Why we still turn to religion, By Osmund Agbo

This past Sunday, as my family and I sat quietly in St. Mary Margdalene, our neighborhood church, listening to the homily, sunlight filtered through the stained-glass windows, casting ethereal hues across the pews where familiar faces gathered, some bowed in solemn prayer, others murmuring along with the choir’s hymns. Yet amid the sacred stillness, my mind drifted. The questions that once whispered now echo with growing insistence. I find myself participating in the rituals of faith not from conviction, but from habit, and perhaps, fear. Fear of what might fill the vacuum when belief begins to fracture.

My wife and I continue to attend church on Sundays whenever possible, often bringing our children, not because they are eager, but because we insist. What once was an expression of spiritual devotion now feels like a defense mechanism, a ritualized resistance against the creeping tide of nihilism or absurdity. I worry, irrational or not, that in the absence of spiritual anchoring, our children might drift into the kind of cultural confusion where, say, a human claims to identify as a cat, not because such tendencies exist, but because we inhabit an era in which even the absurd demands affirmation.

For many, faith offers order and meaning. For me, increasingly, it functions more as a shield. Over the years, I have grown less credulous, but more discerning. And in that discernment lies a growing chasm between the promises of religion and the revelations of reason.

We are taught as Christians that the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God, sacred, infallible, and ultimate in its moral authority. Among Evangelicals, the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible remains revered as the definitive text, venerated for its lyrical grandeur and doctrinal precision. Yet few believers pause to interrogate its historical origins.

Prior to its publication in 1611, other translations such as the Geneva Bible, the Wycliffe Bible, and the Tyndale Bible were widely read. The KJV, however, was not merely an exercise in spiritual fidelity; it was also a calculated act of political strategy. Commissioned by King James I, its primary purpose was to supplant the Geneva Bible, which included marginalia that subtly challenged the authority of monarchs.

The translators of the KJV were expressly instructed to omit commentary and to employ language that reinforced royal sovereignty, most notably in verses like, “The powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1). In doing so, they embedded political ideology into what was ostensibly sacred scripture. This revelation complicates the claim of divine impartiality and highlights how translation decisions often served power rather than piety. One finds a parallel in the so-called Slave Bible, a deliberately redacted text that omitted passages advocating liberation while emphasizing those demanding servitude, yet another instance where scripture was weaponized to perpetuate control.

In contemporary times, a growing number of individuals identify as “spiritual but not religious.” Elon Musk for example, calls himself a cultural Christian. The distinction is not semantic; it marks a fundamental reorientation. Organized religion often carries the baggage of institutional dogma, hierarchical authority, and exclusionary politics. Spirituality, by contrast, appeals to personal transcendence, ethical authenticity, and a direct sense of connectedness that bypasses clerical mediation and theological contortion.

This shift reflects a deeper yearning to retain the meaningful aspects of religion, its rituals, its capacity for awe, while discarding the rigid doctrines and outmoded metaphysics that no longer resonate with the modern intellect. In many affluent and educated societies, the fastest-growing religious demographic is the “nones”—those who claim no religious affiliation. These individuals frequently live ethically robust lives, animated not by divine injunctions, but by humanistic values such as empathy, reason, and justice.

Philosophical traditions like Stoicism, Existentialism, and Secular Humanism offer coherent frameworks for deriving meaning and morality without recourse to the supernatural. Art, science, nature, and intimate relationships provide their own kind of transcendence, sublime and sacred, yet free from dogma.

For the rational mind, it is nearly impossible to reconcile the concept of an omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent God with the brutal realities of the world. How does one square the idea of divine love with the horrific massacres of innocent civilians, toddlers beheaded, pregnant women disemboweled in Benue and Plateau states under the cover of night? What divine justice allows a missile to obliterate a five-year-old’s skull in Gaza? In the face of such unfathomable suffering, where is the omniscient eye of providence?

Theological answers often collapse under the weight of such inquiries. When confronted with suffering, many theologians retreat into well-worn platitudes—“God’s ways are not our ways,” or “Everything happens for a reason.” These aphorisms may comfort the credulous, but they offer little to the inquiring mind. They reveal, instead, the fundamental inadequacy of traditional religious explanations in the face of existential horror.

