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Why are People Religious?

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” - Martin Luther King, Jr

For centuries humans have fallen into a repetitive cycle of fallacy. A spiritual rut that has held us back from achieving our full potential. It isn't until now that humans are starting to wake up and shift to higher states of awareness. But as we are beginning to make progress as humans why is it that people still cling on to their 2,000 year old believes. When will people finally give up their materialistic religion and search for something with greater meaning and purpose? I believe that there are 10 main reason why people still hold on to their religious beliefs. Now I know that this doesn't pertain to every religion or every religious person but if you are religious you will most likely find yourself in one of these areas.
I've always hated it when somebody says: "this is how you all are," without knowing any of the "you all." Because assumptions are the worst form of fallacious behavior.

Here. If I substitute a few words in your argument I get "Now I know that this doesn't pertain to every Latino or every Hispanic person but if you are Latino you will most likely find yourself in one of these areas."

...What? Since when has that kind of prejudice been ok? I'm not even talking about that political discrimination crap. I'm talking about the kind of reasoning that says "if you belong to a certain group then this is what you think" That's really, really, really bad logic, based on assumptions! It's driving me nuts just to contemplate the twisted string of logical fallacies that could bring you to this point!

Im trying to separate religion from god, they are two different things to me...
To separate the practical actions of those who believe in a god from their actual belief...
Follow that train of reasoning to its end with me, won't you?

If I believe in something, but do not act on my beliefs, then just how honest am I being? How am I supporting that quest for truth that we INTPs are famous for?

It's like... have you ever decided something, with every fiber of your being; something that you cling to as the basis for your questions and investigations and wonder? Now what happens when I come up to you and say "It's not that that thing doesn't exist, you just shouldn't be acting on it."

I would hope for your observational integrity and your objectivity that you could never separate your actions from your investigations, your living from your perspective. For I have found living so falsely to be anathema to the INTPs I know, as I know it is for me.


As for religion, and why one might practice it, you forgot a reason or two. Mine is thankfulness. That place where religion is celebration, rather than hunger. Hope rather than need. I am not the things you said, and (perhaps paradoxically?) it is precisely because I am not those things that I am thankful.

Edit: I have my doubts about posting this argument. It's not something I write out of anger, I'm not offended, and I don't mean you any harm, OP. And I'm probably not going to have any effect on local opinions with this. But then... I saw your opening quote:

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” - Martin Luther King, Jr
 
Why are People Religious?

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” - Martin Luther King, Jr

For centuries humans have fallen into a repetitive cycle of fallacy. A spiritual rut that has held us back from achieving our full potential. It isn't until now that humans are starting to wake up and shift to higher states of awareness. But as we are beginning to make progress as humans why is it that people still cling on to their 2,000 year old believes. When will people finally give up their materialistic religion and search for something with greater meaning and purpose? I believe that there are 10 main reason why people still hold on to their religious beliefs. Now I know that this doesn't pertain to every religion or every religious person but if you are religious you will most likely find yourself in one of these areas.


1. Childhood Indoctrination

This is the biggest reasons why people are religious. It is very rare for someone to be brought up in a certain religion and get older and not believe it anymore. This can also be one of the hardest reasons to overcome. If you have been told from the day you were born that this was truth and everyone else was wrong then it is extremely hard to even question that it might not be truth and accept that your whole life growing up you have been fed a lie.

Now of course you can't blame your parents or family because they had the best intentions and they thought that they were showing you truth even though they were probably brought up that way too. It's almost like a never ending cycle that gets passed down to each generation until someone has a light bulb flicker in their brain that tells them that something is wrong.

2. Fear

This is another big reason why people are religious and also why they are afraid to question their religion. A lot of people are afraid of death and afraid of what might happen to them after that. They hear about all these crazy religious people telling them that if they don't join and believe what they believe then they will go to hell forever and ever. They start to think that these people just might be right and become fearful that if they die they are going to be punished.

