4 ms·
Belief in something without evidence. This encompasses religion/spirituality, but so much more. Which is my point. If dnub cares to explicitly call out religio
by lostcolony 4y ago
Belief in something without evidence. This encompasses religion/spirituality, but so much more. Which is my point.
If dnub cares to explicitly call out religion, as a specific subset and distinct from faith, the arguments I'd make are largely the same. I see very little difference in the evidence between "I believe there is a knowable God(s) who would have me be kind", "I believe there is a concept of 'god' that would have me be kind", and "I believe being kind is the 'right' thing to do"; none of them rely on refutable claims.
- dqpb 4y agoThe difference is that beliefs can be updated by new information. Faith cannot.
- layer8 4y agoI agree that that’s a crucial distinction. One can take on beliefs for tactical or strategic reasons, to increase one’s well-being or likelihood of success. But if one doesn’t adjust those beliefs in the face of contradicting evidence and/or based on Bayesian reasoning, then that’s counterproductive and harmful.
- lostcolony 4y agoIf by 'faith' (per the parent) you mean religious faith, sure it can. Plenty of people have stopped believing in a god, started believing in a god, or come to a new understanding of their god. Maybe what you mean is 'blind faith', i.e., a rejection of evidence contrary to what you want to believe, to which I will again point out is not unique to religion, by pointing to politics, and the quote of our past president "what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening", and the millions willing to accept that.
- dqpb 4y agoI guess faith is a knob. You can dial it down when explaining it to a critic and dial it up when exerting control over an adherent.