence can be convincingly demonstrated.

7) Stereotyping. People call us "religious nuts," "Bible-thumpers," etc.; so the average layperson may get a negative feeling toward all belief, not realizing that he/she should first look into the existence of God in principle, before necessarily looking into religion.

See also:

Is there evidence for Creation?

Can you show that God exists?

Answer 5

The underlying reason many people avoid religion is that they understand that there is no god and therefore believe that religion is irrelevant in their lives.

Some who believe there is no God or gods are willing to engage in religious discussion, while others consciously avoid religion altogether. This can be because they know that discussion of religion can lead to heated arguments, as each side takes a more extreme stance, and the best way to avoid this is to decline to talk about religion. Others feel that whenever they talk about religion they will be pushed to believe the religious arguments, and only the most patient atheist can tolerate the unrelenting pressure to conform to religious norms.

You will find apologetic claims that atheists are self-obsessed hedonists who do not want bothersome rules or who have not troubled themselves to find out the "truth". These claims can be somewhat insulting and of course some people will avoid religion to avoid being insulted.