Why Do People Believe In God?
Perhaps you are a person who does some profound thinking and you have wondered “Why do people believe in God?” at one time or another. This thought would probably have occurred to you if you do not believe in God but live among people who do.
When you ask them, “Why do people believe in God?” many people would say that their belief in God is based on reason, but the beliefs of other people have their roots in emotion. Understanding where beliefs come from is important in gaining an understanding of why people believe in God.
About people who say their belief is based on reason, the English mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell has said that what moves them to believe in God is not any intellectual contention. He said that the main reason they believe in God is that they have been taught to do so since they were babies.
The next probable answer to “Why do people believe in God?” is that people wish for safety. Believing in God gives people the feeling of being watched over and looked after by a benevolent caretaker. A belief in God can be a source of comfort and solace for people. Because of death, distance, or misunderstandings, we may lose people we are attached to, but God is always there for us. In this way, faith in God can mitigate a believer’s pain.
Although they cannot see God, why do people believe in God nonetheless? They can quite easily imagine God as a father figure or a mother figure. Through prayer, they talk to this unseen caretaker, and doing so is similar to talking to family members and other loved ones who have already died. It is also similar to the behavior of many younger children who have long conversations with an imaginary friend.
Belief in God seems to be derived from the mind-brain adaptations that people use to navigate through the sea of humanity around them. These adaptations solve specific social issues that come up in life. In some ways, belief in God resembles humans’ basic survival concepts. These concepts have been altered depending on the various religions that exist.
At the University of Oxford, researchers were granted almost two million sterling pounds to look for answers to “Why do people believe in God?” Clearly, this question is something that is considered important enough to merit such attention from academics. Even if you don’t believe in God yourself, knowing the answers to the question can help you understand people better.
