I believe in "Super Nature." There is a book by that name that explains so many things, however there is nothing supernatural. No gods, no talking snake.

I may think a distant lightning bolt beautiful; If it strikes nearby I won’t be thinking.

Because they do exist.

It is the beauty and chaos of the world that convinces many, perhaps even the majority that "God" must exist. It is a failure to think critically and for yourself.

I believe it can be countered by enlightened honest scientific education.

Because people can't take in things the way they are. There always has to be some explanation for it, when just the existence of these things and the awe they inspire is meaningful in itself.

It may be that we are not able to ever understand our personal perception/consciousness intuitively or intellectually accurately in any given moment. This makes us uncomfortable about the nature of our own identities, and the pinch (or pound) of ignorance we will always have in the mix of that understanding...and so "supernatural" is thrown in as a psychological stop-gap measure to ease that discomfort.

(Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and wondered what was in that person's head? Then realizing you know everything that is in that person's head? And then seriously doubting if that is true? lol Is that analogy any clearer than the above paragraph?)

We naturally look for reasons behind things. (You only have to look at this site of non-believers to find conspiracy theorists).
Let me put it another way:
Imagine the scene on the Serengeti. You are foraging for food and you hear a rustle in the long grass. Now it could be just the wind or a lion. Do you run or stay? We are descended from the ones that ran

Cognitive capabilities is a "super" or superior aspect of the natural elements. The translation that is not well understood tries in original language to tie cognition with what is elements. Logos in greek is thoughts/words: how do you think and speak? By controlling elements and forces of nature that use your natural body to produce words. In the beginning was the logos, the logos was with God and was God. (John 1:1) john 1:14 ... the logos become flesh.

The modern language text is not as clear as original meaning. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and was God. John 1:1

Science believes that the word in the beginning was a supernatural singularity called by the word "bang"

Because it's how our brains are built. Narratives, memes, myths - all wonderfully low energy, high redundancy ways of storing vast amounts of information in an easily transmittable form.

Look at traditional Australian Aboriginal life - a Neolithic culture with 50,000+ of heritage. They have a song for everything. Birth, death, reaching adulthood, hunting, weaving nets, which plants are safe, water resource location, fire farming, the path of their sometimes decades long migrations... everything is sung.

People have always created stories because reality is to big to fit in our heads.

Because the world can be as ugly as it is beautiful?

I think it is a matter of wanting to feel special and important and trying to understand the world without feelings of uncertainty. You may notice the skill, by which many of the super-dependent deflect facts and models that risk informing them of a more lowly state of being in the universe than they would like.

I think there is beauty in the fact that there are things unknowable, things too big to fathom.

Beautiful question.

I don't think it's about ignorance or stupidity, as some have said. I think it's because language fails.

If I miss one thing about having faith, it's having an adequate vocabulary to describe the transcendence of shared human experiences. Have you seen the "Pale Blue Dot" video (Carl Sagan)? It's just 3 minutes long:

Every time I see it, I get goosebumps and cry. I get the same feeling when I ponder love and birth and joy and sorrow, as well as intuition and inexplicable knowledge.

There is ... something. I DON'T mean something "supernatural." I'm a hard atheist. It's humanity, but something greater than that.

But I don't have the words.

Ignorance and superstitious thinking sometimes prevails

Small minds are found to be those who seek out or make up the easiest answers, i.e. the Faithfools fit the bill exactly in that one.

It is a reversion to that uneducated time, if you can't explain it, or if the explanation is too complex, people look for simple answers. Simple answers to complex questions are very seldom correct.

People want what they like to be true.

Because they don't understand it all. There is a gap in our knowledge and we resort to "the god of the gaps" to answer it in understandable ways. It's simple: "God did it!"

Beats thinking for a living I guess.