Why people turn to religion and cults

[miriam_e]

I'm going to rewrite this piece to be more balanced, but I'll leave this entry stand because to alter it could cause some of the replies lose their context.

I've often wondered why people are attracted to religion or other wacko beliefs. Often the weirder and more impossible something is, the more attractive it is. It is difficult to understand what drives that. It seems to me that if such insane, faith-driven beliefs were eliminated the world would be a much better place.

Recently I was listening to a series of interviews with people who became drawn into cults and it brought up that old puzzle again. Why would people believe believe in such delusional things as a guy professing to be god incarnate? Why would people believe that chanting prayers opens a path to heaven? Why would people believe mystical waters would cure them of anything that ails them? Why would people idolise a 2,000 year old book of superstitious ravings?

I think I now understand part of the answer to the puzzle.

These people want desperately to believe that they are special or their immediate world is amazing. They have lost the sense of wonder they had when they were children and things now look dull and ordinary to them.

Many TV shows and movies and books offer the excitement of something special -- the main character is a king or a princess or some other person out of the ordinary and often they hold the key to saving the world or several people's lives. They have a mission, an important purpose. Often the story begins with the main character appearing to be a normal person.

Religious people want these things for more than just an escapist story -- they want to be special. So their god watches over them, or they are part of a small group of special people who are the chosen ones, or they are close to a mystical person with a revelatory message for the world, or they take part in secret rituals that give them impossible powers.

So why do they have this need? A child learns at an incredible pace and the world is full of amazing things at every turn. But, for reasons I don't entirely understand, most people gradually stop learning and this causes them to become bored with the world and their place in it. They long for the excitement they had as children when they could drop a ball and find to their utter astonishment that it bounced back up again! They want to feel again that their world is special and that they have a central part to play in it. But that has gone, leaving a drab, boring world of disappointment.

Why have they lost their sense of wonder? It may be partly due to the change in some neural receptors that happens as we get older. The receptors change in structure so that learning happens more slowly. (See Scientific American "Building A Brainier Mouse" April 2000.) Or it may have something to do with the way a bored demeanour is fashionably cool in most societies. Or it may be that school often teaches kids that learning is not fun, but boring. (I'll never forget one teacher saying "You're not here to have fun. You're here to learn." That was so stupid -- fun is the brain's way to entice us to learn.) Whatever the reason, most people actively resist learning as they grow older and this produces dreadful boredom. To compensate many turn to some kind of harebrained notion (oftentimes the weirder the better) to make them feel special and bring back the excitement they once felt. (I wonder if this may be part of the reason behind the mind-deadening chants and rituals, and the importance of giving over your thought processes and critical powers to your leader: it makes the world even more boring, and paradoxically makes the cult or organisation seem even more special and exciting in contrast.)

The sad thing is that such delusions are not necessary. All that's needed is to continue learning. The real world is even more astonishing and exciting than it was when you were young. We all live in the most extraordinary, scary, wonderful, exciting time in history. There are more geniuses than ever before; more knowledge, more music, more art, more literature than ever before.

Want amazing? You are the end result of an unbroken line creatures evolving in unpredictable ways over hundreds of millions of years, and these other animals around you (crows, chickens, dogs, horses, pigs, dolphins, lizards, snakes, fish, and probably the ants, butterflies, and amoebas too) come from the same ancestor. They are in a very real sense your brothers and sisters.

Want weird? You are a walking city of single-celled animals, and the ones that comprise your brain connect together to form a slow, but massively parallel computer where some of its output signals feedback into itself in such a way as to produce conscious thought.

Want special? We are all made of chemical elements which were created by fusion reactions inside stars then dispersed through space when those stars exploded, and now these clumps of stardust have evolved into us, these tiny fragile bits of the universe, who are the universe understanding itself.

Want cool? The computer on your desktop is made up of billions of switches, each having only two positions: on or off. All the wonderful things that this device can do are accomplished by cascading series of switches in complex arrangements.

