[Sasa Luke]

Howdy people,I am wondering why?Let's share some opinions.Thank you.


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[Design_Me_A_Tom]

Too many contradictions, too many stories which defy reality, too many things which go against science, they both claim to be the true holy book and the word of God but so do so many others .... the list goes on.

[Prime Suspect]

There are typically 3 reasons why people believe in books such as the Bible.

1) Indoctrination. People are born and grow up being told that their book is the word of their god etc. They develop some sort of critical thinking blind spot which prevents them from critically assessing the claims in their book, the teachings of their book etc. in an objective manner. This can be exposed to someone like that by taking a quote from their book and repeating it to them without telling them it is from their book. They will then be free to criticise it as they would anything else, thus discovering their blind spot. Particularly effective is telling them it's a quote from a rival book, as this will point out to them that there are essentially no differences between books.

2) Fear. The person sees the flaws in their book but will not voice their thoughts due to fear. This may be fear of rejection (e.g. by family and friends) or perhaps threat of violence. Such people often keep their feelings inside until it is safe to reveal them - the child who loses their religion once leaving the family home being a classic example.

3) Comfort. Some people prefer to believe in an obviously flawed story rather than facing up to the truth that each individual is the master of his/her own destiny. These people often confess a 'vague' belief in a god or gods and are often theist-agnostic.

This list is non-exhaustive and I am sure there are other, less common reasons. Broadly speaking people falling into at least one of the 3 categories above will believe in a religious book; those who do not typically will not. As to which one the believe in - that merely depends on which they are exposed to most significantly during their formative years (compare with die hard football supporters).