Atheists, Agnostics Most Knowledgeable About Religion, Survey Says
I think we should give weight to the claims of those who know what they're talking about.
The worst implication of this survey is about what faith is. I don't mean what you think faith ought to be, or what they taught in seminary that faith ought to be. Those are mostly sophisticated or at least noble, but I am referring to what real faith is, as it is overwhelmingly practiced in the real world. It is believing a claim without caring whether it is true.
A typical response to this will be that religion is not about investigating to find out facts. "We walk by faith, not by sight." But that's saying it's not about what's real or true.
If you believe religion is not about facts, then you teach and endorse cultural biases, social pressure, urban legends, and folk wisdom, not truth. This is a prettified version of your own prejudices. By subordinating sight to faith, you use faith to protect your prejudices from reality.
Subordinating sight to faith means you betray those who trust you for guidance. Because you are probably sincere and well-intentioned, you are not precisely a liar-- rather, you are merely not very scrupulous about honesty. But make no mistake: subordinating sight to faith means if you teach or persuade others on this basis, you are derelict in your responsibility to them.
Regardless of who is reading this, if you guide others by faith rather than sight, you can probably ask more of yourself than this betrayal. Don't think you can't.
Comments
eposia on Sep. 28, 2010 10:17 PM
Been having interesting discussions with a 12-year-old lately (who was raised lazy fundie), about the importance of independent/critical thinking, questioning what you're told even by people you trust if something sounds odd, that if there is a god he cares about what we do while we're here and not about some score in the afterlife, and how in the emotional realm, something can feel really really true and that is a real and true feeling but that might not match with what is everyone's shared reality in the external world, that different rules often apply to our internal and external worlds (just as important to remember in interpersonal relationships as in religion, that one). And the idea that our beliefs can change over time, and that's natural as we learn more about ourselves and the world. It's interesting trying to guide him into forming the questions and doubts for himself rather than trying to tell him to believe any particular thing.
matt-arnold on Sep. 29, 2010 12:21 AM
...forming the questions and doubts for himself rather than trying to tell him to believe any particular thing.
Yes. The mindset is the crucial thing. There is such a thing as undiscriminating skepticism too. To sum up the article:
Since it can be cheap and easy to attack everything your tribe doesn't believe, you shouldn't trust the rationality of just anyone who slams astrology and creationism; these beliefs aren't just false, they're also non-tribal among educated audiences. Test what happens when a "skeptic" argues for a non-tribal belief, or argues against a tribal belief, before you decide they're good general rationalists.
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