As an athiest, why do you think that religious people believe in god?

I think that belief in a god reinforces people's observations of a world they cannot understand. The complexities of most things point them toward an entity having planned and produced them rather than occurring naturally.

Fear is a big part of it. If you believe death is the end and all that follows is nothingness, then yeah, it's terrifying (I hate thinking about death). So religion is a way to cushion the blow, both for the person dying, and the people watching them die.

Religion is also an easy explanation. Science doesn't have all the answers because all of the data we would need is not readily available. It might never explain everything because we simply don't have enough time before we're engulfed by the sun.So religion offers a handy answer and gives people an excuse not to think about science.

Some big dude in the sky knows everything so I don't have to. It's a very appealing view point, and probably why it's so popular. I don't think less of people who believe in god, but I do think religion is the worlds largest scapegoat.

Fear is used by religious institutions, it is used by politicians ... fear is what keeps people in their corner. Those who hold the reigns of a society want the population to be in fear so they do what they are told. It is all quite simple: religion rules through fear (fear of hell, fear of purgatory, etc.).

At one point when they could, they burned people alive: fear ... Sucks for them when they get to people like me who fear nothing.

As a Theist, I think that it is natural to believe in a God. My personal opinion is that atheism is merely a result of rebellion against the follies of societies filled with inconsistencies of supposed faith having persons in power, etc. I also think that atheism is glamorized subtly within the mass media, and is disguised as the worship of science, which is humanism.

I think rather than fear, it is a comfort thing. Which I guess is somewhat the same. They enjoy the comfort of believeing someone is watching over them.

I think they believe because it is tradition. Religion has been around so long, believing in a god is as natural as breathing air. It is also motivation to be a good person.

However, I feel a little sorry for them, because having a god is the ultimate imaginary friend. Many people convert when they feel like they have no one.

Tradition plays an important role. Most people invariably choose the religion of their parents. It's also part of the group oriented social control mechanism of organized societies.

Hammurabi law to the Koran all dictate and instruct specifics of living one's life based on group dynamics codified in dogma, religious rites and colorful rhetoric open to so much interpretation. For control it serves it's purpose to teach obedience, unquestioning loyalty and the most dangerous aspect lies in the ability to stem rational, logical and critical thinking as discourse for determining the truth. If you are taught to never ask or question authority or what someone else interprets as the "word" or the "way" then that truth is only a reflection of another will upon your own.

This is why religion is often useful as Seneca stated:Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. ~Seneca(Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD).

I think theve gust have heard this lie of god so many times that it is forced inside there head so they belive it cuz they want someone takeing care of them but they don't realize they have to take care of themselfs.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.