Compounding this is the global irony that religion, once the crowning jewel of Western civilization, now finds its most fervent adherents in the economically disadvantaged regions of the Global South. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, burns with spiritual fervor, even as religious engagement dwindles across the very nations that once exported it. As societies grow wealthier, safer, and more educated, they appear to outgrow the dogmas they once held sacred. This inversion raises a disquieting question: is religion a cause of societal dysfunction or merely a coping mechanism for it?

Despite these criticisms, religion remains far from irrelevant. In fact, it continues to meet fundamental human needs, needs that even the most secular institutions struggle to satisfy. As articulated in various studies and reflected in real-life stories, religion provides what sociologists call the “three B’s”: belief, behavior, and belonging. These are not trivial offerings. They are the scaffolding of a life that many find bearable, even meaningful.

Belief provides answers, however flawed or fantastic, to the deep questions of existence: Why are we here? What happens after death? Why do good people suffer? These may be unsatisfactory answers to the critically minded, but to millions they offer coherence and comfort in a chaotic world.

Behavioral guidance, too, has its value. At its best, religion instills discipline, compassion, and a sense of moral responsibility. Even when its ethical codes are outdated or inconsistently applied, religious practice can cultivate habits that serve the individual and the broader society.

But it is the third “B”, belonging—that perhaps explains religion’s enduring power. In an increasingly atomized and digital world, religious communities provide real, tangible support. The story of Kelsey Osgood, who converted to Orthodox Judaism, is a compelling example. She found in her religious community an instinctive and immediate network of care: people who show up, know what to say, and simply know what to do when someone is sick, grieving, or in crisis. These are the “worth it” aspects of religion that transcend dogma.

Numerous studies support the idea that people who are part of religious communities tend to live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. The Global Flourishing Study, a massive research project by Harvard and Baylor universities, confirms that people thrive when they have strong social connections, something religion is uniquely equipped to provide. In fact, people in less developed countries like Indonesia and the Philippines often report greater meaning and purpose than those in the more affluent West.

There is a paradox at play here: the wealthier and more educated a society becomes, the more it drifts from religion, yet the more it seems to struggle with meaning and existential coherence.
Religion, for all its contradictions and failures, remains one of humanity’s most enduring and multifaceted institutions. While theologians may falter in the face of hard questions, and while religious doctrines may crumble under intellectual pressure, the lived experience of faith continues to hold value for many. It provides a moral compass, a sense of continuity, and a community of care. In this way, religion is not just about God; it is about us, our need to be seen, heard, guided, and loved.

To be sure, faith must evolve. It cannot remain impervious to reason, nor should it cling to doctrines that insult our intelligence or undermine our shared humanity. For religion to survive in a postmodern world, it must open itself to critique, reformation, and dialogue with science and philosophy. Blind faith is no virtue; neither is blind skepticism. What we need is a mature faith, one that acknowledges mystery without manufacturing fantasy, one that fosters community without coercion, and one that welcomes questioning as an act of devotion, not defiance.

Ultimately, the question is not whether religion is good or bad, it is both. The more useful question is: how can we retain its gifts while confronting its failures? For many of us, that means occupying a space between belief and doubt, a space where questions are not sins, and thinking is not rebellion.

Religion may never offer rational answers to life’s greatest mysteries. But perhaps its value lies not in the answers it gives, but in the rituals, relationships, and resilience it fosters. The challenge, then, is to hold religion accountable, to demand that it evolve, that it support rather than stifle human flourishing, and that it earn its place in a world increasingly shaped by science, reason, and shared humanity.

In doing so, we may rediscover religion not as a fortress of unassailable truth, but as a fragile, human attempt to make meaning in an otherwise complex and mysterious universe.

Osmund Agbo is a US-based medical doctor and author. His works include Black Grit, White Knuckles: The Philosophy of Black Renaissance and a fiction work titled The Velvet Court: Courtesan Chronicles. His latest works, Pray, Let the Shaman Die and Ma’am, I Do Not Come to You for Love, have just been released.