The question in the OP would apply equally well to those who want to believe in the God described in the Old Testament. I think there must be some common attraction to believing in a creature who is powerful and in control, even if the creature is cruel and arbitrary.
Ready for a harebrained hypothesis? I wonder if it has something to do with continuing to want a parent in adulthood. Children generally survive their vulnerable youth best if they follow what parents tell them and continue to love their parents despite occasional punishments that seem arbitrary and cruel. "Just leaving the cave after dark didn't deserve that bad a spanking" thinks the kid who doesn't know when man-eating animals hunt.
So I expect that we've evolved to want that kind of relationship when young. Otherwise, every child would be just as happy striking out on his own and discovering everything by trial and error. Obeying even what seems like a cruel, arbitrary parent will ensure better survival than blundering away on your own.
Some part of that sometimes doesn't get turned off in adulthood, so there's still more or less of an urge to be connected with a more-powerful, more-knowledgeable entity. But when one is an adult, other adults no longer fit the bill, so we need to make up gods or aliens. Even if they're cruel or incomprehensible, we at least have a relationship with an entity that's smarter and stronger than us, rather than just blundering around the universe on our own, and that's what we've evolved to believe is the important thing.
|