Many people will blindly accept anything told them by authority, be it
religion, law, physics, mathematics, or up coming football results. The fact some people blindly accept something does NOT make what they accept at fault, just their thought processes.
For decades scientists have thought dinosaurs were ancestors of reptiles and had skins like snakes and alligators, etc. This belief was passed down from teacher to student because the one saying so had authority. They now know from archaeological finds that the descendants of dinosaurs are birds and most had feathered skins.
For centuries the authorities, including scientists, insisted the world was flat and anyone who argued was in deep trouble, we now know better. For centuries it was known a heavier than air machine could not fly, until someone proved the authorities wrong.
Many people choose to have a religious basis for their life because they see things in this world in a way different to some others. Not all accept blindly what they're told by the religious leaders, but some do; just as some blindly accept what they're told by their teachers, the scientific leaders, and the governmental leaders. Many religions teach that the followers MUST NOT accept everything in blind faith but they should test all that comes to them, despite that, many of the followers accept in blind faith what their religious leaders tell the; just as many accept in blind faith what their government leaders tell them.
As to people educating themselves, educating themselves from where or what. In most cases people say this is a case of reading books and learning things - on short, read what another authority has said and accept that authority instead. That's just a case of changing the source you blindly follow and believe in. The only way to truly self educate to make these decisions is to study the world at large by yourself without reading or listening to what others say and to then make a decision on your own. However, that comes with the problem of where do you get the information and facts from; most of that comes via or from some authority or person or system that's pushing its own vested interests anyway.
As to what is acceptable or not acceptable - acceptable to who, to what group, what society. In the past it was acceptable to eat your dead enemies, today we say not on. In the past it was acceptable to challenge and kill anyone who disagreed with you, today we say it's not allowed within in our society, but some societies still allow it. Whichever way you try to cut this pie, what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour within a society is decided upon by someone the society sees as an authority figure and you have the choice of accepting that or rejecting it; both have their own repercussions. Sure, you can totally reject the societal stance, and when all do that we have anarchy.
Going back to a bit earlier in the thread - any belief structure is a faith or a religion. Thus, atheism is as much a religion as any other. This is especially so when someone pushes their views on this on others. The moment they start to push their view on another they are practising their religious belief, be it of a God or or there being no God.