How many people do you think cried out for forgiveness and prayed as they laid on their death bed. How many people do you think would be in church on Sunday if we all knew that the world was going to end next week. Fear is a very strong emotion and if you know how to use it you can get people to do and believe whatever you want and that is exactly what religion has done. If fear was no longer an issue then I think that a lot of people will open their eyes and not be afraid to question what they believe.

3. Times of Desperation and Need

It is much easier to have faith in a religion when you have nothing else. If you are in a time of desperation and need with no hope then you need something to hold on to. If someone is completely satisfied with life then they have no need for a religion because they are content with how they are.

4. Tradition

A lot of people just accept their religion because it is their tradition. Everyone around them follows that religion and no one has done any different for the past 300 years. All the way back to their great great great grandparents their people where following that religion so therefore it feels like they have to follow it too. If you were born in America then you have a great chance that you will be Christian. If your from the middle east then you will most likely be Muslim. If your from Asia then you will be Buddhist. You believe that you know 100% truth but yet the simplest thing like being born with parents that had a different belief or being born in a different area would cause your entire belief system to be different.

5. Searching For Answers

People are tired of the lies and deception and they want answers. There are so many unanswered questions that no one can seem to answer and religion puts a bandage on those questions. The truth is that religion creates much more unanswered questions than the ones you had before they are just able to hide them a lot better. If you are looking for answers to life's greatest questions then religion is the worst thing that you can turn to. You must look much deeper than religion and search from within yourself.

6. Guilty Conscious

Some people have made some bad choices in their lifetime and they begin to get a guilty conscious. They can't forgive themselves and so they turn to religion hoping that they will find a God that will forgive them so that they can feel better about themselves. They are also afraid of their karma coming back to haunt them thinking that when they die they will have to face the punishments for what they did in this lifetime.

7. Socializing

For a lot of people the only time that they get to socialize with anyone other than coworkers is when they go to church. They might not even like church that much but they will go just so that they can socialize with people and get out of the house. People also like to feel that they are a part of something and that they belong somewhere.

8. Comfort and Assurance

People like the comfort and assurance that religion creates for them. It makes them feel safe and that every thing is going to be alright. They are afraid to step out of their comfort zone and they feel that if they don't have a religion then their life will be chaotic.

9. Lack of Responsibility

A lot of religious people do not take responsibility for their actions, choices and the world that they create around them. They need something to blame and they need something to send their problems to. I have seen this so many times and it truly saddens me that religion has brought them down so low that they just give up and hope that God will fix it all. How many people have heard someone that is religious say that they can't do something on their own so they leave it in God's hands. "I can't quit smoking on my own, I can't quit drinking on my own, I can't live a happy life on my own, I can't find a good job on my own or live a satisfied fulfilling life on my own so I just put my faith in God knowing that he will do all these things for me." If you want something in your life then YOU need to take action and pursue it. Don't say you can't do something on your own just because you are lazy and lack any willpower.

10. Spiritual Fulfillment

There is a spiritual void in this world and people can feel it. They want a life with more meaning and more purpose. I think that this is one of the biggest reasons why people turn to a religion hoping that they can satisfy that spiritual void. You go to church and you see all of these people excited for God and you think to yourself, "this must be it, this is what I have been searching for. Just look how happy all these people are." So you join the church and you get excited and on fire for God and your so happy and nothing can ever take you down. But as time goes on you start to realize that the spiritual void is still there and you start feeling the same as you did before if not worse.
So true! You make so much sense! 're users do it not often because it helps them deal with their emotions better! I guess religion can be a good thing. But a could substitute would be trusting your family and friends and finding a positive way to perceive the truth. So basically developing Ne!
 
No, religion is something not entirely understood with the mind.

Take it away, and you are simply left with an empty world, where there is no underlying meaning or greater purpose for anything. You are but empty robotic and lifeless husks; no much far removed from insects.

Would you say it is superior of a man to be that of a nihilist then? denouncing all just beliefs entirely.

