Asklemmy

Religion is an old form of it is what is, hope, direction, tradition, and community.

Can't explain a thing or understand it God's will or only God knows. Can't do anything to help a person because they are in surgery pray or talk to God to wish for good outcomes.

Don't feel loved or know what to do or wanted. God loves you, will show you the way, and wants you.

Most traditions and communities in the west were founded on a religion so you have hundreds of people to connect with at a church and maybe millions world wide that will help. Those raised on books of wisdom or what is right and wrong still tend to keep the values even after they move away from the religion but realize they can have values without divine beings

Lastly control. Just like businesses it is easier to control people under a religion so if you can get people indebted, traditionalized, and ostracized otherwise. You can control people easily. Lots of people don't know what to do and why trust another human being but if a human being says wisely God said this it is easier to accept and gain a direction

I am not even remotely religious. But I take science pretty seriously.

Please tell me, scientifically, why you are so sure that people of faith are wrong?

There is some decent science that prayer does not work. I am not aware of anything offers anything at all testable concerning God.

And if we are simply pushing our preferences on others, I think a more important question is what makes people that claim to be evidence driven to adopt such strong opinions on things ( without evidence ) that they feel comfortable publicly slamming the preferences and values of others ( again with no evidence at all ).

As a science fan, you can say that absence of evidence means you do not have to believe. Correct. You cannot say that an absence of evidence proves your guess correct such that you can treat people who believe otherwise as stupid. Incorrect.

And “they have to show me the evidence” is a moronic stance. As a fan of the scientific method, evidence is YOUR burden of proof. For people that adhere to a religion, their standard is FAITH. So, they are holding up their end and you are dropping the ball. So what gives you the right to be the abuser?

So, I guess my answer to “why do people believe in religion would be”, “well, people still have faith and tradition and science has not produced any evidence that credibly calls that into question”.

Why are people not arriving at this conclusion on their own in 2024? Why have we failed so badly to explain the scientific method that people can still make wild pronouncements like this one.

I don’t like religion because it makes people easy to manipulate. People that treat science like a religion exhibit the same problems. I am not a fan of that.

I can think of four possible reasons:-

• It works on my system - We are shaped by our experiences. To someone who had their life turned around by a religious order (or a religious individual), it would make sense to follow their teachings.

• Opium of the masses - Life is filled with suffering. It is nice to imagine that there is someone looking out for you. An afterlife free of suffering is even better.

• Just following orders - If you want to do something, but don't think your community will support you, it is easier if you say 'god told me to do it'. It might also make it easier to justify the action to yourself.

• Church of England - You don't care much either way, but it's too much of a hassle to leave. Plus meeting your friends and neighbours every week is fun.

Because they have enough evidence to satisfy them that they should, if they're rational; because they were taught to and never questioned it through self-examination, if they're not.

Note that evidence is not the same as proof; other users have pointed out examples of evidence such as 'testimony from trusted authorities such as parents' and 'personal spiritual experiences' and since those answers were very detailed I won't repeat them here.