To wonder how anyone can believe in a religion?

[Staringintothevoid616]

I can understand why some believe in a higher power, in many ways it’s logical and many might just feel there is one, some people might refute that, all fine and dandy.

But what on earth makes people follow a religion? There’s literally hundreds of them over the course of history, even a rudimentary bit of research/critical thinking highlights the fact they can only be man made, the rules designed to fulfil a particular mundane purpose.

What makes people pick one (beyond being born in a certain place to a certain family) over all others and go “ yep this is the one truth, these rules come from a specific god/gods/goddesses, these rules other religions are just made up”.

I mean for many it’s not just a hobby, they’re willing to shape their lives to whatever set of rules they pick, sometimes to kill and be killed. Why??? Even a second of thought must highlight their folly?

it’s not about whether a higher power exists, it’s about why people have to frame that belief on a set of clearly made up rules, which range from the bizarre (don’t eat meat on a Friday) to the downright dangerous )it’s justified to kill anyone who doesn’t believe the same set of made up rules as you do)

AIBU to wonder why people follow religions?

But there can be more than one logical answer - there has probably been more specimens of modern man who have lived their lives believing in something kind of higher power than have not - therefore, one logical (not thinly logical) conclusion from this is that there is something

You would really have to ask people from various religions. The answers aren't all going to be the same.

Your view of religion is fairly narrow, btw, not all religions have the kinds of belief systems you seem to think they do.

You would also find they have different approaches to things like revelation and those rules you mentioned. Muslims for example have a different set of ideas than Catholics, who have a different set than Buddhists.

Your argument that there are many different belief systems, therefore none must be correct, doesn't hold up logically. You could also make the same argument about many belief systems that are not normally considered religion, like secular humanism, or Marxism.

Strength of numbers doesn't make it fact.
I'll always support someone's right to have a religion (as long as it doesn't affect me in any way) but there's no logic to it, and I absolutely will look at them differently.

Well, I’m not, so your subjective scoring of an irrelevant hypothetical situation doesn’t concern me. But I would mark you ability to actually address a question asked on an internet forum as zero.

Logical positivism isn't self-evident. You only think that because you live in a society where it is a fairly common default belief. Science by definition only addresses physical phenomena, it doesn't tell us anything at all about logic, metaphysics, ethics, or epistemology, most of which are more foundational than science.

No idea. I agree, it's absolutely nuts and I have less and less patience with it the older I get. That said, religion has brought us some amazing art and music, to be fair. But yes, it annoys me, as does Royalism (a lot of overlap between the two with people I know. I bite my tongue a lot)

I think many people cannot bear the idea that death is the end of everything. People want so much to believe they will be reunited with loved ones lost and that everything will be magical for all eternity. Religions claim to offer that and so people will buy into the religion for what they feel is the eventual pay out.

I didn't say that science explains logic, just that a scientific approach is itself logical.

I wasn’t brought up a Christian but I am now. I am baptised and now attend church regularly. I, like you, can’t bear blind allegiance to any ideology without critical thought and in my Anglican context I’m encouraged to explore that.

I don’t follow ‘man made’ rules. I follow Jesus Christ’s commandment to love God with all your heart and treat your neighbour as yourself. All of the rest of the two thousand years of male centred theology I take with a pinch of salt (rightly or wrongly). But I love the community, the oddballs, the hymns, the candlelight, the choir, the church bells. I love that it’s not clear cut and people have different expressions of their faith. I try to live to that golden commandment. I try to live justly and I pray.

I’m not some dogmatic person who thinks they’ve got it all figured out. But I see the side of religion that does good - the personal vocations in the world m, the food bank, the night pastors, the community outreach to the elderly, the charitable fund raising, the community events etc.

Sad to think of that being disparaged just because people ‘don’t understand it’.

I know exactly why. The comfort of believing there is a meaning and purpose to your life, that its not transitory and pointless. That when your loved ones die, one day you'll see their faces again. The hope that when things are truly awful, its part of a plan that will work out for the best in the end. The security of having rules and guidelines to follow. The sense of community of sharing the belief and its rituals with others.
Why is really obvious. It's the how I struggle with. If I could just figure out how to suspend my disbelief I'd be first through the doors.

But what is a “fact” if lots of people believe something there’s more likely to be something in it

That’s not what it is for me. I dont have that belief… 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's a comfort. It gives you a group of people who are 'us' in a world full of scary 'them'. It answers the big questions when saying 'I don't know ' is frightening. It gives you something to look forward to when your life isn't great.

I am an atheist, but I see the appeal. It just doesn't appeal to me.

Many people simply need rules and guides to follow as otherwise they would be lost : sheeple. They like being controlled.

In addition, many people are far too afraid to face the reality of mortality and finality of death - so any alternative is preferable even if deep down they know it’s all nonsense.

