Why do people believe in God? For most people the answer seems obvious: Its self-evident that God exists. From the point of the believer, the really puzzling question is how anyone could not believe.
And yet,psychologist Brett Mercier and his colleagues point out there was a time in the prehistory of our species when nobody believed in a god of any sort. Our evolutionary ancestors were all atheists. So we’re back to our original question: Why do people believe in God?
By the way, if you think that you—an intelligent human being living in modern society—are free of such superstitious nonsense, ask yourself: Have you ever begged your car to start on a cold morning? Or ever complained that your computer has a mind of its own because it doesn’t behave the way you want it to? We tend to automatically detect the supernatural in inanimate objects whenever the situation is unpredictable and out of our control.
If you live day in and day out with the same 150 people, you get to know them really well. But if the numbers are in the thousands or tens of thousands, most of the people are strangers. Human existence depends on cooperation. When we live in small groups, bad people are punished and quickly learn that they have to get along. But in much larger groups it’s easy to take advantage of others, there’s no way for the rest of the group to punish those who take advantage of the system. The solution was to invent ever-watchful gods who’ll punish for us. And do organized religion grew with the rise of the city-state.
Fast forward a dozen millennia, and here we are living in a technologically advanced society that tells us the world moves according to the laws of physics and not the whims of spirits or deities. Studies show motivational factors due play a big part in why people believe
For instance, if you live in a society where religion is prized, it’s in your best interest to say you believe, whether you do or not. I’m sure there are plenty of doubters in the pews at Sunday services, though none will admit it.
And there’s people who are socially isolated who tend to have more religious faith, perhaps allowing them to feel they’re not truly alone. Likewise, people facing death are more likely to express faith in God and an afterlife.
Although many people in industrialized societies have abandoned traditional organized religion, many of them still confess to some sort of spiritual belief.
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