They need their delusions...and I believe that deep down, they KNOW it’s a delusion. Cognitive dissonance requires lots of denial.
Their fear i believe stems from science and realities ability to unravel many of their doctrines and beliefs resulting in people recognizing that science can provide better answers than religion.The world view is that science provides answers without the need for anything that is supernatural In addition science presents a world view that renders much of a priori analytic metaphysics Completely obsolete.1 Maarten Boudry