[banjodeluxe]

My answer to your question is yes. The reasoning is a little longer.

The main problem with this question is its representation of faith as a binary system: either an atheist or an agnostic or a christian or a muslim or a... The truth is religion has been (and will be for years to come) a massive part of the story of mankind. There is no penalty to exploring faith and a lot to gain from it: you'll either find yourself on a spiritual journey that will take you somewhere and influence you deeply (the religious, believing way of seeing this) or you will have learnt about how humans have interpreted the world around them and told each other stories about it in the form of scripture and from there religion (the sceptical way of seeing this). You'll either find the Truth or you'll realise you don't believe its there - but you'll have learnt a lot about other people's exploration of what the Truth is and what it means for them.

Should you explore Faith? Definitely. Should that mean you'll be on an unstoppable course towards becoming a devout Christian/Muslim/Insert your faith here? No. It means you're learning about human experience and listening to other's beliefs. Take it from there and decide what that means to you.

[jelliclesfarm]

Religion and the notion of God is certainly a man made institution. And yet...within a span of just one year we have seen institutions crumble or at least weaken.. industry, financial institutions, news and media, education and dare I say, democracy. All man made institutions. Let’s include armies, marriage institution, family units, country borders, political parties/philosophies etc.

From a broader perspective, what are all the man made institutions we have relied on to be pillars of civilization? Let’s make a list. I am not talking about natural institutions...and by which, I mean those that follow the second law of thermodynamics and entropy before it perishes. Like the aging human body or a tree of forests etc.

Only religion has survived. Abrahamic monotheistic faiths for 2000 and Hinduism for 5000 and offshoots of Hinduism like Buddhism etc for slightly lesser periods. All man made. They have not only thrived but also as a viral meme spread fast. And haven’t evolved much(little changes in ritual or practices doesn’t count as evolution)

And many other man made religious institutions have come and gone. So many cults exists, but some have more staying power than others.