Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Persistence of Religion

Not too long ago, I was debating a friend of a friend and was asked, "Why do you suppose Religion perpetuates if a reasonable argument can be made against belief in God?" My answer applies particularly to Mormonism, but the basic idea can be applied to pretty much any religion.

I suspect religion perpetuates because people are afraid of death and they crave the comfort of certainty.

They love knowing all the answers. They love the idea that they are somehow special and precious to the all-powerful entity that created the universe. They love knowing that they will never truly die or have to say goodbye their loved ones forever. Since they love it so much they judge all arguments for and against the validity of their religion from a biased perspective. They are not an impartial jury. They'll do just about anything to keep the beliefs they love so much, even if they're blatantly illogical or contradictory.

They don't weigh the overall likelihood that their beliefs are valid, but instead look for even the remotest chance that they could be true and decide that it's certain beyond a doubt and they know it's true with every fiber of their being! They latch onto and highlight anything that might remotely validate their beliefs, and minimize or deny anything that contradicts or disproves them. Religion perpetuates because people—when confronted with contradictions or counter-arguments—(figuratively) plug their ears and say "lalalala, not listening, I already know my religion's true so there's no way your arguments could be valid, lalalala."

Add onto this the fact that many, many people are born into religion with their parents telling them that it's absolute no-questions-asked fact from day one. You see how easily children are duped into believing in Santa Claus. What would happen if the parents also believed it were true? And their parents before them? And their parents before them, and on, and on, and on? The only way to escape the illusion is to ask questions, and check the logical consistency of the religion's claims—something that basically all religions actively discourage their adherents from doing. Religions are in the business of maintaining and perpetuating their particular brand of illusion.

Considering all that, it's easy to see why religion has had such a lasting hold.

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11 comments:

  1. I remember a few months after watching The Journey of Man, talking to a Mormon and mentioning that they'd found that all of humanity can be traced back to one male ancestor. She immediately latched onto that one facet of the study as confirmation of her preconceived belief. Never mind that this man lived in Africa about 50,000 years ago, not Missouri about 6000 years ago. Talk about picking and choosing.

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  2. Hi Leah,

    Your comment here just got me thinking of a diagram I saw a little while ago:

    http:// splendidelles.worpress.com /2207/11/ science-vs-faith.png

    Ta.

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  3. Hi Leah,
    First let me start by saying that since I'm a Christian, I come from a Christian worldveiw. I can not speak of religions I do not know...

    That said, I have to completely disagree with this statement:

    The only way to escape the illusion is to ask quesitons and check the logical consistency of the religions claims - something that basically all religions actively discourage their inherents from doing.


    Never mind that in the Christian faith, a certain amount of doubt is considered good and important. Never mind that Christians are encouraged to read the bible, and come to their own realization of God and relationship with him. And never mind that TONS of people over the years have asked quesions, have checked out the logical consistency and still, have come to the conclusion that God is NOT a delusion for them...


    I also think you'd be surprised to learn that in today's Christian church (non-fundamental) less people are telling their children that it's no questions asked and every week, I field hundred's of questions from kids, and have never once said "Because God Said So."

    Read God Delusion last week, by the way - as well as one by Sagan and Senger(?)...fascinating stuff. I was most intrigued by one that cited the inconsistency of the Bible without checking to make sure that the particular section of the Bible they cited as inconsistent was cited correctly. Hm.

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  4. Can you point out a place in the Bible where doubt is ever considered good or important? In fact I seem to remember the story of "Doubting" Thomas (John 20:24-29) saying just the opposite. Where Thomas—who demanded evidence before he'd believe the outrageous claim that zombie Jesus was walking around showing people his stigmata—is shown as an example of what not to do. "Don't doubt; believe!" seems to be the moral of the story.

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  5. Actually, in John 20:26 (doubting Thomas) the moral of the story is not stop doubting and believe, the message is to have faith - seeing is not believing, believeing is seeing.

    Read John 20: 29 - Because you have seen me, you believe, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed. Basically, it's giving some credence to those who have faith without needing a mountain of "evidence." As today's most recent post says - there is nothing wrong with appropriate faith... and sometimes doutbting is what builds faith.

    So why is a little doubt considered good?

    Because when we doubt, we ASK questions. We SEEK out answers and we FIND. Some may find that they don't believe, but for others they find faith.

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  6. I'm still a bit confused. You have to believe there is a god in the first place to believe that you are blessed by this god for believing in him. If you're wrong it's a perpetuating lie. If you're right I still don't understand why this god would care whether or not someone would believe in him or why it would be so important that they believe without evidence.

    Say someone in Japan read a story about me. He wouldn't know if I truly existed or if it was just fiction. Either way I wouldn't care and if I did, well, with a small amount of effort I could present plenty of evidence to support my existence.

    PS I agree that seeing is not believing. Seeing is knowing.

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  7. @Andrea, can you be more specific about the mis-cited Bible inconsistency, or do we have to just take your word for it?

    I agree with John. Why reward people for believing without evidence? It goes back to Mike's post about the supposed virtue of blind faith. Why leave room for doubt?

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  8. @ Leah - I'm not sure specifically to what Andrea is referring but in the book I wrote (LOL) to you in response to 'The God Delusion' I commented on both of the examples that Dawkins gave about inconsistencies in the Bible. The two examples were where Mary and Joseph lived at the time of Jesus' birth and the other was in reference to the geneology of Jesus. I believe I logically explained how he was wrong in both instances. For the sake of limited characters available on comments I won't regurgititate everything I wrote. However, if you need me to further expound on this I shall.

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  9. I would say that, more than just fear of death, people like ritual and a perspective of reality that helps them make sense of and bring meaning to all the milestones in life - birth, death, puberty, marriage/love, etc.

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  10. Carla, I would agree with that. I'm seeing more value lately in the ritual and meaning derived from religion.

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  11. Hi Leah,
    First let me start by saying that since I'm a Christian, I come from a Christian worldveiw. I can not speak of religions I do not know...

    That said, I have to completely disagree with this statement:

    The only way to escape the illusion is to ask quesitons and check the logical consistency of the religions claims - something that basically all religions actively discourage their inherents from doing.


    Never mind that in the Christian faith, a certain amount of doubt is considered good and important. Never mind that Christians are encouraged to read the bible, and come to their own realization of God and relationship with him. And never mind that TONS of people over the years have asked quesions, have checked out the logical consistency and still, have come to the conclusion that God is NOT a delusion for them...


    I also think you'd be surprised to learn that in today's Christian church (non-fundamental) less people are telling their children that it's no questions asked and every week, I field hundred's of questions from kids, and have never once said "Because God Said So."

    Read God Delusion last week, by the way - as well as one by Sagan and Senger(?)...fascinating stuff. I was most intrigued by one that cited the inconsistency of the Bible without checking to make sure that the particular section of the Bible they cited as inconsistent was cited correctly. Hm.

    ReplyDelete

Religion, skepticism, and carving out a spiritual life post-Mormonism