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I was baptized Catholic, went to a Catholic high school, but my household wasn't particularly religious. A lot of the ablutions we went through were to appease my paternal grandparents...my folks were divorced when I was 13 and I can count the times I went to church with my them throughout my childhood on one hand - we were the typical C&E Catholics...going through the motions.
I remember seriously questioning the idea of religion when I was about 11 years old, and outright rejecting Christianity at age 13. When I told people this (in my high school, and even my parents) they didn't really know what to make of it. I was told that I was being ridiculous, and how could I not have experienced God in my life. I literally asked my mom when she had ever experienced God in her life...she told me about feeling some periods of emotional relief during her divorce...whatever...not incredibly convincing evidence if you ask me. In Junior-year religion class (taught by a Deacon who I respected and really liked)...we analyzed Quinque viae...to me they felt incredibly flawed because they required presuppositions.
Why is it that the people who have no convincing proof of anything are the ones who don't have the burden to prove it? Is questioning faith considered unhealthy in society - if so, why? Shouldn't we approach everything we do in life with a critical eye and a need to evaluate its merits? How could anyone just believe something just because it sounds good, or because they have some premonition or supernatural feeling that it exists? I struggle with these questions because I have been an agnostic for a very long time, and yet I feel like I am being the unreasonable one here...when the burden of proof is really on those making the claims.
I think a lot of it has to do with childhood indoctrination. That and many people want to believe, and so they do believe, even without any evidence.
While that's certainly a facet, overall it's far more complex. There's some evidence that some broad personality 'types' tend to be religiously inclined, while others aren't. For instance, tolerance of uncertainty has wide individual variation. Consider this in terms of morality: most moral issues are highly complex and at least somewhat ambiguous. Some of us are comfortable with this uncertainty, while others have a psychological need to 'know' the 'right thing'. The former are less likely to be religious than the latter.
Here are a couple good books that go into more detail:
Yes. Interesting question. The actual debate is long done, for me. The more interesting question is about modes of thought; not so much in the questioners - wanting to know and not being satisfied with 'Because' is not hard to fathim. The reason for religious faith and the methods used to try to justify it by rationale and prop it up by some of the most amazing metal gymnastics seen outside the Academy of the guild of confidence tricksters continues to fascinate me.
The whole belief -thing is like everything, part nature, part nurture. Some of us want to question and find the answers.Like everything else there's instinct at the bottom. I am pretty sure that religion is an evolved instinct and is closely related to individial and group feelings of self -worth and rightness. It is no coincidence that religion is closely linked to national pride and patriotism. They are often two sides of the same coin.
The 'God is with us' syndrome has been noted. The 'magic feather' (1) effect has also been noted. It is understandable that those who believe cannot imagine non -believers as anything but despairing suicide cases. In fact the non -believer has much to gain and little to lose - except their mental chains.
While that's certainly a facet, overall it's far more complex. There's some evidence that some broad personality 'types' tend to be religiously inclined, while others aren't. For instance, tolerance of uncertainty has wide individual variation. Consider this in terms of morality: most moral issues are highly complex and at least somewhat ambiguous. Some of us are comfortable with this uncertainty, while others have a psychological need to 'know' the 'right thing'. The former are less likely to be religious than the latter.
Absolutely valid points and I don't mean to suggest there's not a lot of nuance to this.
I am close to someone who has a low tolerance for ambiguity and a deep craving for black-and-white judgments, who is NOT a theist. Imagine what THAT does to a person. In this case they simply insist something is black or white and ignore all evidence to the contrary and build an alternate reality / narrative around it all. This person has proven to me conclusively that it's not impossible to construct alternate realities without god.
The flip side of this, is that religion isn't precisely the problem I once thought it was, not directly; it's simply a popular, group-reinforced fulcrum for arriving at certitude. If we could snap our fingers and rid the world of religion today, those people would still cast about for some alternative belief-system to support their need for certitude. It might be political fascism, racism, or some other way of otherizing who and what they don't want to understand and adapt to -- and/or, simply a way to displace their feeling of being threatened by reality, onto some kind of Outsider.
Then there is the person who is afraid of their (psychological) shadow, who uses religion as something to reign in their dark impulses. They would tend to seek out alternative ideologies too.
So perhaps the OP's question should really be, "Why are some of us truly curious about how reality actually operates, while others just make up stuff or subscribe to prefabricated beliefs?"
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someone else who writes a better post than mine, and in just one line. 
