Well you guys sure seem to have all the answers...
Actually, it is the religious that claim to have all the answers ("god did it"). Whatever scientists can't yet explain - god did it. Like
that answers anything...
so then you could also understand and scientifically have an answer to why people believe in God or choose to believe in God and it has nothing to do with how intelligent or unintelligent someone is.
It's quite simple: remember that most of today's religions got started before cars, before electricity, before the Internet, before modern medicine...and back then it was quite commonplace to invent god(s) for the events our ancestors couldn't explain. People used to fervently believe in gods that threw lightning, but
those gods are dead now. Why? Because we know now how lightning
actually works!
Also, religion is like a mind virus. Most people are pretty sucky at dealing with their own mortality, and religions offers the perfect (albeit false) distraction. Wondering why other animals don't have gods or worry about the afterlife?
It's because their brains haven't evolved to the degree of awareness that we have yet.
Our advanced intelligence got to the point that we realized, "This life is all I have?? I don't want that! That can't be right!! Let me just say there's this happy place you go after you die; yeah, that sounds good!"
Based on NO.EVIDENCE.WHATSOEVER.