@SorcererGaheris How can you believe in all gods? Because all the stories about them can't be simultaneously true. The earth can't have been created by God, and Zeus and Marduk and Odin and Atum and all of the others in various creation myths. To me that's even more bizarre than believing that one story is true and the others false.

But Matthew 5:17 states that you should continue to follow all the laws of the Torah. Do you do that as a follower of Jesus Christ? It’s what he said

When you say you ignore the subsequent 2000 years of theology, I assume you ignore the teachings of Paul and are a messianic Jew?

I think it is fear.

Fear of death, fear of the chaos of life, fear of making your own decisions.

And also for some men it is the fact that religion still gives them power over women and kids...

I'm not religious.
I used to be, but lost the faith I'd had indoctrinated into me when it became clear that there was no higher power, and that all that I'd been told about a beneficent and kindly God didn't reconcile with the same one who required people to sacrifice their firstborns, and killed people in floods.
However, that's my take.
For others, among my friends, religion gives them comfort at times of difficulty, it gives them a sense of community and belonging and provides a like-minded support network (for some) outside family and close friends.
In early days it must have been difficult to look at the vastness of the lands, skies and seas and not to try to attribute that to some higher power, because it's so hard to comprehend how all that can exist.
For some people, it allows them to adhere to 'rules' around moral concepts, although I struggle with this because I feel that if you need the threat of some form of eternal punishment to stop you from doing something, it means that if you didn't believe that, you'd just crack on and do the bad thing (e.g. theft, murder). The frequent argument questions atheists as to why they don't just go around doing bad things if they don't fear an eternal judgement. The reason is that morally, that thing is wrong, and a decent person just wouldn't do it.

@Staringintothevoid616 You completely misunderstand the purpose of religion.
90% of it is not about the theology or the beliefs. Of that, another 9.9% is about finding a comforting tale about what happens after death, so only about 0.1% is about actually believing what the religion says about god(s) and how to live your life.
The 90% is about culture and community. It is about belonging to a membership club and meeting up regularly with like-minded people.
You could totally believe all the theology of a religion in private, but if you don't go to meet-ups (services) what are you getting from it?
Equally, you can get a huge amount of of the meet-ups but have serious doubts about a lot of the theology - which I would guess is the position for vast numbers of religious people.

@ColdAsAWitches

Believing in all the gods does not equate to believing that all the stories about them are true.

I pointed out in another post that polytheist pagans do not believe that the texts about the gods are all complete true and without error. Greek polytheist pagans believe Zeus exists, but they do not believe he created the world. Norse pagans do not believe that Odin literally created the world.

Pagan polytheists like myself believe all gods and goddesses exists because of the experiences that have been reported with them (by ourselves and by others.)

Some people like the structure that it brings to their lives.

The guidance it offers and the routine it brings. It brings comfort to them in difficult times and guidance to them when they have problems. A sense of society, community and social support as well, as well as a marking of progress through their lives.

It can provide answers to difficult questions if they want it to. And also explain everything difficult that happens that people find hard to rationalise, justify or understand.

To some it brings comfort that there is something beyond life.

Modern religion is something I think that is very personal and brings different things to different people and there are many different sub branches of each religion that interpret it in different ways.

A lot of religious critics ask the question how can you believe this or that aspect of a religion and the answer is simple, a lot of religious people don't. You can believe that the teachings of religion as a method or framework of morals to live your life, without for example thinking superbeings created the earth in some weird way.

Religions are a lot more open to interpretation and question than they were in the past and peoples reasons for following them are generally more than just tradition, but this does vary from religion to religion and country to country.

I wish I did.

I especially don't understand how feminists and gays can be Christian. I don't like any religion, but at least with Catholicism, Orthodox Judaism and Islam, we don't have any of all the happy clappy let's all be friends together everyone's equal claptrap. No, according to the book that you follow no we're not, so what are you doing here exactly!? It's why I don't like women vicars.

My son is a Buddhist.

I believe there is some dispute about whether it is a religion.

there are rules. It is also made clear that there are some circumstances where you should break the rules, and that the point of following Buddhism is to try to reach enlightenment and/or to help others do so.

the more understanding you have the less you need the rules.

my understanding is that the teachings of the Buddha are set in the Hindu context and so assume multiple gods however that isn’t the point of Buddhism.

Religion is a load of crap, designed by men to control women, designed by men and women to force control and fear into and onto everyone else.

It's 2-faced - ''Do not commit adultery - while vicars, nuns, etc. are doing exactly the same thing because 'my god told me to do it''. I signed an online petition about a twisted, evil priest in the USA who tortured and murdered cats, and his excuse? But, Jesus told me to do it''

I hate religion and the religious nuts. NOT those who quietly and respectfully go about their religion, but the bible bashers, the 2-facers. The ''do not sin'' idiots who are sinners themselves.

I talk to the universe, which I do believe in, not pray to gods that I don't believe in!