Fear, pure and simple.

In my honest opinion, religions are similar to an infection in that they are passed from religious parent/s to the child whilst the mind of the child is still lacking the 'immunity' that is resultant from mental development.

Conditioning since birth....brainwashing if you like. It is very powerful, and only a small number of people actually find the strength of character and reasoning to leave and go against the body of opinion. It is courageous to do so, it’s much easier to just go along with the majority and fit in. There are some of us, like myself, who are lucky enough to have had enlightened parents who gave us the choice to decide for ourselves whether we wished to embrace a religion, or not....but we are very much in the minority.