Mommy, Where Do Stupid Beliefs Come From?

In a recent online discussion, a question was posed which has, I'm sure, occurred to many atheists and freethinkers:

"Why do religious people believe the things they do? How can a person go through life on 'faith,' in light of mountains of evidence that suggest otherwise?"

There are many reasons that I can think of but intellectual laziness and stupidity are, surprise, not even the primary ones.

In a Skeptical Inquirer article called "Why Bad Beliefs Don't Die" by Gregory W. Lester, this issue was approached, with the phenomenon of belief considered as a brain function that aids survival.

For instance, to paraphrase part of the article, if a cave man is able to believe that a sabertooth tiger is probably waiting to attack him in the forest, despite all lack of sensory data or evidence, he will be more careful, and thus is more likely to survive. We use belief as a way of knowing, and it is independent of fact and evidence. If all we had was sensory data and observed empirical facts, it would be difficult to function. It might be impossible to make decisions in which one didn't have enough hard data.

The primary survival function of belief is to give useful "knowledge" in the absence of sensory data or fact, and even despite contradictory data. It's helpful, even necessary. We all have beliefs, and we use the ability to believe every day. Beliefs can provide comfort, a sense of certainty, a satisfactory explanation where no facts are known yet, and give us confidence. So what's the problem?

The problem is that beliefs can also be untruthful baloney, and even dangerous. The belief that your car is still where you parked it last night is a safe and rational belief, based on experience and reason - but the belief in an eternal magical "afterlife" of extreme reward or extreme punishment (depending on whether you "obey" and keep your faith or not) is not rational. It is not based on reason, but rather on desire and fear. And it can lead to danger as well.

Imagine the danger of someone who sincerely believed that a supreme god commanded him or her to carry out holy vengeance on the people of another nation, say through an act of terrorism. Or parents who believe that they must rid their child of "demons" by roasting her nearly to death on a hot backyard grill.

The brain may well tend to interpret beliefs as being necessary for survival on some primitive level, and therefore as being very important. That could explain the desperate lengths to which some go to keep them, and the rarity of "deconversion" from tightly held belief systems. Anyone who has debated hard-core creationists or fundamentalists may have experienced such desperation and difficulty. But everyone has a brain, so what does religion have to do with it? Why do religious people seem more susceptible to irrational belief - why do we see this and they don't?

In addition to aspects of the brain function of belief, one's cultural environment and various types of education play a part in the development and habits of the mind. Religion is a pervasive and authoritative part of most cultures, and it is usually taught from childhood on. So it can have significant impact on one's mind.

Religion often teaches followers that maintaining belief is the most important value - in other words, not truth, not honesty, not critical thought. "Keeping the faith" is top priority. So the value of maintaining a rational, truthful perception of reality, which we hold to be a supreme value (I hope the reader agrees), is quietly placed on the back burner by religion.

By way of illustration of this trend, I've never heard a preacher admonish the congregation to rely on methods of rational evaluation and logic when reading scripture, or when deciding whether a claim is true or not. I've never heard a message from the pulpit like "use your God-given abilities of reason and rational investigation in all things, even your beliefs" (and I've heard many hundreds of sermons). The old saying "all truth is God's truth" is hardly heard at all. When evaluating information, the advice of religious authorities usually seems to be something about "following where the Spirit leads" or "listening to the still, small voice of God in your heart," or they advise you to "study the scriptures, and God will show you the answer," and so on. Leaving lots of room for any number of influences, which are easily interpreted how one pleases.

Verses about "lean not on your own understanding" or the foolishness of "man's wisdom" (which is often used to mean "science") are popular and repeated among Christians with nods of agreement. The few verses about not "bearing false witness" or "speaking the truth in all things" are less popular.

But the value of truth is universal and simply evident, so why doesn't appeal to truth sway them? I would guess that, since religionists did not arrive at their belief by methods of reason or rational evaluation of evidence, those things will not shake their belief either. It is odd to me that someone would hold other values above accurate perception of reality, but it happens. Understandably, when someone is disconnected like that, and immersed in irrational belief, they are certain that their perception is reality, sometimes more certain than ever. Doubt is the enemy.

Unless the believer is willing to consider the possibility that a belief is false, that certainty will remain - and considering the possibility that the belief is false is not encouraged by religion. It's a self-insulating system.

It takes some effort and commitment to evaluate one's own beliefs in the light of reason, to test them for indicators of irrationality, and many people are never taught to do so. Religionists are even encouraged to shun or discount reason by the anti-intellectual culture that persists in many religions. Martin Luther's wild rants against reason are shockingly revealing of that view (see http://www.2think.org/hii/mlquotes.shtml), and give an insight into an ugly corner of the foundation of Protestant Christianity.

If the Bible contained a chapter along the lines of Carl Sagan's "Baloney Detector" (http://www.geocities.com/kenthovind/baloney.html), and Jesus was quoted telling people to use it, Christianity probably would have collapsed on itself long ago.

When all the factors and influences that allow irrational beliefs are considered, it is not at all surprising that such beliefs persist in our acquaintances and neighbors. The powerful, pervasive tactics and teachings of religion take advantage of a basic trait of our brains. It can even replace or atrophy one's desire for rationality and truth. Considering religion and the human brain, combined with the common lack of basic education in science and critical thinking, it's no wonder that educated adult citizens still believe in Hell, angels and healing crystals.

I think it's wise to realize that, most of the time, it's not really their fault. We can still make fun of ridiculous, stupid convictions, of course - but we can also understand.

by Scott McGlasson