# Why do so many people still believe in God?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [April 17, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965 "2022-04-17T20:24:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/61 "2022-04-19T12:36:18Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> My point exactly! As soon as we note that, for some people, it genuinely wouldn’t make “much of a difference” whether they receive a divine message from a supernatural entity in real life or while they’re asleep and dreaming, then I figure we have a partial answer: _why do so many people believe in supernatural entities?_ Because they believe they’ve met one in real life — or, y’know, in a dream, which is an “unimportant” distinction that doesn’t “make much of a difference”.
An interesting point. But _are_ there significant numbers of people who believe in God and/or supernatural entities _because_ of dreams?
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### Author:  [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/62 "2022-04-19T12:54:35Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> I figure we have a partial answer: _why do so many people believe in supernatural entities?_ Because they believe they’ve met one in real life — or, y’know, in a dream, which is an “unimportant” distinction that doesn’t “make much of a difference”. Or they’ve come across plausible accounts of folks who’ve met a divine being in real life — or, again, in a dream, which is an “unimportant” distinction that doesn’t “make much of a difference”.
As a weekly churchgoer, I think I may have heard one person who believes God told them something in their dreams. Now granted, I attend a mainline Protestant church. Though I did used to hang out with some Pentecostals - they used to talk of God speaking to them in nudges (or at least while they were awake) as opposed to dreams. But encounters with the supernatural? Sure… in my experience while awake.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/63 "2022-04-19T13:17:42Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> To me, the difference is all-important; but, given that so many people apparently find it to be so _unimportant,_ I find myself shrugging and saying, “well, I guess that’d explain why a number of people believe in supernatural entities.”
I might be dense here, but I don’t understand what this conclusion means. Believing that god can speak to you through dreams explains exactly what?
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/64 "2022-04-19T13:45:09Z")
> [@Biffster](#):
>
> Even Christians know it is not an historical fact, at least not the day it is celebrated anyway. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. It is a moveable feast. If it were historical it would be celebrated the same day every year. Sometimes it’s in March, sometimes late April.
Easter _is_ the same date every year–in the Jewish lunar calendar.
> **[Passover | Date and duration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover#Date_and_duration)**
>
> The Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan, which at present falls between March 26 and April 25 of the Gregorian calendar. The 15th day begins in the evening, after the 14th day, and the seder meal is eaten that evening. Passover is a spring festival, so the 15th day of Nisan typically begins on the night of a full moon after the northern vernal equinox. However, due to leap months falling after the vernal equinox, Passover sometimes starts on the second full moon after ve To ensu...
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/65 "2022-04-19T13:54:39Z")
> [@Biffster](#):
>
> If it were historical it would be celebrated the same day every year.
I’m not sure I buy this. The fact something is historical doesn’t prevent you from celebrating it on different days. Hell, the UK does not celebrate the Queen’s birthday on her birthday (really) but that doesn’t mean her birth is not historical fact.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/66 "2022-04-19T14:19:32Z")
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth is a historical event, but only in years when it actually falls on a Monday.
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### Author:  [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/67 "2022-04-19T14:34:37Z")
> [@Southern\_Yankee](#):
>
> I think you have a great point in your second and third paragraphs. I’m not sure I understand your fourth (and the objection to the title/post.) Easter is a prime example of a continued belief in an unbelievable story. I think my title reflects that question.
One objection I can see is that belief in the Resurrection at Easter is not a belief shared by the majority of the people on Earth who believe in God, or in gods in general. Only 31% of the world’s population are Christians, and not all of them believe in the literal ressurection of Christ at Easter (or at any other time).
Although Jesus is revered in Islam, the status of his resurrection in that faith is a complex one.
> **[Islamic views on Jesus's death](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_views_on_Jesus%27_death)**
>
> The biblical account of the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus (ʿĪsā) recorded in the Christian New Testament is traditionally rejected by the major branches of Islam, but like Christians they believe that Jesus ascended to heaven and he will, according to Islamic literary sources,: 9–25 return before the end of time.: 14–15, 25 The various sects of Islam have different views regarding this topic;: 430–431 traditionally, mainstream Jesus' death is mentioned in the future sense (on ...
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### Author:  [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/68 "2022-04-19T14:48:00Z")
Fair point, thanks.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/69 "2022-04-19T15:23:35Z")
> [@Biffster](#):
>
> Even Christians know it is not an historical fact, at least not the day it is celebrated anyway. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. It is a moveable feast. If it were historical it would be celebrated the same day every year. Sometimes it’s in March, sometimes late April.
The calendar is an arbitrary construction. Why is it more historical to celebrate an event on a particular calendar date as opposed to how Easter is calculated now?
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### Author:  [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/70 "2022-04-19T16:22:51Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#):
>
> I would also say that about 95-99% of self identified believers don’t actually act like they believe. If you really think your eternity will be determined between infinite reward and infinite punishment based on a few decades on Earth, there’s no way you would fucking dick around with that and risk infinite punishment by engaging in sin. I don’t think anyone truly deep down believes in the sort of religions that promote those ideas except people whose lives are basically monk-like, because dicking around with eternal reward/punishment, if you truly believed, would be pure insanity.
Exactly. I was in school back in the 1950s, and the school had an intercom system to make announcements in the classes. When the teachers left the room they would tell students that the principal had a switch to turn the loudspeakers into microphones, and everything that was said in the class would be heard by the principal.
