Coming soon: Personal Religiogenisis

My interest in the mythologies of the various religions has been waining for sometime especially since applying logic to these constructs doesn't really change anyone's mind on the issue and there is only so much bad fiction I can deal with (let's face it our fiction writers today are far better than these old holy authors, just look at how much funnier Scientology is). Also, I have started noticing patterns and asking a more fundamental question a friend brought up: what makes someone desire/need religion or faith? This, to me, has become a more important point since all religions are easily discredited using logic and intellectually honest reasoning, but this won't change minds. The core question is: Why people want to give up reason and reality? The hope is that answering this means people may be able to figure out how to satisfy that need with positive worldviews.

This has lead me to my Religiogenesis hypothesis (although current testing has been positive). The name is a node to Greg Egan's Orphanogenesis, since I'm trying to explain how personal religions are generated. By personal I mean the religion the individual subscribes to, not the pseudoacedemnic version purported by the people at the top of the establishment. For instance most Christians know nothing of the Christian faith so commenting on Catholicism is pointless since why they claim they may be Catholic they don't really know what that means and don't necessarily believe all of it. What I am talking about is the version that resides in people's heads.

But this much bigger than standard religions but deals with the entire set of religions using (as you would expect from me) a clear definition of a religion which is very broad. It will also highlight key aspects of how strict scientific naturalism/atheism/humanism is fundamentally different from religious belief. This has many implications both for politics and everyday life as I'm sure will be clear. I look forward to your comments!