Why Does Christianity Flourish?

This is an exercise in understanding why Christianity has staying power and why it flourishes. This assumes the Christian faith is a delusion, something Christians will deny, of course. But why does Christianity flourish? Why does it seem to continue on even after some major moral setbacks (witch burnings, Crusades, pastor molesters, and the changing moral scene), along with the major intellectual crises since the Enlightenment? Given the rise of science and our new moral awareness it should've been sent into the backwoods long ago. [Valerie Tarico has prompted me with this question and I've encouraged her to post her interesting proposal]. Let me suggest it's because of several factors. I suspect the biggest reasons Christianity flourishes is because 1) People feel a need to be comforted by the concept of a heavenly daddy, 2) Christians think that without God there is no moral compass, and the fact that 3) Christianity has the most wonderful mythical religious story of all...that God loved us so much he came to earth to save us (never mind the horrors found within the Bible itself). What d'ya think?

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As a follow up to this post I ask another question.