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Atheists: Why does theism still exist?

Archaeopteryx

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Rather rude way of putting it.

I thought so too, until I considered it more deeply. Religion offers easy answers to difficult questions. One need not agonise over life's mysteries when the answers are all conveniently in one book. To paraphrase Ken Ham, "The Bible says it. I believe it. End of story."
 
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PsychoSarah

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I highly doubt religion is maintained solely for the desire of an "easy out". Heck, not every religion offers some reward for belief or even an afterlife, but some of those sorts of religions still have a modern following.
 
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bhsmte

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I highly doubt religion is maintained solely for the desire of an "easy out". Heck, not every religion offers some reward for belief or even an afterlife, but some of those sorts of religions still have a modern following.

Religion offers many things and people who follow a religion, tend to follow the things that fit them best.

One person may be motivated by the fear of hell, another by the reward of eternal life, another by the thought that someone is looking after them, others by being offered a solution to why we are here, how we got here, etc. etc..

As I always say, religious beliefs for some people are right for them, because it allows them to cope with life better and actually makes them a better person. With some though, it causes them to negatively judge others who disagree with them, label them as being led by evil and can also cause those with fundamentalist beliefs, to need to reject well evidenced reality, which are not good things.
 
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PsychoSarah

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I don't believe what suits me by any means
 
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bhsmte

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I don't believe what suits me by any means

I didn't say you did. I was relating it to common religious beliefs, where people tend to gravitate towards what fits for them. Could be why, there are so many denominations of Christianity, because people seek a denomination that fits them.
 
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stevevw

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Theism still exists because some people don't have the mental capacity to solve life's problems on their own.
I think there is a whole lot of people who cant do that either and there is no religion involved at all. Take a look at who is running our countries to start with. Take a look at the life problems billions are having with drugs, suicide, family breakups, crime, polluting and destroying our planet ect. I dont think people are solving life problems with or without religion anyway.
 
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Davian

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Rather rude way of putting it.

Indeed, and perhaps not quite accurate. My hypothesis is that with the emergence of self-awareness, an evolutionary trait selected for because of its benefit to survival over the less-aware competition, what followed was existential angst, for which our ancestors, ever the inventive type, created memes to address the resultant fears. That evolved into religion.

It is normal, particularly when we are young, to believe on faith. Children that failed to quickly heed their elders stories about the dangers of a rather hostile world did not get the chance to be our ancestors. We are descendants of storytellers, and story believers. (Successful) religions are tailor-fitted to fit our story telling nature.

Evolutionary origin of religions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That you and I do not believe in a particular religion is just us using a different part - a more critical part - of our thought processes to evaluate their claims. Can that critical factor be bypassed, as an adult? Sure, it happened to me, with Santa. I do think you could make it work for you (for "God"), but at the end of the day, it would not make that particular religion true. You would have only found yourself a comfort blanket, that you would would have to very wary of pulling threads or inspecting for holes.
 
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Davian

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PsychoSarah

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Curse my natural tendencies towards skepticism, reenforced by my childhood.
 
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Colter

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True Believers,

Why do all the false faiths still exist?

Good question, Evolutionary religions persist because, nourished by the spirit of worship, primitive religions served as the scaffolding that prepared man for the reception of "revealed religion". Mostly evolved Judaism and the development of monotheism prepared the minds of that age for the reception of Jesus. The idea of Jesus was that his apostles would carry his generic gospel to all the world, something that would enhance all regions. Unfortunately his followers did not remain true to his teaching, instead the facts of his life, death and resurrection became a religion about Jesus.
 
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