OT 4 More Things Atheists Should Stop Saying

OT 4 More Things Atheists Should Stop Saying Jan 5, 2021 17:48:46 GMT Eva Yojimbo and movieliker like this

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Post by The Lost One on Jan 5, 2021 17:48:46 GMT

Jan 5, 2021 17:14:29 GMT Eva Yojimbo said:

Jan 5, 2021 16:56:36 GMT The Lost One said:

It is interesting though that people who believe in God generally do not believe in the above (with, in some circles, the exception of the last you listed). God belief seems to have a different characteristic to those other beliefs. That's not to say it's more likely to be true than those beliefs. Indeed, I have seen some reasonably compelling arguments that we're more likely to be living in the matrix than not. But there is something about it that makes people cling to it much more strongly than other examples of supposed wishful thinking.

Considering that there are quite a few people who believe the last one, it might be useful to consider what it has in common with the God belief. I think it's that people often develop very profound, personal attachments to religion and politics (both falling under the category of ideology) and those beliefs become far more important to them than truth and reason; although very few people would consciously admit this, so instead of saying the belief is more important than truth or reason, they just assume they're truthful and reasonable.

Religion probably happens most because of early indoctrination; many kids are told from a very early age that believing in God is the most important thing in the world, and this often accompanies threats about eternal damnation if they don't, not to mention moral and social condemnation if they don't. Politics usually doesn't get to kids as early, but many people base a huge chunk of their identity around their politics, often putting a kind of exuberant faith in certain figures/parties that's very similar to religious faith.

It may just be a point in general that on any subject where passions run deep people often prioritize their beliefs (and all the feelings surrounding those beliefs) over truth and rationality. The reason most of those other instances aren't common (besides the Trump one) is simply because there's no real social mechanism for imbuing those beliefs with the same level of profundity. They don't scratch the same psychological itch for people desperate to belong to a group or cause and then have that in-group/out-group "war" dynamic that some people seem to crave. Another good example that I just thought of, though it's rarer still than the religion/Trump one, is sports. Some people become so passionate about their sports teams that they can't tolerate any criticism of them and will make all kinds of excuses when things don't go their way.

I would agree with much of that. I think one thing that makes god belief differ from other beliefs is the meaning it has to the believer. No-one really cares about the flying spaghetti monster. Another is the practical consequences of holding the belief. If god belief scratches some existential itch for some, it doesn't overly matter if they are right or not, that itch gets scratched either way and since the truth is inaccessible, you'll never know you're wrong. However, the main reason you want there to be a billion dollars in your account is so you can spend them and so the benefit cannot be realised if it's not true.

God belief therefore has the powerful combination of meaning a lot to the believer and having few negative consequences if it turns out to be false.