Fellow atheists, why do you think religion is still prevalent today?

[GodlessHeathen]

Sometimes I just find it fascinating that otherwise intelligent, rational people in the 21st century still unquestionably bow down before ancient pagan-derived mythology of the devil and hell and heaven, crucifixion, human sacrifice etc.

Hell actually started out being nothing more than death.You die and rot in the ground - that was hell.Later on it was changed to a place that burns the fat off of your soul before so you can be admitted into Valhalla (heaven). Then, someone thought that even wasn't scary enough so they changed it into an eternal place of damnation to really grab all the gullible people by the balls.

Really, if you study mythology enough you can see how all the religions are really just derivatives of each other.

 

[GregL]

People are scared of the unknown, religion gives them comfort.

 

[Charlie]

There's not much difference between people today and people 2000 years ago, or 20,000 years ago. We're still the same paranoid, superstitious, gullible species, except now we're a paranoid, superstitious, gullible species with space age technology.

 

[Angelpup]

Im going into a mythology/philosophy class next semester.
You make it sound super interesting

 

[claygal]

Unfortunately parents still brain wash their children into believing in a form of religion. If it wasn't taught until a individual was 20 years old it would fade quickly.

 

[Demiurge]

Stupidity is hardwired into the DNA...

 

[Sapient]

Childhood indoctrination is a powerful tool. The church knows that only a very small percentage (I think it's less than 10%, but don't have the stats handy) of children who are indoctrinated will question their faith enough to leave it.... and that doesn't mean they'll become atheists either. A portion of those that leave just go to another faith.

 

[StalkedKiller]

Fear.

People don't want to imagine that everything ends when they cease to exist.

 

[toogethr]

It really boils down to thats what people's parents taught them while growing up. They generally find it very difficult to see beyond that and come to some semblance of reason and rationality.