Why do people still believe in God?

Answer 1

Because leaders of the world are experts in Propaganda

I agree with the answer that the leaders are good at propaganda. I also believe that just like the creations of Santa Clause and Cinderella, there is a fanatical need by some in society to believe that there is a fairyland. There are lots of people who like to dream and to imagine a world (Heaven) where they can get away and live happily ever after. Some people find their solitude and ecstasy from intoxicating drugs and activities. Believing in God is just another way in which people get their "HIGH". Why wouldn't people believe in God in any century! God is amazing! Who wouldn't want to go to Heaven and live for eternity. Instead of going to WikiAnswers you just ask the guy (God) who made everything! We believe He is coming back soon.

Answer 2

• Teleological Argument: The universe has definite design, order, and arrangement which cannot be sufficiently explained outside a theistic worldview. (This is how Abraham, without benefit of teachers, came to reject the chaotic world-view of idolatry and the possibility of Atheism). For example, theoretical physicist and popular science writer Paul Davies (whose early writings were not especially sympathetic to theism) states concerning the fundamental structure of the universe, "the impression of design is overwhelming" (Davies, 1988, p. 203). From the complexities of the human eye to the order and arrangement of cosmology, the voice of God is heard. God's existence is the best explanation for such design. God is the designer.

• Anthropic Principle: The laws of the universe seem to have been set in such a way that stars, planets and life can exist. Many constants of nature appear to be finely tuned for this, and the odds against this happening by chance are astronomical. Professor Russel Stannard (a particle physicist) states: "The universe has been bent over backwards in order that intelligent life should exist...must have known we were coming."
• The glaring lack of transitional fossils has been noted by the evolutionists themselves, such as this statement from the famous paleontologist and evolutionist George G. Simpson; quote: "The regular lack of transitional fossils is not confined to primates alone, but is an almost universal phenomenon."
  "To the unprejudiced, the fossil record of plants is in favor of special creation" (Corner, E.J.H., Contemporary Botanical Thought).
  
• "Nine-tenths of the talk of evolutionists is sheer nonsense, not founded on observation and wholly unsupported by facts. This museum is full of proofs of the utter falsity of their views. In all this great museum, there is not a particle of evidence of the transmutation of species" (Dr. Etheridge, Paleontologist of the British Museum).
  "To postulate that the development and survival of the fittest is entirely a consequence of chance mutations seems to me a hypothesis based on no evidence and irreconcilable with the facts. It amazes me that this is swallowed so uncritically and readily, and for such a long time, by so many scientists without murmur of protest" (Sir Ernest Chain, Nobel Prize winner).
  
• The fact that you need DNA to make DNA. No genetic code can be demonstrated to have arisen by chance, together with the ability to read that code and carry out its instructions. Information does not arise spontaneously; and there is an incredible amount of information in even the tiniest cell.
  "A living cell is so awesomely complex that its interdependent components stagger the imagination and defy evolutionary explanations" (Michael Denton, author).
  "The astounding structural complexity of a cell" (U.S. National Library of Medicine).
  Concerning a single structure within a cell: "Without the motor protein, the microtubules don't slide and the cilium simply stands rigid. Without nexin, the tubules will slide against each other until they completely move past each other and the cilium disintegrates. Without the tubulin, there are no microtubules and no motion. The cilium is irreducibly complex. Like a mousetrap, it has all the properties of design and none of the properties of natural selection" (Michael Behe, prof. of biophysics).

Answer 2

Because, science being a form of religion, can not prove it own doctrines. Just because evolutionary science is presented as factual, it is in reality unproven and unprovable speculation. The idea that a supremely powerful life form has the knowledge to create life is not unscientific, based on the truth that spontaneous generation of life is impossible. So if we believe or not is based not on any establishment of proofs, but on how one cares to view himself in the greater context of the universe.

Answer 3

1) Worldwide traditionBelief in God was the universal tradition of all mankind. People have always believed in a Higher Power. Archaeology has shown that no ancient society ever existed that did not believe in the supernatural.
Moreover, based upon a massive worldwide study of the most ancient inscriptions and the earliest levels of civilization, Dr. Wilhelm Schmidt (in his twelve-volume work, Der Ursprung Der Gottesidee) concluded that the original belief was monotheistic. It was a simple belief in the Creator (Sky-Father) with no imagery of any kind, which only later gave way to polytheism.

2) The teleological argument:The universe has definite design, order, and arrangement which cannot be sufficiently explained outside of a theistic worldview. From the complexities of the human eye to the order and arrangement of cosmology, the vast wisdom of God is displayed. God's existence is the best explanation for such design. God is the designer.
Consider also the device in logic called Occam's razor. This principle states that the simplest explanation for a set of circumstances is usually the correct one. "In the beginning God created" is beautifully simple; and it precludes any need for questionable theories and speculations.