Some students believed this, and some did not. You know how you could tell? Sure you do, by the way they behaved while the teacher was out. It’s the same with belief in a deity, 95% of the people who profess belief do not truly believe, and the evidence is how they behave. No one who believed in God would act the way they do.
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### Author:  [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/71 "2022-04-19T16:25:42Z")
> [@eburacum45](#):
>
> Only 31% of the world’s population are Christians, and not all of them believe in the literal ressurection of Christ at Easter (or at any other time).
I think Church of Christ believes JC resurrected, but the date isn’t important. Same for Christmas. He was born, but they don’t care when. I’m not religious, but I can say CoC is an oddball (I think that of most religions though). Playing an instrument in church puts you on the Highway to Hell (along with nearly every other thing I do in life). Lots of fire and brimstone over there.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/72 "2022-04-19T16:37:27Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#):
>
> No one who believed in God would act the way they do.
You mean like how no one who believes that smoking or overeating is bad for you smokes or overeats?
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### Author:  [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/73 "2022-04-19T16:37:34Z")
> [@Ascenray](#):
>
> I might be dense here, but I don’t understand what this conclusion means. Believing that god can speak to you through dreams explains exactly what?
If a guy concludes that meeting a supernatural entity while awake would be evidence that supernatural entities exist, and an angel then appears to him in real life while he’s wide awake, then I figure that such an experience would help explain why he’d believe that supernatural entities exist — and maybe he’d tell others of his experience, and seem believable by dint of _honestly_ relaying first-hand testimony about it to people who’d figure a reasonable reaction to such an experience would be his belief in the existence of supernatural entities.
And if another guy concludes that meeting a supernatural entity while asleep and dreaming would be evidence that supernatural entities exist, and he then dreams about an angel while he’s asleep, then I figure that such an experience would help explain why he’d believe that supernatural entities exist — and maybe he’d tell others of his experience, and, again, seem believable by dint of _honestly_ relaying first-hand testimony about it to people who figure it’s reasonable to so react to said dreams.
I’m not clear on which part of that isn’t clear.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/74 "2022-04-19T16:40:24Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#):
>
> No one who believed in God would act the way they do. -
Since they believe they’re forgiven without limit, of course they will.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/75 "2022-04-19T16:41:56Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> You mean like how no one who believes that smoking or overeating is bad for you smokes or overeats?
The individual punishments for smoking and overeating are trivial compared to eternal punishment. Literally infinitesimally small.
If you were sure that if you overate or smoked, an eternal all powerful all seeing being who was 100% guaranteed to know about it would then TORTURE YOU FOR ETERNITY, would you do it?
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/76 "2022-04-19T17:18:57Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#):
>
> If you were sure that if you overate or smoked, an eternal all powerful all seeing being who was 100% guaranteed to know about it would then TORTURE YOU FOR ETERNITY, would you do it?
As long as there was a Get Out of Jail Free card like in Christianity, then sure I would. Even without that I might. I could skip the food but addictions are tough. Eternal torture doesn’t look so bad when you’re jones’n.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/77 "2022-04-19T17:25:59Z")
Woops, you died of an instant stroke while smoking before you get your get out of free jail card. Hope that cigarette was worth eternal torture, which is literally infinitely more suffering than all of the combined suffering in the entire universe during the entire age of the universe.
Also, this is assuming that God is cool with your strategy of “I’ll just pretend to be sorry after I do it, every time I do it” because if he’s not, whoops, unending torture again.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/78 "2022-04-19T17:28:55Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#):
>
> I’m not clear on which part of that isn’t clear.
It’s funny, but I can’t figure out the point you’re trying to get across either. I’ve read all of your posts on this a couple of times now.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/79 "2022-04-19T17:36:31Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#):
>
> Woops, you died of an instant stroke while smoking before you get your get out of free jail card. Hope that cigarette was worth eternal torture, which is literally infinitely more suffering than all of the combined suffering in the entire universe during the entire age of the universe.
Sure, but he may not be cool with me not believing in him either. Or all the times I wish I did believe just so I could complain and tell him what I think about he’s done. So yeah, if needed a smoke back when I was using then the eternal damnation threat wouldn’t cross my mind. Nor if I overeat sushi, because ‘overeat’ is my standard portion size for sushi.
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### Author:  [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-people-still-believe-in-god/962965/80 "2022-04-19T17:42:31Z")
I grew up believing in God because apparently my parents believed and my friends believed and I got sent off to Hebrew School where I was taught “history” starting with Abraham. I grew up not believing in Jesus for exactly the same reasons.
But, I found later that a lot of these people did not believe. My grandfather was almost certainly an atheist, and while he never went to shul he’d never say so openly. My mother probably didn’t believe. My father sent me to Hebrew School since that was what people did and that got me a coveted Saturday morning bar mitzvah slot which was an excuse for him to hold a big party.
In much of the US pretending to believe is a much safer option than being honest - like the little kid who figures out before her friends that Santa isn’t real.
If my kids went to Temple they would have had no problem sharing that with their friends. Not believing in any God at all though was something they didn’t bring up. And I live in a very secular place.
As soon as I got myself exposed to the real story of the Bible (in the introduction to a Bible!) I quit believing. It was no big deal.
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