Want wonderful? The brains of the people who design desktop computers are basically the same as yours. You and I -- any normal person -- can understand how a computer works. You and I and all the humans on this planet, have extraordinary minds... if we decide to use them.

The real world is a truly astonishing place. There is no need to construct delusional religions and superstitious nonsense. There is more than enough wonder right here.

Comments

[flemco.livejournal.com]

I've said it before and I'll continue to preach it:

The only reason religion still exists is because life is fucking terrifying. The woods are dark as hell, and it doesn't take too much moxy for just about anyone to say "I know the way - follow me for a way to safety and happiness."

They're just as blind as anyone else, but their statement gives people hope - a very dangerous thing.

You're both right.

[elffin.livejournal.com]

People fear what they do not understand.
When they stop learning for themselves, they need ready explanations to shut off the fear - and these explanations don't have to be totally correct, just good enough for our brains.

Re: You're both right.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

I don't think it is all about fear. I've met plenty of religious people who are very happy about what they feel is their "good news": god listens to their prayers and they are blessed. The fundamentalists frequently use fear very effectively, but that is all about brainwashing. Other religious people are often pleasant, fairly well adjusted people who don't have a nasty bone in their body. I don't think they fear the world so much as feel devoid of purpose or meaning without their religion. And, yeah, some probably fear feeling rudderless in the big wide world, but mostly I think people are trying to feel special and escaping from an existence rendered drab and boring by having lost the capacity to wonder. I think they try to regain it by believing something which makes them special and gives them a holy purpose. How much better would it be for them and all the rest of us if they simply opened their eyes and looked at the real world around them?

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

I agree about the whole blind leading the blind thing, but I gotta say I don't really see the world as terrifying on the whole. At times it is genuinely scary, but at other times it is exhilaratingly gorgeous, intriguingly complex, and sometimes just plain enchanting. Watch a seaside sunset or sunrise. See a butterfly waft around the garden. Look at a passionflower. Touch some velvet. Listen to music or birdsong.

Hope is not the danger. The danger is that people give over their capacity for critical thought to some delusional twerp who says "I am the way."

But yes. Religion often comes down to people clutching at straws for some special meaning and mission for their lives. When some nutter comes along and offers it, many jump for it. What has always puzzled me is why they go for it. When any half-wit can stand back and see that someone who professes to talk to a god is a head-case, why do people fall for it?

That is what I think I've finally answered.

[cranky--crocus.livejournal.com]

[aliciaf.livejournal.com]

I find your theory interesting, but I don't agree with it. You suppose that people only choose religion because they aren't intelligent or capable of learning. I have plenty of very intelligent people who believe in a religion.

The point of religion is not always about what you perceive is "rational". A lot of people have been cured of cancer or put their cancer in remission because they believe in themselves, or a God, or crystals, or whatever. What people choose to believe, if it doesn't hurt me or others, is none of my business. I do not care for religious people who force their beliefs upon others, or view their small corner as the only "chosen people" or whatever. However, I also despise people who do not have a religion and choose to berate others for believing in one.

Perhaps if you want to understand why someone chooses a religion, you should talk to someone instead of passing judgment on them. In the meantime, I have decided to unfriend you as I am feeling that we don't really have anything in common. Good luck on your continued learning experiences!

Take care.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Hi Alicia. I'm sorry if it looked like I was saying religious people are not intelligent. That wasn't what I intended to say. Your response showed me that I need to rewrite this piece to clarify that.

I have always had many good friends who are intelligent, pleasant people. That is what has always puzzled me. Why do such people believe in things that are so easily shown to be myths? If only stupid, intellectually lazy people opted for religion then there would be no puzzle at all, but many very smart people let themselves get taken in by the craziest notions. Why is that? It has always stumped me.

You are a case in point. I know you are intelligent and a good person. I have read a lot of your posts in the past and delighted in your sensibilities. Yet you believe people have had their cancer cured or put in remission by their belief. No well designed study of this has ever shown any effect of belief on illness, and there have been many studies on it. Do you see what I mean? It would be wonderful if it was true, and I can understand people wanting it to be so. But how is the leap then made to believing it?

