The use of "God" has changed for modern people into not just an explanation for the unknown, or in many cases I think the I do not want to know so God did it. Rather it or she or he has become a tool for social power and a sense of place in a world increasingly polarized between the rich and everyone else and those who want to know even if the knowing hurts or is scary. Versus those (the majority I think) who want to believe far more then they want to know. Ironically the Internet and its access to information simply allows people to pick and choose facts as well as bend and alter them to fit a narrative. Also I feel there is a lot of backlash to knowledge. It is not just religion that is the problem I feel with nationalistic movements and any group that seeks the demonization of others as a tool to power or purpose also part of the dynamic which is and always has torn apart the world. Add in racial and gender identity to the mix. We as a species need two things; reason based governance and identifying all humans as equal irrelevant to any thing intrinsic to their identity and physical/neurological nature that does not directly harm others.

A lot of people still believe in gods in a cultural sense, but there are far fewer people who really believe the mythology now, and those tend to be in pockets of (usually willful) ignorance. Modern man is still capable of believing some pretty ridiculous things (bigfoot, aliens, Trekkies, etc), only now it requires willful ignorance.

I think it just goes down from generation to generation. Possibly the biggest ongoing scam in modern history

To feel part of a group makes us humans. We are social creatures for the most part and want to join together with each other however right or wrong it may be. My old college professor used to say "misery loves company" and I find that true in many cases. Belonging to a religion makes many people feel like they are doing the "right" thing. If one sheep falls off the edge of a cliff all the others follow. However, more and more people are realizing the truth about religion as science is punching many holes into it. Too bad I won't be around in a couple of hundred years to see if atheism is the norm and religion takes a back seat in the world. Wouldn't that be a laugh?

As a soldier in Irak, while in dangerous situations, I felt the need to pray to be able to sleep. It gave me confident to carry on.

From what I've seen there are several reasons. There are simple-minded people who are gullible enough swallow this nonsense, there are people like myself who were indoctrinated as a child, but as they grew older and became educated realized that there is no truth in religion. I recently talked somebody who admitted he knew there was no gods but believed just because he wanted believe. Still others who believe because they fell into the scare tactics I believe in God because I don't want to go to hell for all eternity.and then there's the people at the top of the game people running the masses, mind control, manipulate you out of for their own personal gains. Every year religion rakes in billions of dollars tax-, safe say all that is not going an invisible genie in The sky.

From what I've seen there are several reasons. There are simple-minded people who are gullible enough swallow this nonsense, there are people like myself who were indoctrinated as a child, but as they grew older and became educated realized that there is no truth in religion. I recently talked somebody who admitted he knew there was no gods but believed just because he wanted believe. Still others who believe because they fell into the scare tactics I believe in God because I don't want to go to hell for all eternity.and then there's the people at the top of the game people running the masses, mind control, manipulate you out of for their own personal gains. Every year religion rakes in billions of dollars tax-, safe say all that is not going an invisible genie in The sky.

I think there are many reasons. The big one is fear. It's one thing be a rabbit running from a wolf because you have an instinctual urge avoid danger, and its another thing be able sit down, have a conference with people and discuss the risks and dangers involved with any given task. Reasoning and rationality is a double edged sword. We evolved this amazing tool that allows us to problem solve, predict, and imagine, while at the same time it causes us to solve problems that aren't real, predict events that may never happen, and imagine anything and everything. Our brains are now a mixed mess of prehistoric instinctual urges and faulty logical methodologies that only work when there is a small amount of information involved. Like Skepticguy pointed out, politics is almost completely parallel to religion, but religion is unique in that it can be immune to scrutiny with enough motivated reasoning and cognitive ignorance. Religions will come and go, or change and evolve, but religion will be apart of the human experience for a very, very long time.

Many people do not have the mental capacity to understand science or the world around them and so they use the same ways to explain the world as the earliest societies (animism and totemism), also they may not be able to deal with the idea that they are responsible for their own actions and the preservation of our home.

This ignorance (often by choice) needs the support of a group and so religion and it's soothing ideology gives them a support group. The irony of this of course is that most of these people cannot even follow religious teachings correctly either, no Christian who read the bible could possibly believe in no healthcare, education, food or homes for the poor, in war and hatred or bigotry. The same for jihadists and other fundamentalists. So the odds are most religious people don't believe in god, if they did there would be no war, famine or unnecessary suffering as they would want to be in the good books when they bite the big biscuit. Longer answer than expected!!!

The question is why does an enlightened nation pick myths belonging to another nation who copied them from older nations, who copied them .... Why those? Why not any other one or 20 myths from elsewhere?

Pretending to understand and force rules on "god" is not the same as believing in the possibility of a spiritual realm that exists beyond the earthly realm. The University of Virgina has done a great deal of research into reincarnation with scientific responsibility, if not at a laboratory level.

I think a large part of that may be from simple social and cultural influences or pressure.
Though I have contemplated on whether it could be a combination of Marcus's 3B framework in the formation of religious identity and some forms of Costly Display.
[religiousfreedomcenter.org]
[sciencedirect.com]

I know college educated people who believe the bible is factual .

People have a fear of death and the unknown. Religious beliefs(god) are passed down in a family and so brings comfort to those people. Believing in god is a crutch that some people must have to survive in this world. Which is really sad.

My answer is that you can not disprove god. You can't disprove a negative. When it comes to default positions there are 3.
Something is true until proven false
Something is possible until proven true/false
Something is untrue unless proven true.
It's the same thing with big foot, people still believe in it.

If you can move away from the idea of the judgemental asshole in the sky...it's completely plausable. What if we are living inside another sentient organism, the universe.

You got me!

I think the desire for many to have a better life doesn't meet expectations so they hang on to these fairytales to drag them through day to day. Willful ignorance I think also plays into it as well.

I don't know. I am thinking of writing a 3rd book called Why Do People Believe This Shit

Modern man? What outdated terminology!

If not out of dogma, I think people simply commit to faith out of tradition and/or a very natural desire for an answer to existentil horror.