Well, one reason for more people being “believers” than actually viewing religion has a “positive” could be due to the idea that some people adhere to a religion, but don’t necessarily derive happiness or pleasure out of it; for example, my mom is a passive believer (she prays a lot and claims to believe) but at the same time she will say that prayer doesn’t seem to work in her life ultimately leading to more stress, but she is not at a point of non-belief because of fear of coming out of religion and being wrong.
And for the younger people (myself a millennial) you simply cannot get by without facts or being able to doggedly support your positions…if you are going to make it through school, college, and get a job, you have to deal with facts and everything is evidence based…we don’t live in a world where we can have or want people making decisions based on a “hunch” or “faith” or “this is just the way it’s always been done.” Those days are gone. So naturally, if you have deal in facts and evidence in every realm of your life, it’s going to spill over into religion too.