Why do people believe in God(s)?

An easy lighthearted topic of discussion for a Friday afternoon.

Let's not get bogged down in whether or not a God exists. I'd also like to keep it genuinely lighthearted because I know there may be people who have turned to religion after different traumas and there's not much fun to poke at that.

It's hard not to bring up the existence/non-existence of God in a topic like this but what I'm really wanting to discuss is why a person would choose to spend precious moments of their life devoting themselves to something based of faith alone? I do realize I've answered my own question there, when using the word faith.

But what gives them/you faith? "Believe in God and you'll get to go to heaven" "Don't believe in him and you'll go to hell". Who believes in hell but not God or heaven? Anyway...

Why can't people be kind and decent for their own sake, instead of the idea that they will be rewarded in an afterlife? Apart from a promise of this and the creation of everything (which only happened at the start), what other ways does a religion impact a persons life? Is it the belief in miracles? A divine intervention? Why not have devil-worshiping fun before you die?

I was raised Christian. Not religiously though (boom-tish). When I was pre-10 years old I believed in God. But then after that I thought about it outside of boring church or boring hymns or boring R.E lessons. The further I thought, the more I realised I didn't need a God, I had science. Lovely, lovely science. Can science be considered a religion? I put my faith into the Doctors when I take a drug. I haven't researched the drug myself, much in the same way I haven't researched the bible when I question a religious person about it. But it's all faith in the mighty science!

There's another factor, I live a pretty cushty life. If I had lived in a third world country, didn't have as much exciting exposure to science, would I look to religion to pure my faith into? The real me, not the hypothetical third world one would think "Why Would A God Put me/anyone In A Third World Country?" but I wonder if the hypothetical me would think the same?

Just looked up from the keyboard. Got a bit carried away with my thoughts.

Discuss people, before I start looking like some crazy God-spouting homeless guy!

Quote: Leevil @ January 6 2012, 3:18 PM GMT

I'd also like to keep it genuinely lighthearted

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Good luck!

Quote: Matthew Stott @ January 6 2012, 3:21 PM GMT

Good luck!

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I don't believe in luck! *starts new thread*

Quote: Leevil @ January 6 2012, 3:18 PM GMT

Discuss people, before I start looking like some crazy God-spouting homeless guy!

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Good luck!

Strangely enough science is turning some way to hinting that there may be a supreme being of some sort. One theory has been that we are a souped up version of a computer program such as 'The Sims' and there is proof apparently that just like your monitor if you view things in nature in great detail things become pixilated!

And people believe in G/god or gods for a million reasons but there is a part of the right hemisphere of the brain which if stimulated can enable you to perceive the presence of other beings in the room. Scientist believe this part of the brain increases it's influence as we get older to promote the idea that there is in fact life after death.

That's my fourpenneth I'm off for a lie down and a quick mantra.

People believe in a God because they have a need to believe that there is something else. Isn't that it?

Perhaps for some people believing is way to cope. For some believing that their loved ones will "go on" to a heaven and be looked after, rather than thinking they just cease to be, eases the pain. Also maybe the thought you will see them again when you pass on could be comforting to some.

Not sure I've explained that very well.

Quote: roscoff @ January 6 2012, 3:34 PM GMT

Strangely enough science is turning some way to hinting that there may be a supreme being of some sort. One theory has been that we are a souped up version of a computer program such as 'The Sims' and there is proof apparently that just like your monitor if you view things in nature in great detail things become pixilated!

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I've heard about this pixelation theory. But the problem with that is that the computer monitor isn't the end of the image by which I mean it depends on the ratio and pixel count of your screen. If this theory you've suggested is true, that would suggest that we were also viewing our digital world from the perspective of the "Gamer God". That's what I think to that theory anyway.

It is remarkable that so many people are able to not believe in God/s, given that the point of existence, the origins of the universe, the mysteries of nature, are all so mind-blowing. I would say it's a fairly standard way of your brain protecting you from going completely mental, a way of making sense of the senseless. I don't think of myself as a believer, but as the saying goes 'not many atheists on a crashing plane'

Believing in a higher power, greater then yourself, shouldn't be that much of a leap for you Lee. Take Aaron for example.

Surely that pixellation thing's not a real theory?
Bloody hell.

Quote: reds @ January 6 2012, 3:38 PM GMT

Perhaps for some people believing is way to cope. For some believing that their loved ones will "go on" to a heaven and be looked after, rather than thinking they just cease to be, eases the pain. Also maybe the thought you will see them again when you pass on could be comforting to some.

Not sure I've explained that very well.

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I understand what you're saying but is it always the case that someone mentally prepares themselves or loved ones for death by believing in the existence of God/afterlife? Is that all that religion really boils down to?

The idea of science as a secular replacement for religion is just another facile piece of nonsense that just shows up the ignorance of some religious people.

Science is the pursuit of knowledge through rigorous methodical testing and observation in order to establish a probable truth based on the evidence, that's all.

Nothing is absolute of course but when neutrinos are observed disobeying what is the nearest to an absolute truth in science, nothing travels faster than light, the scientific community are excited and fascinated. They do not issue fatwas or torture people to death for blasphemy.

To answer your original point, I'm not sure why so many people firmly believe in God but perhaps demonstrates the power of cultural and social conformity (woebetide if I don't see my family at Christmas).

Even sadder in a secular western state in the 21st century we have people who beat their kids for practising sorcery, pay some prick called Derek to mind-read their baby and read horoscopes without even asking why they haven't got a Nobel prize for Physics on their mantel piece.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ January 6 2012, 3:47 PM GMT

Believing in a higher power, greater then yourself, shouldn't be that much of a leap for you Lee. Take Aaron for example.

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*Sacrifices a KFC and a Coke to appease the mighty one they call Aaron*