All believers aren't dumb. That's what is so mindboggling. I have a fellow Science teacher that doesn't believe in evolution. Actually, there are apparently lot's of science teachers that don't. I can't fathom that. I guess someone can teach evolution and not believe it, but not me.

Some do, but it's a scale. Some literally believe the Bible and every word in it, on the other hand I know people who are very active in their church but privately admit that no, they don't believe in God or any supernatural nonsense. Hell, the church I sometimes go to openly welcomes atheists. I don't know what percentage of the congregation are atheists, but some are.

I suspect there are millions of professing believers who don't believe. It's a lot of trouble to come-out. Especially in the Bible belt. I live with it everyday. I hear and see religious crap every day but I can't fight every battle all day long, day after day.

duh? what part of brainwashed don't you get?

If there are gods they do not intervene in human affairs. Maybe if you are persistent and wear the right hat. They holding your breath and balancing on one leg.

To my mind, they believe ONLY what suits them at the time and often discard anything that doesn't suit the time or occasion, etc.
Though having said that, there are those, Mormons ( Morons) for example, that are so entrenched in their beliefs and dogmas they, quite literally, can't see anything else.

I have seldom seen a religious person who believes everything in his/her religion. There's always ritual and reinforcement. Bible study, etc. Continual brainwashing. But very few will ever express their doubts openly. They are conditioned to behave as if they believe everything, so we may never know.

I watch em close… The dumbest appear to ‘honestly believe’ about anything they’re fed by an authority figure ...and it helps when they’re hearing something that justifies their desires..

Those with average or above intelligence know better, but haven’t the courage to admit it - accept when they arrive here! The rest just double-down..

Seems every ‘discovery’ destroys a bit more of the foundation of religion. There appears to be a turning point when a society finally ‘gets it,’ as several advanced Europen nations are showing. But when it’s mixed with politics, becoming the justification for greed, aggression, destruction or neglect - it’s clung to tighter than ever.

But as pitiful as are the ‘true believers,’ those who know better, using it as a tool of manipulation, are equal to any description of their devil. And as someone recently stated on the forum - those preaching this garbage to children should be prosecuted for abuse.

A few perhaps believe in the real literal truth of it, some go though the motions because they think they gain something from it, some think it puts them in touch with something vague and spiritual, some fake it to con others, and everything in between. The one thing that I have learned about human beings over the years, is that whatever you can think of, there will be someone out there who is living it, and that you can therefore, never pin down single groups with clear idealogical boundaries.

I would like to relate an experience I had years after I abandoned religion. The bus company I worked for was to have the drivers vote on whether or not they would like to join the Teamsters. The union held a couple of meetings to encourage yes votes. They gave speeches with a huge picture of Jimmy Hoffa behind the speaker. After each meeting, they had everyone join hands in a huge circle for prayer. In the first meeting, I stayed out of the circle, of about 30 people or so, and just watched from outside. The second meeting was getting all the more rabblerousing. People stood up shouting out their dissatisfactions of their employer. Caught up in the emotion, I join the circle this time and joined the prayer. I still did not believe in their God. I just did not want to be left out. I believe that many, not all, do not believe in the God prayed to while they are standing so solemn in church.

I'm sure there are atheist priests who just continue to preach because that's 'what they do' and they see it as a job.

Personally, I think all intelligent people dump Christianity as soon as they stop believing in Santa Claus but they are also aware that they need to go along to get along. When little, they need their parents to care them and relatives to accept them, and when they are teenagers they often date friends from church, so play along with their particular religious paradigm.

After they are married, many nonbelievers are comfortable being married to a religious person, out of habit, especially if the spouse is a typical Christian that gradually tapers off in enthusiasm until they are only attending church on holidays. The spouse could still have strong religious opinions, but the husband knows how to avoid land mines.

Your question, “Do religious people really believe what they say?”, is too broad a brush to realistically answer. I’m guessing you knew that already, but just in case I’m wrong I’ll take it seriously.

We could create an amazing poll that attempts to ask the religious the same questions in different ways, in non-persuasive or neutral ways, in clear ways to avoid interpretation, and ask the population in high fidelity and we still couldn’t trust the results with any measure of certainty worth betting on? Why? You probably know why. Many or most would wrestle their thoughts in favor of positive faith when pressured with the cognitive dissonance caused by each question. In fact, depending on each person’s situation many or most would probably begin flippantly answering many of the questions just to avoid the irritation caused by such cognitive dissonance.

Different areas of knowledge require different kinds of assent to their truthfulness, for different areas of knowledge require different kinds of proof. 2+2=4 is based on logic derived from mathematics. However, as Polyani writes of different kinds of assent, the belief one's spouse is faithful to us is based not on logic but experience of the person and their history. Similarly, believe in a religion and its dogmas is based on things like history, experience and traditional communal teachings.
I think Catholicism is nonsense, but I don't think it is 'dumb' for adults to assent to it. I would challenge it on many grounds, but with people who are often intelligent and thoughtful.
Protestantism traditionally relies on the historicity of Bible events and the reliability of the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek new Testament as their final authority. So they use arguments drawn from history and employ reason to make their claims. These are all contestable, but those making the arguments are often highly intelligent.
We need to be very careful not to show our own ignorance in not, for example, understanding the different kinds of assent based on different kinds of proof for different areas of knowledge.

Why only "believe" 2+2=4 when it can be demonstrated as a fact?

Gods cannot be demonstrated nor is there credible evidence to support them.

The former is "knowledge" that latter is "belief". They shouldn't even be considered as comparable.

I like and agree with what you stated, as I was raised Lutheran, yet you also need to understand all of the types of bias and the compartmentalization of them that are in the brain.

I really believe that more than a few "Christians" would like to disbelieve, but are totally frightened by the possibility of Hell as a penalty for their disbelief.