Different people and different cultures put importance upon different virtues or qualities, and the pursuit of those often determines what they choose to believe in.
I (and many Westerners I believe) place importance upon Truth; this has been quintessential in my faith in God in that I believe in God becasue I believe he is true, and believing he is true brings me to hold fast to him even when I don't understand him or when following him is difficult -- I simply cannot turn my back on the Truth.
On the other hand, many of my Thai friends do not value truth as much as they value Happiness. Simply finding happiness from day to day (no matter what form that takes, and without thought to the "big picrture" in life) is a very prevelent idea amongst Thais. This is an interesting perspective to teach to as students will reject Christ simply because believing in him doesn't add to their day to day happiness; or they'd rather take what they consider "good" about his teachings and leave the rest. They can easily disbelieve something which is true if it makes them unhappy.
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