I know my piece is not the whole answer to the puzzle. That's why I wrote "I think I now understand part of the answer to the puzzle." But I think I found a significant piece. It seems to explain some of the more odd things, like a friend of mine, a wonderful, gentle, smart guy, who fervently believes in ghosts and that aliens walk among us. He is not mentally ill and he is not stupid. So why does he believe in such crazy notions without real evidence?

As to why I worry at such things, I have nothing against people who are religious who don't hurt others. The trouble is that faith allows people to believe things without facts and has led in the past to truly awful events, where basically good people were able to rationalise away terrible things because of shonky beliefs (slavery is a perfect example, war is another). Most of the evil in the world is committed in the name of faith and greed. This is a very real problem and one that we have to solve. I've always wondered if there is a solution to it. I don't think my piece is it, but I think it identifies a large piece of the puzzle.

I long for the day when people get along with one another simply because they understand it is the most sensible way to live.

I'm sure we have a lot in common, and I understand your annoyance. :) At least you have caused me to look again at rewriting this piece so that my intentions are clearer. And I'm grateful for that.

[aliciaf.livejournal.com]

Well, thank you for clarifying your post. I was a little upset about it, and felt that someone who feels this way is fine, but I don't want to read it.

Considering your response, I will reinstate our LJ friendship (gosh this all seems so 4th grade! :D) and welcome your comments and future posts.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Heheheh :) Thanks.

Sorry about the hassle. I should have at least let the radio program on cults fade a bit before posting, but at the time I felt so excited that I'd found a big part of something that had puzzled me since I was a kid. No excuse though. :)

[metalhero.livejournal.com]

Listen, just because we have all these new technologies and sciences and practices doesn't mean they're any better. Some people truly believe that old practices and old methods are truly the best. Just because something is NEW does not necessarily make it superior.

I'm not saying go out naked into the forest, paint yourself blue and try to talk to the animals. But if prayer or intense meditation make you feel at peace with yourself and the world, great. If you help the needy because you read in a thousands-year-old book that this cool guy with long hair and a beard said you should and you get to party with him for eternity if you do, or at least if you live your life not being a dick, great.

But if you don't, that's fine too. I don't begrudge agnostics or atheists for their beliefs, nor do I begrudge people of other religions for theirs. Yes, there are people who take the interpretations of their religions to extremes and go completely wacko, but what you see on TV and read in books and on the internet does NOT constitute the whole of the followers of a religion. You're basically stereotyping all religious people.

What I'm saying is, if people are good, what does it matter what their motivations are? Besides, have you ever prayed? Meditated? Gone on a vision quest? Maybe you need to open your mind to something that's not concrete or tangible before you knock on the beliefs of others. And if you have tried any of these things and they didn't work out for you, I'm sorry, and I hope you find something that does.

But people are not idiots just because they're relgious/spiritual.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Your post and Alicia's above have made me look more carefully at what I wrote. I'll rewrite it. Having gained some distance from the radio program that inspired it I can see the first paragraph especially is inflammatory. That was stupid of me and is no way to talk to people and hope for them to listen, so I'll definitely moderate that.

I actually don't think that new equals better. I'll try to fix the paragraph where it might appear to be that I'm saying that. Not long ago there were only a few ways of writing, only a few kinds of music. Now we have an unprecedented number of musical forms, both new and old. That's what is so amazing about this time. There are people who write books in pencil and others who use computers; there are people who paint in oils and others who build 3d virtual worlds. None is necessarily better. But each is alive and flowering today. There has never been a time like this, a renaissance with such a rich tapestry of arts and knowledge, both old and new, and all thriving at once. This is an extraordinary time.

As I said in my reply to Alicia, I have nothing against people who are religious who don't hurt others. I have a lot of religious friends. But the trouble with faith is that it is belief in something without facts. It has led in the past to truly awful events, where basically good people were able to rationalise away terrible things because of shonky beliefs (slavery is a perfect example, war is another). Most of the evil in the world is committed in the name of faith and greed. The number of intrinsically evil people is vanishingly small. Most evil is committed by good people. This is a very real problem and one that needs to be solved.

