If religion was based on "truth" and not upbringing surely we would not see geographical cluster's of faiths.
A pantheistic approach might support this observation. If each god has selected his or her own region and garnered followers there, it stands to reason that religions would be clustered. But this logic fails for monotheistic faiths. If there is one true god, why the clustering?
The answer is most likely as simple as you believe what your parents believe. Your parents followed theirs and so on. Cultures consolidate their beliefs and people herd towards the norm.
If people genuinely chose their own religion (or lack thereof), distribution would be random, with concentrated groups here and there. However, to expect that entire countries and even continents follow a certain religion, strongly supports the notion that belief is passed from generation to generation. My entire family is Catholic. My parents, their parents etc. Passing their beliefs on to their offspring was second nature. As children we were dressed in our best and carted to church every Sunday. Funerals, weddings, baptisms, all followed the cultural biases of my family. There was not one single Muslim, Rastafarian, Zoroastrian, Mormon, Jew or Pastafarian among us.
Most people of a religious persuasion do not seem to question this lack of diversity of faith among their own. Is cultural brainwashing is so subtle that the thought would not cross ones mind that perhaps they believed by rote?
Only by taking a step back and asking yourself why you believe, do you stand a chance of breaking free from the killing grip of dogma.
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