Why don't some people believe in religion?

Answer 1

Opinion: 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. We see how lack of self-discipline has led to epidemic obesity, drunkenness, divorce rates, violence etc.

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 proofs 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) Intellectual laziness. 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.

Answer 2

Most people do believe in a religion. Some examples of these include: animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Islam, Judaism, Rastafarianism, Shintoism and Wicca. They can't all be right, although they very possibly are all equally wrong.

Some people see that religion has no foundation and is simply belief in the unseen, and so choose not to follow any of the religions mentioned here. Defenders of the status quo insist that atheists are intellectually lazy for not researching the possible existence of God, then complain if atheists do discuss the lack of evidence. Other apologists say that, without the rules that religion brings, there will be epidemics of drunkeness, divorce, violence and crime, but this is an example of intellectual laziness because just a little research would show that atheists are greatly under-represented in our prisons.