I had to chuckle when you said "I don't begrudge agnostics or atheists for their beliefs". I am surprised how many people think that those are beliefs. Yeah, some atheists believe as strongly as any religious person, but that is just as big a mistake as belonging to a cult. Being right for the wrong reasons is still a mistake.

I think I've uncovered something that applies in greater or lesser degrees to most religious people. It is very simple to show that all religions and cults are erroneous myths. So why do intelligent people believe them? If just idiots believed them then there would be no puzzle. It would be easy to see what was going on. But smart people are taken in by the most outrageous belief systems too. Why? I think I have hit on part of the answer to that... not the whole answer, but a large part.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

All people want to feel superior and special.
Atheists I know are not in the least different. They use their scientific minded visions to do it, and it works splendidly, particularly if there are people of faith around. Any faith really.

Best story I have was two old atheist friends of mine sitting at a mutual (very secularized and well educated) christian friends place, bragging loudly about how EASY it is to believe in something unmeasurable, and that they as non-believers ahd managed to have the strength to pass that by with their intellects and inner superiority. The friend listened, well aware of the passive aggressive attack in her home, her nice dinner served in their honor etc.
I asked the two dudes: So, have you ever had any faith?

Of course not! they answered, almost offended.

Then how the fuck can you know that it's easy? Was my answer.

They both knew I was an ex-catholic (left the church when I was 11, for personal reasons).

They where practicing very successfully the same thing you are saying that religious people are doing.
Truth is, I think we all have the inclination for it.

Humanity will never stop wanting to be special and exclusive, but I would rather be it in an introspective way than using other people as stepping stones.

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more.

Your post and some others above made me re-read my original post and I've realised that I should not have concentrated so heavily on the radio program about cults that inspired it. I'm going to rewrite it to be more general and less inflammatory. As it stands, I can see how it looks like it was meant as a great big put-down of religious people, but I was actually quite excited that I felt I'd found a part of the puzzle of why smart and good people get sucked into crazy beliefs. I'm still quite excited at this. I think I just need to be a lot more careful about how I say it.

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

May I say that this whole thread is one of the most rational discussions on the inflammatory subject of religion that I have ever read?

I used to be extremely argumentative on the subject when I was younger and only greater age (hah!) has lent me a little reason. I hope!

If world leaders and prominent public figures in general could think and write as the people here have done, we might actually achieve common sense in the world.

Ratfan

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

Whew! I was a little worried that I'd gone out waving a red flag. I do tend to go over the top at times (see my previous post about the moslem reaction to the Danish cartoons). A few of the posts above have prompted me to rewrite this piece. I can't help feeling it is important somehow. It needs to be written in a way that doesn't trample on people's feelings and engages them whether they are atheist or religious.

[ratfan.livejournal.com]

The original post was a bit red flag, yes but the discussion following it was remarkably sane (g) and I liked that you were willing to rewrite what you had said.

Muslims and those cartoons...ooh. Don't get me started :-) Even if it *was* inflammatory in the first place, the reaction was over the top to put it mildly. I see those extremist Muslims as in the same camp with Christian fundamentalists who attack medical centres that perform abortions and so on. Beyond reason, in other words.

There's one story I wrote about a colony where one of the founding rules was "no preaching". Anything you wanted at home between consenting adults but don't scare the horses (g).

Salutations


Ratfan

[digitxl--bxth.livejournal.com]

Are you implying that Buffy isn't real?

[miriam-e.livejournal.com]

[gasp!] Buffy isn't real???? Why would you even suggest such a blasphemous notion? Of course she is real. Who do you think got rid of all the vampires? Have you seen any vampires lately? No. So there you are. Buffy is real. :)

[digitxl--bxth.livejournal.com]

You don't have to convince me. I was just hoping that, for your sake, I wouldn't have to link to this post in the buffyaddicts community...