There are four reasons for why we believe:

We believe what we're TOLD to believe
We believe what we WISH to believe
We believe what we're AFRAID to believe
There's one more that I forget

And of course, there's this radical new set of ideas that suggest we should limit our beliefs to what we can prove by the methods of this thing called 'science'

Where's the fun of that?

I commend you to the words of Lerner and Loewe from Camelot's "Fie On Goodness":

"Confession Sunday is a bore
Derry Down, Derry Down

I want to spend a tortured evening, staring at the floor -
Guilty and ALIVE once more!"