Why do people insist on believing in a magical God?
As we get older and all the magic and whimsy of childhood falls away one after another and we're left with just bland reality, I think many people are desperate for something greater to believe in again. Could this be the reason the God myth won't die? People refuse to give up that one remaining source of magic and wonder? That it comes with a promise of life beyond death is just icing on the magical cake.
This could be why shit like the Loch Ness Monster, and Bigfoot won't die either -- people want some kind of wonder to believe in to rescue them from the stress and routine of life.
Just my $0.02
I think it may be based on insecurity and a feeling of vulnerability, even without logic or reasoning the omnipotent one will serve to protect it's followers in their darkest hours, I also believe that religious folk come in 2 flavours, the first I have mentioned above and the second are those who see religion as a way to enrich their lives with control, wealth and sexual deviancy in a business that takes money from the poor and uneducated in return for hope and false protection against evil, having said that The business model of religion is very impressive, they pay no tax, they hold no tangible products, they pay no rent, marketing is free by way of indoctrination of the young and vulnerable and labour and goodwill are donated, that's a pretty solid business plan.
Fear, boredom inability to practice critical thinking (for various reasons) and being indoctrinated in childhood.
Supreme beings answer the unknowable. Supreme beings coupled with an afterlife address the fear of death and non-existence.
I don't know why so many need make believe when there is so much wonder right here:
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That's great but for most people reality is get up, go to work, pay the bills, raise the kids, deal with shit, go to Disney World once a year. Playing fetch with a Beluga whale in the wild is an experience 6 people will ever have.
For one thing you can be a shitty person and go to church and pray and you're forgiven and you can be a shitty person next week. Rinse, repeat.
Because they can, and if it brings them comfort or meaning or purpose, good for them!
I don't know if that is the only reason, but it is certainly one. And the main cause of it, is the failing of the worlds education systems to provide enough true education to engender appreciation, with which all the wonders of nature open up. Trash culture which fails to fulfill anyones needs and drives them to woo or pharma, is born in the classroom, where teachers are made to program children to be victims, because that is what those who sell woo and pharma will pay for.