I was talking to a friend of mine the other day an we discussed atheism being a choice. I told him it wasn't but he said it was it is when you say you are an atheist and come to the conclusion that you are. You choose when you find the meaning of the word and declare you are that. As a Catholic, he said he can choose to be an atheist if he wanted to. He even cited his grandmother of choosing to switch religions. Which may be true in that sense. But other than that, it puts into further questioning just how possible it is for believers of God to become atheists. I doubt atheism is a thing of nature, for us I think it's just reasoning in our heads. If we believe this, then why can't others see? I don't want to call it ignorance, people can believe what they want to. But what makes a person step out and see that there is no God among the majority who does? Is the majority so convinced there is a God, that's the ground they stand and believe in that and refuse to accept that there could be no God? How come we are the ones who see it?
There are probably as many reasonings used to believe as there are people who subscribe to religion. I think it starts with the individual and their ability to look beyond everything they've been told and want to believe. They have to be able to question and analyze the world around them. We are trained at an early age to believe in things that aren't there, and they often make our world more magical. Santa Claus, leprechauns, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, all training wheels for God. When we're children we accept these things without question, and we believe these things are real because the alternative, the world without them, is not as fun or magical.
With God, you get inner strength, inner peace, a place to go after death, someone to look out for you. These things are attractive to those who are looking for them. The real world is not. Nothing at all about the Hebrews, the inner workings of the Bible, the culture and history behind it is considered. Your peers, parents, everyone around you believes. Alternate views and contradicting data tends to be discarded, ridiculed or rationalized away.
I suspect ignorance and misleading information also assists in keeping people under the influence of religion. I have read countless websites dealing with science that are blatantly misleading and incorrect, but coherently presented. They will confuse those not educated in a particular subject and allow them to feel confident that what they believe and what they are being told is true.
There is nothing inherently wrong with religion. It isn't openly evil. It is simply a form of control, and those who follow it allow themselves to be controlled to such a degree that to grow beyond it takes a force of will they do not have or do not wish to have because they can't understand, or rather do not wish to understand, that what they believe to be true is just a method of controlling how they act, think and feel. You can attain that same feeling on your own if you bothered to put forth the effort to do so.
I think people are still attempting to use their reasoning minds. When you consider Christianity, you'll see that there are many sects that have levels of adherence to scripture. Those with less adherence will tend to contain members who are more open to new ideas and have a generally more moderate or liberal view of the world. Those who take a more literal view of scripture are less receptive to changes and viewpoints that may seem normal to some are radical to them. People who want to have the fringe benefits of belief will tend to flock toward a sect that resembles the level of reasoning they wish to apply to the world around them.
I don't know if people are ready, as a whole, to live without religion. They aren't civilized enough to handle the concepts of morality and their own mortality without the illusion of some higher power telling them what to do. They can't conceive of a world without it. But I think that the ability to do so is there, in various levels, in everyone. People who are generally good will be that way regardless of whether they have religion, just as religion will not help those who are generally bad. Basically, you put forth
all the effort, and give God the credit or blame for when you do, or do not, succeed.
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