There is a realm of existence, and life that can only be understood truly through feeling, experiencing, and the soul. There is a greater purpose to which we were all placed here, and a sanctity to life to which no other person has rightly permission to trespass, or take as their own realm.

Thinking is merely a box, or coffin that you will never find any answers within.
 
No, religion is something not entirely understood with the mind.

Take it away, and you are simply left with an empty world, where there is no underlying meaning or greater purpose for anything. You are but empty robotic and lifeless husks; no much far removed from insects.

Would you say it is superior of a man to be that of a nihilist then? denouncing all just beliefs entirely.

There is a real of existence, and life that can only be understood truly through feeling, experiencing, and the soul. There is a greater purpose to which we were all placed here, and a sanctity to life to which no other person has rightly permission to trespass, or take as their own realm.

Thinking is merely a box, or coffin that you will never find any answers within.
Do you have any idea how stupid you sound?
 
And you ignorant.

It is not something merely in the realm of the intellect.

You have equally fallen for science's dogma.
There's no difference between what you're saying and someone who has fallen in love legitimately thinking that no one has loved as deeply as he has or that he has found the only person in the world who is right for him, except that love eventually fades and he realizes who much of a dumbass he was. I know you will never truly realize this because you're too much of a feeler and an idiot, though.

Keep trying to understand the universe's turning through only your own emotions, it'll get you nowhere near any semblance of truth, even if you never realize it, which you probably won't.
 
I'm with the OP on this. They are all reasons how people are born into or come to religion.

I don't think he really emphasizes enough the 'meaning' function that religion provides our lives. With a religion, you have, quite simply answered the meaning of life! Who the hell wouldn't want that clawing torturing question answered!.

If we have an understanding of how life works and can make some sense of it, we can control much of it. Control is a large issue for many people as it is frightening to think that we can't manipulate the outcomes in our lives and after death. It's nice and simple solution to hold to in order to simplify one's outlook on life. And the control aspect is comforting.
 
Keep trying to understand the universe's turning through only your own emotions...
Where did you get this word "only" from? Seems like you're doing a little projecting rather than listening.
 
No. 1 is clearly the primary reason (and it pretty much includes most of the other reasons given). I mean, you wouldn't arbitrarily turn to a Jesus or a Mohammed if you're desperate or afraid, unless No. 1 was already in operation. You wouldn't go looking for a Bodhisatva for answers to the questions of life unless you were already exposed to that tradition. It's all simply about No. 1 and it's quite remarkable that people don't recognize this and instead surmise other reasons for adhering to some religion or other. Even the distinction some people try to make between god, religion and spirituality is somewhat contrived, I think. People, for example, talk about a higher power or some non-religious spiritual essence but what they are most likely identifying are concepts and notions they have already absorbed from their respective religious traditions. The "higher power" many people talk about is still the Christian notion of god by whatever name they choose to assign to it. That higher power is like their Christian god a benefactor with whom they can "speak" to or interact with through their thoughts, i.e. prayers. If only people would rationally acknowledge that their religion is a cultural legacy, nothing more and nothing less.
 
Simple, fear of being alone and accept none of this might not have any sense
  • Why was I born? Who am I? Where do I belong? What is death? What is life? What is I? Why are things the way they are?
  • I was born because I was meant to, there is a divine plan. I am me, an important being. Life is a way. I belong to the path of truth. I am a thing with a mission. Because the law says it so I can expect something better.
  • Therefore, I'm not alone and life has a purpose.
 
I'm religious. Not only spiritual. I follow the instructions of the hindu sri vaishnava tradition. It's the best thing that has happened to me in my life.

God can be personally encountered in meditation. Even just a thought of God cures emotional wounds and gives bliss.
Hopefully in the next few decades, the west might get over our worship of atheist thinkers such as Nietzsche or Marx. They were geniuses but wrong non the less.

Call me a religious freak, call me deluded. I'll just say namaste man. Peace to you man. You know where to call if you want to give this thing a go, I'll help you out.
 
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