3) The anthropic principleThe laws of the universe seem to have been finely tuned in such a way that stars, planets and life can exist. Many constants of nature appear to be carefully adjusted for this, and the odds against this happening by chance are astronomical.

4) Sensus divinitatusThe innate sense of the Divine exists within all people. People and cultures of all time have, by nature, sensed a need to worship something greater than themselves.
The afterlife, also, is a universal tradition and one whose importance must not be understated. It goes a long way in explaining why we have free-will, what we're doing here, what about the suffering of the innocent, and why our very instincts tell us that death is not the end. Here too, no ancient society ever existed that did not believe in the afterlife; and to the thinking person, this fact cannot be dismissed offhand.

5) Pascal's WagerBelief in God is the most rational choice due to the consequences of being wrong. If one were to believe in God and be wrong, there would be no bad consequences. However, if one were to deny God and be wrong, the consequences are eternally tragic. Therefore, the most rational choice is not agnosticism or atheism, but accepting that God exists.

6) Why does anything exist at all?Why is there reality rather than nothing? Aside from God having created it, there are only five options.

a) The universe is eternal and everything has always existed.
- Even atheists have abandoned this claim, especially because it would violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

b) Nothing exists and all is an illusion. There is no reality. There is only nothing.
- This possibility, it should be obvious, is meaningless. In order to even make such a claim, the subject has to exist in some sense. If all is an illusion, where did the illusion come from? Even the solipsist, who does not believe in the existence of other minds, has to explain the genesis of his own mind.

c) The universe created itself. This is the idea that the universe and all that is in it did not have its origin in something outside itself, but from within.
- Like with the previous two, this makes a logical absurdity. It would be like creating a square triangle. It's impossible. Creation cannot create itself, as it would have to pre-date itself to create. The pre-dated form would then need a sufficient explanatory cause, ad infinitum.

d) The universe came about by accident. The odds of winning the lottery are not very good, but given enough time, everyone will win. While the odds of the universe coming into existence are not very good, given enough time, it could happen.
- This claim is a sleight of hand that amounts to nothing, because it implies that accident or chance itself has causal power. The word "accident" is used to describe possibilities or events. It does not by itself have the power to cause those events. It is nonsense to speak of chance being the agent of creation of anything, since chance is not an agent. "What are the real chances of the universe created by chance? Not a chance. Accident is incapable of creating a single molecule, let alone an entire universe. Why not? Chance is no thing. It is not an entity. It has no being, no power, no force. It can effect nothing because it has no causal power within it. It is a word which may describes mathematical possibilities which, by a curious flip of the fallacy of ambiguity, slips into the discussion as if it were a real entity with real power, the power of creativity." (R.C. Sproul, Not a Chance. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1999.)

e) The universe is created by nothing. Simply put, nothing created the universe.
- The problem here is that it is either a restating of option "a" (the universe is eternal) or fails due to the irrationality of "d". In our current universe, the law of cause and effect cannot be denied by sane people. While we often don't know what the cause of some effect is, that does not mean that there was no cause. When we go to the doctor looking for an explanation for our neck pain, we don't accept the answer "There is no cause. It came from nothing."

Answer 4

Most people who believe in God do so because they were brought up to hold this belief. If they are still believers by the age of twelve, the chances are high that they will remain believers for life, as childhood training becomes so ingrained. In the same way, most people (Hindus) who believe in Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu do so because they were brought up to hold this belief.

Others believe in God because this belief was brought to them by missionaries who seemed, especially to rural tribespeople, to be able to proclaim special truths. In other cases, churches, synagogues or mosques have provided help in times of desperate need, and the beneficiaries seem to adopt religion out of a deep sense of gratitude.

In spite of these reasons for belief, an increasing number of people no longer believe in God, and become atheists or simply remain Christians, Jews or Muslims in name only.

Answer 5

Religion provides many people with comfort in difficult times, as well as a sense of purpose. Of course, this applies equally to many religions, not just the Abrahamic religions that worship God.

Reason may tell those who enquire, that there is no God. And there are many ways outside religion to obtain comfort and solace. But people do not need to abandon their faiths just because logic and reason say so. Even Elaine Pagels ("Beyond Belief", "The Secret Gospel of Thomas" and others) says that, although an atheist, she still finds quiet comfort in the church.

Answer 6

The "number" of the current century has nothing to do with it. God either exists or He doesn't. Based upon all the evidence, those who believe in God feel that He exists, because of logic or emotions or both.

See also the Related Link.

Can you show me that God exists?