Not necessarily. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to assume fear of death is why some might seen the comforting assurances of religion. You are focused on the stick (hell) while ignoring the promise of the carrot (heaven).
If, for example, Christianity only offered damnation and torture as an afterlife no matter how you behaved in the here and now, then only masochists would occupy the pews on Sunday morning. The hope of heaven is the draw.
I think that is just an attempt to triangulate and make religion the boogy man.
People believe in religion for a variety of reasons- they are raised to believe it. They affiliate themselves with a religion because of regional traditions (try being a Saudi atheist)- they have intellectually convinced themselves it is true- they marry and their spouse pressures them to accept a religion etc. Atheists try to picture religious people as weak minded fools who accept a myth because they fear death.
Hmm, there is a fair amount of evidence that consciousness resides in the brain. Genes and brain structures correlate to feelings like joy and empathy. We see this in animals as well.
Not sure if there is room for a soul anymore.
Actually, (and this was ascertained by a Gallup Poll) the draw is for inspiration and guidance in living this life, and to worship God. Eternal life begins here and now–not there, sometime in the future.
And people wonder why atheists criticize religion.
That is a lovely sentiment, and it may in fact be true for some. But it was not my experience growing up with the Southern Baptists, and it’s not the way many Protestant denominations present themselves.
That may be true. It does not, however, take away from the assertion that the carrot and stick approach to the afterlife has played a major role in many denominations’ attempts to lure converts and retain membership.
Then Gallup must have polled Jews, Catholics, Orthodox and probably some non-Baptist Protestant denominations. 
No, but the criticism outlined in this thread is pure baloney.
Not many, unless we qualify that as “many Baptists”. Apparently.
Purely anecdotal, but my experience leads me to agree that Jews and the Orthodox are less concerned about threats of hell and damnation. The Catholics as well - their use of that threat peaked in the Middle Ages and has diminished since.
American Protestants (evangelical denominations in particular) picked up that particular football, ran it into the end zone, and have been spiking it ever since. 
It’s more than just the Southern Baptists.
That would work as a hypothesis if it weren’t for passages like this.
Ecclesiastes 9: 5For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten.
10: Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, for there is no work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave, where you are going
You know them by their fruits.
OBSERVATION:
Have you ever recognized that the atheist or agnostic is usually the liberals who sympathize with illegals, Muslims, criminals and are in general antiChrist?
Ther are exceptions.
Where is your evidence of this? (Not trying to be cute, just can’t study everything.) For example, my study of the Church and the Middle Ages seemed to indicate a focus on spending less time in purgatory–not on a threat of hell. Remember, the Catholic Church began–and has ever since–proclaimed forgiveness. Forgiveness bypasses hell, but not necessarily time in purgatory.
Many exceptions! I have a wide circle of family and friends who are agnostics/atheists who have little sympathy for illegals and criminals and cannot be anti-Christ as they hold no belief in Christ.
Oh you poor bastard. you have my deepest sympathies.
Honestly, that feels like splitting hairs. Whether one was employing the threat of an eternity on the fires of hell or merely several centuries in Purgatory, the idea was to employ fear of punishment as a means of behavior control. Curiously, what makes Purgatory an even worse concept is the idea that some believed if your soul had not been sufficiently cleansed in Purgatory by Judgement Day (whether through time or via sufficient prayer petitions from your living loved ones) you’d be consigned to Hell regardless.
Thank you.
Who did they vote for HRC or Trump?
Everything wrong with the current political climate, encapsulated in a single sentence.
