11mo ago

Why in the year 2024 and with all the knowledge humans have now do people still believe in religion?

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This is such a complicated question because it gets into the origins of religion and belief systems in general, but also power and class struggles, economics, social psychology and propaganda, and more.
Lots of people haven't been properly educated Lots of people have been indoctrinated Lots of people have a reason to exploit the beliefs of others Lots of people value comfort and community above scientific accuracy or consistency
Can you refine your question a bit?
- Do millions just want to ignore science?
  
  Why would you think science and religion are irreconcilable? Or are you thinking of one church in particular?
  
  Adding to this comment: Science is fundamentally agnostic. You can even go so far as to say that the existence of God or a higher power is the one question which is forever doomed to be unanswerable by science and logic, almost by definition of God.
  Of course, specific parts of the mythos of specific religions can and have been contradicted by science. But the main question of whether or not a higher power exists remains and will forever remain unanswerable.
  
  It's funny how it works one way and not the other. If we had even a hint of positive evidence for God you would never stop hearing about it. But since we don't we are told that we have to pretend this is outside our knowledge. Heads I win, tails you lose.
  
  They are irreconcilable. People who try to merge the two are using double-think also known as cognitive dissonance. I know, I did it for years.
  Religions make claims and the evidence more often than not doesnt support the claims being true. You are free to try to square the circle, but you will fail. And the extent of your failure will be the effort you put in.
  Just to poke at Buddhism. Sidrattha made claims about the geography of the world, those are not true and we have lots of good data backing up a round world. He made claims about rebirth and the soul which logically contradict each other.
  
  You seems to love these flat, oversimplified questions :)
  (Or why don't you just ask these millions of people?)
  
  ...why don’t you just ask...
  Good idea, maybe using some sort of widely-available service in a section where "ask" is part of the name. Might not reach every demographic equally but it's easier and less expensive than hiring an army to conduct door-to-door surveys.
  
  I have to imagine you're not an American, because yeah, millions of Americans legitimately want to ignore science completely. They're pretty loud about it too.
  
  I'm an American. The religious people here are terrifying.

282 comments