Why are people religious?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me, it’s personal relationship with Jesus that is the attraction. Praying to my creator/maker/savior to express gratitude, joy, praise...confess fears, ask forgiveness for sins,seek truth and wisdom from Biblical teachings that provide a perfect example of love of God and others that I can use as a model and guide while I’m on this earth. I think personally for me it helps answer the why and redirects purpose when I feel confused, frustrated or lost. In short, it’s a comfort and peace, but also helps to center my aspirations to live my life in LOVE and for LOVE.

Other people may have other reasons for engaging in their religion (e.g., tradition, connection to past and family, emotional fulfillment, substitute for meditation, etc.) and those probably play a role for me as well but it’s mostly the reasons above for me personally.

When I have a personal relationship with someone, I can see them them, touch them, hear them. Your relationship seems more like meditation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a non-religious person I'm curious as to what draws one to religion.

I was a cradle Catholic. I had many experiences while in church as a child (meditating while staring at stained glass, felt like I was out of body after first confession) which made me believe it was all true. The Church's teachings made me feel extraordinary guilt and unworthiness. As a teenager, I realized that I had been manipulated. I no longer identify as a Catholic or Christian, but I still believe in God. I think many people use religion as a way to move forward from their bad choices and feelings. The most reverent people I've met are born again Christians who are former thieves, drug addicts or otherwise "immoral". "Love the sinner, hate the sin" is a powerful get out of jail free card. Basically, you can lie, cheat, steal or even kill and get into Heaven all because you accept Jesus as your savior. I'd rather white knuckle it through life and have some guilt free fun, honestly.

[Anonymous]

When people feel like their lives are chaotic, they seek out order and structure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a non-religious person I'm curious as to what draws one to religion.

So you prefer to believe in total annihilation at death, then?

NP. I'm not OP, but as another non-religious person, I would like to think that an afterlife exists and I respect the views of those who do think that. But I personally don't believe in it, even though I would prefer it to annihilation.

DP. As someone raised in as an atheist who finds participation in organized religion somewhat baffling (not in a negative way, I just don’t understand it), I was going to say that I don’t think death has to be ‘god’ or ‘total annihilation’. Then I looked up the definition of annihilation, and in physics it means “ the conversion of matter into energy, especially the mutual conversion of a particle and an antiparticle into electromagnetic radiation.” I would think a spiritual person would actually appreciate this as a possible definition of the afterlife.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a non-religious person I'm curious as to what draws one to religion.

So you prefer to believe in total annihilation at death, then?

Not total annihilation, I will be food for the decomposers and thus continue to be "in the circle of life".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of the things atheists will assume.

"I do not seek to understand so that I can believe,
but I believe so that I may understand;
and what is more,
I believe that unless I do believe, I shall not understand."

-St. Anselm of Canterbury

"A bunch of words
that make no sense whatsoever,
and what is more,
we do not accept any other thing than religion that way"

-St. Hater of Bullshit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of the things atheists will assume.

"I do not seek to understand so that I can believe,
but I believe so that I may understand;
and what is more,
I believe that unless I do believe, I shall not understand."

-St. Anselm of Canterbury

"A bunch of words
that make no sense whatsoever,
and what is more,
we do not accept any other thing than religion that way"

-St. Hater of Bullshit

I just ordered my St. Hater of Bullshit medal. I'm going to wear it every day.

[Anonymous]

Because it's the truth. God created all of us and the whole world, and He loves each and every one of us, and is endlessly forgiving. He is One and His Name is One.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a non-religious person I'm curious as to what draws one to religion.

Tribalism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because it's the truth. God created all of us and the whole world, and He loves each and every one of us, and is endlessly forgiving. He is One and His Name is One.

That's fine, but op asked why people are *religious*......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a non-religious person I'm curious as to what draws one to religion.

Tribalism.

Coping mechanism to provide structure and meaning to life.

[Anonymous]

I am religious because I believe we are all interconnected. I feel most connected when I am kayaking or canoeing on a body of water or walking through a forest or looking up at the stars on a particularly clear night far away from the lights of a city or town. I find that certain spaces do feel sacred and special. I also like community and shared values. I like music. I like to think about how I can be a better person. I find meditation beneficial. I like to pause everyday at the same time, every week at the same time and every month at the same time and I like to mark the different parts of the year as we go through it.

[Anonymous]

It’s the only place you can go where the institution wants you to be a better person.
Maybe if you are cynical, you may believe that the Church is trying to control you or take your money, but there are many instances where that is not true. However, for everything else in modern life, it absolutely is overtly true. DCUM doesn’t care about you or want you to have a better life. Jeff created and maintains this website because he wants the ad revenue. Same with the music you listen to, the restaurants you go to, the movies you watch, Instagram, Tiktok, etc. They aren’t trying to make you better or make your life better. They don’t even pretend to care about your happiness or your family. With the exception of public school (maybe), every other major institution openly wants to control you and/or take your money. At the very least, the church puts on a veneer of wanting you to be happy and lead a better life.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:It’s the only place you can go where the institution wants you to be a better person.
Maybe if you are cynical, you may believe that the Church is trying to control you or take your money, but there are many instances where that is not true. However, for everything else in modern life, it absolutely is overtly true. DCUM doesn’t care about you or want you to have a better life. Jeff created and maintains this website because he wants the ad revenue. Same with the music you listen to, the restaurants you go to, the movies you watch, Instagram, Tiktok, etc. They aren’t trying to make you better or make your life better. They don’t even pretend to care about your happiness or your family. With the exception of public school (maybe), every other major institution openly wants to control you and/or take your money. At the very least, the church puts on a veneer of wanting you to be happy and lead a better life.

I am not sure why you dragged me into this discussion but DCUM was created as a mailing list that never ran a single advertisement during its entire existence. We started and operated it because we it was fun and we benefitted from the advice provided on the list. The website was started when the mailing list became too big for managing the traffic and for the first years it didn't have advertisements either. But running a website like this takes money and advertisements were the easiest way to get revenue. There are a lot of things I could do that would earn more money if money was my main concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a non-religious person I'm curious as to what draws one to religion.

Tribalism.

Not necessarily. I was raised Southern Baptist and lost my "tribe" to become Greek Orthodox. No Greeks in my family. My aunt said I was worshipping Satan by converting.