Belief yes, but in what?

Depending on which part of the world - our world, planet Earth, to be precise - we were born and are living we are surrounded by different beliefs identified as religions. They all, in their various ways, attempt to address our questions about the purpose of life and how it should be lived,  at the same time providing a story of sorts as a background to this, a justification of their positions. Are they all right? Is there so much divine influence in our lives?

Alas most religions seem to put themselves forward as being 'the one true religion', their deity (or deities) being the ones governing the world. Some make even more specific claims for themselves, claims that their adherents find entirely convincing and those of 'competing' faiths ludicrous. So which one is right? How can a person of average (or less!) education and/or intelligence evaluate the various competing religions - the information is widely available, after all, in our connected modern world - and be able to choose the 'one true religion' or are they all correct? Is oldest best, or is there a latest that automatically supersedes the older, 'outdated' ones?

There is a strange convention in our modern western world, namely that one is considered an atheist - and is often disapproved of - if one does not believe in judaism/christianity/islam. For some strange reason this seems not to apply either to any of the other religions which hold sway elsewhere, nor to all the others that have come before and are now practically extinct. Why is this? Why is not believing in Thor or Osiris or, closer to home for me, Zeus and his lot acceptable and not considered atheism? Did they not in their time advocate that they were the true gods, much as the Middle Eastern variants do now?

The questions are many and the convincing, conclusive answers for general guidance few. Truth, it seems, is what we choose to believe, as far as the various competing religions go. How do we make that choice? And we base our decisions on what? Personally I am left with the questions - as the available answers I find unsatisfactory - and the feeling that asking these questions is the right way to go.

Blind faith is not for me; rather, I need real answers and, as long as they are not forthcoming, I will keep questioning, thinking, looking. This questioning, thinking, looking is what, indeed, keeps me alive.