It amazes me that anyone living today could possibly think that this ancient book, full of contradictions and inaccuracies, offers all the answers to life's questions. Did the Christian god really create humans to be that stupid?
Of course, the answer lies not in stupidity but with indoctrination. People believe in this "holy" book, for the most part, because they were trained from an early age to believe in it. Indoctrination is powerful stuff! But that's not all. In addition to indoctrination, religious believers leverage an elaborate system of social disapproval and even shunning to make it far less likely that anyone will express doubt in their assorted teachings. We've all heard about teenage atheists being disowned by their families and kicked out of their home merely for coming out at atheists.
Maybe "indoctrination" isn't even the right word. Maybe we need something stronger like "brainwashing." In any case, people believe this stuff because they were taught to believe it from an early age, punished for expressing doubt, and surrounded by the "fact-proof screen" that blocks doubt fairly well.
