Why Some People Turn to Religion (and Others Don't)

This video explores the psychology of religion, beliefs and why some people turn to religion while other people don't. Based on several empirical studies.

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[brettmatthews]

Religions emerged when almost no one was literate, life expectancy among ordinary people rarely exceeded 50, and couples would have 5-7 children so half would survive to adulthood. Tragedy was everywhere in life, and religion was a valuable coping mechanism. Religion still thrives in places like that.

[Farmingdaneo]

"People do not choose to be atheist, they realize they are."

That's exactly how it happened to me. It was kind of weird how I went from religious to atheist as soon as I heard of the concept of atheism.

[patrickbateman]

They say that religion is what gives people a moral compass which is ironic because a lot of religious people are extremely selfish and the reason why they do “good deeds” is to earn their way into heaven and feel good about themselves

[markhaunert]

Did anyone else feel the story just didn't sound right even as a young child.???

[Lordidude]

As long as people are afraid of death, religion will always be around.

[Sunny-Smiles]

I remember being 8 years old telling my uncle “what if you don’t really believe in god or anything?” Got yelled at for a while and punished by mom. Never told them how I felt about religion again. And also didn’t practice while getting really good at looking like I do practice.

[MarjorainMD]

“Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong.”- Christopher Hitchens

[JulyDedicatedtoTheProposi]

As Mark Twain observed, did god f… up in creating man, or did man f… up in creating god.

[Sue-xvos]

Leaving christianity.
A literate 10-year old: "Why were Adam & Eve ashamed of their nakedness?"
A literate teen at church communion: "This is the 'body' of Jesus? This is the 'blood' of Jesus? Well ok..."
A literate adult: "You mean if someone never heard of God or Jesus & couldn't possibly know how to worship, repent, believe, or pray to that particular god, they would be doomed to hellfire?"

It's all about critical thinking.

[annickbrennen]

The sexism and emphasis on female submission was the definitive, absolute non-negotiable point for me. I just could not reconcile myself to this narrow point of view. Especially when the consequences of these beliefs in real life had such a huge impact on the emotional and physical well being of my mother, myself, and my six siblings. My deconversion produced a huge scandal in the church, my husband being a pastor! I grew up with two brothers who themselves were pastors, my mother was an accredited evangelist. My youngest brother began pastoral ministry but did not last long in it. Religion was my minor while my major was business administration. So more than most, I knew the scriptures very well. Most of us left religion. Those who went back did so because of health reasons. They needed the prop religious circles offer. So, yes. I agree with the results of this study.

[stargirl]

I recommend this to anyone who is dealing with years of feeling shame and guilt over one’s inability to “believe”. I’m glad that the word is spreading about the fact that some of us just can’t do it, no matter how much one may want and try.

[МыколаНетребко]

My religious upbringing resulted in being afraid of God, the devil, Gods judgements and eternal torment in hell. I’m not sure if I was born with the OCD tendencies or whether the religion caused it. My very first panic attack that I remember started after hearing a sermon about the unforgivable sin.

[Kirkfernando]

I was born in a Sunni Muslim family though quite moderate one, yet I never believed it and always questioned it from as early as age 10-12

[madamecurious]

I’m an ex-Jehovah’s Witness, I was born into this high control religion (cult). I believed everything I was taught. Reading the Bible woke me up and I realized, I was believing in fairy tales and fables. I also couldn’t believe in a loving, all powerful God anymore either.

[MinionofNobody]

I am a retired cop and a retired attorney. Like almost all attorneys in the USA, I have an undergraduate degree and a doctorate. I am a life long learner. I have been a heavy reader since I was ten. I watch educational videos and listen to lectures on a variety of academic subjects. I spend a lot of time thinking about all of these things.

I was driving to work one day when I was forty. I wasn’t really thinking about anything. I was just drifting along. While I was stopped at a red light, it suddenly occurred to me that I no longer believed in God. The only emotion I felt was relief.

I’ve tried to explain why I stopped believing a number of times. I had certainly had my face rubbed in the problem of evil for a long time. I won’t go into all of the details but I have PTSD as a result. I had encountered Christian ministers who were doing some decidedly unchristian and illegal things and who used their perceived positions of authority to try to avoid legal trouble. I had encountered religious figures from other religions under similar circumstances. I had encountered plenty of religious people who were hypocrites. I had seen the conflicts between different religions and within different sects of the same religion.

I had studied enough about the history of Christianity to understand the origin of the books in the Bible. I was familiar with the ways in which many of those books had changed despite the assertions by Christian’s ministers that the Bible was the literal, inerrant, and unchanging word of God. I had studied enough history and science to see where the Bible was wrong. And, there was clearly a lot of stuff in the Bible that conflicted with history and science. There were conflicts between stories about the same events.

I also had never seen any real evidence of God. All that I had seen, heard, and read from religious sources were explanations and proofs that ultimately failed to convince. There were always more rational, scientific explanations that better fit the observable facts.

I guess it just hit a critical mass that day while I was stopped at a red light. I have honestly never missed religion. I have much more intellectual freedom to learn and explore new things without have to compartmentalize things to avoid conflicting with my preexisting beliefs. I don’t have to worry about somehow offending God in the process.

[nickbarber]

People leave religion because they realize it’s bullshit, people join religion because they’re insecure. That’s what it really boils down to.

[Crispycremes]

It’s really scary how the studies highlight the “amazing believers” as those who typically gravitate to religion when dealing with trauma or grief. Christians know this and will “prey” on it. I heard from people for the first time in years when I went through a difficult time. They knew I was “vulnerable” and tried to bring Jesus back in

[robertblakeman]

When I moved to a Muslim Country I realised just how completely indoctrinated I had become!! I'm a very happy Atheist these days!

[Xenothy]

My conclusion after many years: I would say religion is a highly complex and deep topic! It needs many years to study - the philosophy, the history, the metaphors, the society of old times and so on. It needs time and work to understand. Most people that teach us about classical religions as children have never invested that time and don’t have the understanding themselves. They can’t give clear and logical answers to many questions. Many are f.e. Just a Christ or Muslim by birth, but never studied their book. Many have their knowledge from „someone who said…“ or tradition/culture. Many have a weird picture about what is god. It’s not a man on a cloud, and no regular human. God has no gender, it’s not even in our space and time, its above us, allknowing, above the universe….so it’s kind is unimaginable for many people because it’s too different from what we know.

Some pray for god, some worship nature, some meditate, some manifest, some believe in Karma, some ask for energetic guidance. But if you look closer it’s all the same mechanisms in different forms. We are all connected as humans with the earth, with each others and as part of creation. I personally think that every person has some spirituality inside of them, maybe they just don’t understand it as religion.

Religion can be totally beautiful and beneficial in many ways if practiced in a good way, like for sanity, for purpose, for health, for navigation in life, moral and self development. You can practice religion as something between yourself and your creator, with no force or harm to others. Stop think inside a small box or frame for what is religion :) Take different approaches and read many resources and ideas, try to see the arguments for and against a creator, listen to real educated religious people, their stories and always check their background.

Me myself I was an atheist most of my life hating on religion, but the more I digged and learned about science, psychology, history, the world and and and the more religious and more happy I became 🫶🏼

[DefinitelyNotJay]

I'm a Christian and this video was extremely interesting and informative. It's cool to know what drives people to and away from religion, thank you for posting 😁