Why do people believe in religion? - a look at pain

Kobani, Syria

An interesting look asking why people would believe in something so stupid as religion. A likely answer is that for them the alternative is much worse. Often people have been terribly damaged by loss and emotional pain, and end up finding solidity and comfort in a system that has all the answers.

For example, it's not as painful to "know" that a loved one has simply passed on to the next world of Jesus or Mohammed, than to think that a loved one is simply gone forever. That they were killed and that was the end of it. Died prematurely somehow. It is a very logical atheist indeed that would consider that the end of human life is simply the end of everything for their loved one. 

Even those who are completely non-religious can understand the thinking that perhaps there's something more that we just don't know about. Another plane of consciousness or existence. After all, humans have a very limited perception of the physical world; only perceiving a narrow band of light and sound. Why couldn't beings exist in another band of light and sound even beyond what we can witness or even detect with our current machines? All very Star Trek.

Simply put, people want to believe in something more. We could likely gain more understanding of these people by empathising with their pain, rather than attacking their religious construct. Anyone who has come across a fundie will know that the walls and defences just go up if you start attacking their religious beliefs, no matter how misguided or stupid they are. 

Surely we need to speak to each other on a human level, and not in religious and political riddles.