people stay religious because when times get tough, they need someone/something they can rely on..its "his" will and we have no power over it, i guess it makes life easier to some religious people, knowing that theres something that can bend their life in a good way as well as bad..thats also why people tend to love and cherish god when life gets tough.. they "find" god then..

just my pov

There are tons of reasons to remain religious. Way too many to summarize with a simple paragraph in a forum post. Your beliefs are tied up with your very identity, especially if they're beliefs passed down to you from your family at a young age. You have external reasons to remain religious and you have your own internal, personal reasons. And for every religious person, there' a multitude of reasons in each of those categories, from philosophical to social to psychological to whatever.

Unfortunately for your argument, we're social beings and all our success at life is dependent on how we do socially. People who are alone are not happy. Thus, it does matter what others think.

We also have eyes and ears and perceive the world around us, so if people call us morons and treat us bad, that's kinda hard to ignore.

Way to argue against all common sense and experience ..

I feel like whenever that happens most people tend to shy away from religion as they grow older. Of course there are people that end up just going along with it too.

To comment on your wording. It's very fluffy. So I'm going to resummarize again for reference. Religious people have a false sense of entitlement (To a deity and afterlife) but believe firmly so from arrogance.
This is just a generalization that doesn't even sound like it applies to a small percentage of people.

I've found that the people who harp on about not giving a **** about what anyone else thinks about them, especially those who specifically use the word "****" in the sentence, are generally people who might benefit from a little criticism. It's a very simplistic world view that suggests a certain amount of self-absorption that has no room for outside views.

This is a garbage statement. I am not point fingers at you Hellcell btw.

Some people noo matter what they believe are just arrogant pricks.

I don't think it applies to a large percent of people who are religious. They believe what they believe because it works for them. Why else would you do something if it didn't work for you. And what does it really matter what someone else believes, what I want to understand Matt is why the hell you are up in other folks kool -aid and don't know their particular flavor? You generalize and make broad statements and have no facts to back them up, and yet you come across just as arrogant if not more so then the people who knock on my door and bother me on a Tuesday afternoon because they feel like what they are doing is right. This is America, bro (at least I think you are in the USA, anyway I am American and I comment on the things that happen here.) You can believe what you want to, and it's beautiful thing. And nobody has the right to trash another person over what it is they believe in their heart of hearts. And if their religion is what gets them through the day and helps the to actually be a better person, by being kind to others etc then more power too them. You sound like someone that has a massive chip on their shoulder toward people who have something in their lives, no matter how inane , nonsensical, or improbable it is. If you were truly confidant about your choices in your life you wouldn't need to make thread after thread on this in hopes people will respond to your long winded craziness. You would use the religion thread. But to quote myself, "IMO I DON'T KNOW JACK **** SO DON'T LISTEN TO ME"....

It all depends on the situation and also the disposition of the person being called a "moron." While it might be hard to ignore one can also reason away the insult to make it ineffective. There something juvenile and/or mean-spirited about someone calling another person "moron" or any other pejorative. The name-caller really isn't proving any thing through reasoning with an explanation to show that he has a better point of view on the matter. The name-caller is just hurling names to get an emotional response. The name-caller is trading reasoning for vindictiveness.

Matt, buddy...

You're kind of a dumbass dude.

Take it from a fellow dumbass, you're a dumbass. Quit actin like ya know it all, s'quite the opposite bro

Sounds just like my mother, who became a "born again" Christian about 10 years ago. She's got problems like you wouldn't believe. Physically disabled to the point where she can't walk unassisted, just got diagnosed with spinal arthritis, had her gallbladder removed recently due to an aneurysm, struggling with anorexia (like daughter like mother) and she's getting a little senile but OH JESUS. JESUS CHRIST IS HER SAVIOR. HER LAWD. OH LAWDY LAWD IN HEAVEN JESUS WILL FIX US ALL.

I don't swear when I text/call my mother because she is so Christian. I live almost 2,000 miles away from her and I will absolutely not offend her like that because she will never let me hear the end of it. Her life is miserable as hell but apparently it's ALL GOOD because she's got JESUS CHRIST.

I just... I don't understand. Good on her for trying to cope with the fact that her life sucks but I can't help but feel like extreme Christianity is some sort of mental illness.