I think this belongs in the philosophy section - and hope.

My question is this: How can someone living in such a world and age possibly believe in God?

To elaborate, I understand where religion and the belief in supernatural stems from. It was our way of explaining things, and perhaps controlling humans. We didn't know how the Sun rises and sets, or what causes the tides, or where rain comes from, etc. So we attached a supernatural to them and did all sorts of crazy things.

Fast forward to 2015 and still so many believe in God. I am an atheist and I am just dumbfounded by the amount of people in the world who still do. I mean to logically think about and to believe that there is a all-powerful, all-seeing entity out there just boggles my mind. How can so many reasonably thoughtful people believe such fantasy-like places like hell and heaven are real? This has the same validity to me as a belief in unicorns and dragons. What is the differentiating factor between God and fantasy? Why do these people believe in one supernatural and not the other? I mean, if we want a plane built we use science and logic to build it. We don't pray to God to build it for us.

I know I am coming off as somewhat disrespectful perhaps, but I really can't imagine believing in God. I would like there to be a God - sure, that would be great, but to live in a lie would be exhausting. My disrespect comes from frustration. I am truly frustrated I don't understand this notion.

What drives this faith? Is it fear of death? One could argue that it is just our way of explaining the things in the universe we don't understand today - but that is just an ever receding gap in knowledge, or God of the Gaps argument - and therefore God is an ever receding believe.

Also as a scientist, I would like to think humans eventually switch to a belief purely based on empirical evidence one day, but seeing how 90% of so of the world is religious I don't know if that will happen. Will the world ever be abolished from religion? Also, are most religious people atheist deep down? They must see how there is zero evidence that supports God existing and how science dominates our lives.

Anyway, I am truly curious for this answer - ignore any frustrating disrespect on my part. It is hard to write on this topic without that coming through.

My question is this: How can someone living in such a world and age possibly believe in God?

To elaborate, I think I understand where religion and the belief in supernatural stems from. It was our way of explaining things, and perhaps controlling humans. We didn't know how the Sun rises and sets, or what causes the tides, or where rain comes from, etc. So we attached a supernatural to them and did all sorts of crazy things.

Fast forward to 2015 and still so many believe in God. As a scientist, I would like to think humans will eventually switch to a belief purely based on empirical evidence one day. Even religious people must see how there is zero evidence that supports God existing and how science dominates our lives.

Are there philosophers who have attempted to explain how belief can possibly still persist even in the face of the advance of modern science?