What makes people pray, believe in an afterlife, and fear retribution? Fear of death? Striving for justice? According to psychologist Steven Reiss, it’s both. In addition, there are fourteen more reasons.
Why do we believe in God? Or gods? Why do people even have an idea of some higher intelligence that exists outside of time and space, but which for some reason does not care if we work on Sunday or what we eat for lunch.
Many scientists and philosophers predicted that as we get to know the world, religion will turn into an anachronism and die out. Nevertheless, there are still significantly more believers than non-believers.
Today, sociologists and psychologists believe that we want to believe, sometimes against our rational beliefs, because that is our nature. Faith itself is something of vital importance to us.
Most psychological theories deduce our craving for religion from one or more basic needs. For example, from our desire to drown out the fear of death. “There are no atheists in the trenches” is the popular statement of this thesis.
Religious Rituals Satisfy Our Desire for Order
The American psychologist Steven Reiss, on the contrary, believes that the strength of religion is in its diversity and ability to give us what we aspire to.
It satisfies our 16 basic needs, which the psychologist formulated as follows: power, independence, curiosity, approval, order, economy, honor, idealism, communication, family, position in society, revenge, love relationships, food, exercise and tranquility.
This list was compiled by Stephen Reiss and his colleagues by conducting a survey among several thousand people. These 16 basic needs, according to Reiss, make up our personality. Their combination and balance make our personality unique.1.
How, then, do world religions, with their complex rules and restrictions, manage to attract and retain millions of people?
“The universal essence of religion (and the reason for its persistence) is that it finds an approach to everyone – introverts and extroverts, traditionalists and innovators, quiet and restless, peace-loving and militant,” explains Steven Reiss.
For extroverts, religion has collective festivities and a philosophy of neighborly love. For introverts, religion offers meditation, solitary prayer, seclusion.
Religious rituals satisfy our desire for order. The doctrine of salvation and forgiveness is related to the craving for approval. The promise of the afterlife helps people get rid of anxiety for their lives and find peace.”
Many people come to religion to demonstrate loyalty to the memory of their ancestors.
Earlier, Reiss found that the main difference between religious and non-religious people lies in their attitude towards independence. Most of the religious participants in his experiments showed a strong need to be in contact with others, to feel connected to them.
On the contrary, participants with weak religiosity rather sought to rely only on themselves and be self-sufficient in all respects. The study also found that religious people valued honor more. Reiss concluded that many people come to religion to demonstrate loyalty to the memory of their ancestors.
And what about atheists? The secular society is looking for alternatives that could satisfy the same basic needs. Someone turns to philosophy in search of a complete picture of the world, someone is looking for answers in psychology.
Religious-like elements can be found in adherence to moral values, political beliefs, and even… diets2. Steven Reiss emphasizes that the competition between religious faith and others is somehow related to which path can offer the best satisfaction to our needs.
“I don’t touch on theological questions about the existence of God or the possibility of contact with him,” he adds. “I’m just looking for an explanation of what makes people turn to religion and religious practices in general.”
1 S. Reiss «16 Strivings for God» (Mercer University Press, 2015).
2 A. Levinovitz «The Gluten Lie And Other Myths About What You Eat» (Regan Arts, 2015).