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This is a very small minded take. I personally also find religious beliefs to be unpalatable to myself personally, and when I see people talking about it as set

This is a very small minded take. I personally also find religious beliefs to be unpalatable to myself personally, and when I see people talking about it as settled fact I find it a bit cringy and silly, but I have to remind myself that people believe what they believe and religion says very little if anything about intelligence and problem solving skill. Faith is just faith, you don't know something is true for a fact, you just accept it as so, it's standing on a branch and being sure it won't break. People do it and it's fine. Lots of very technical people are very religious. I'm not sure why, but it is very common. Doctors are the most prominent one, most doctors are very religious. You can ask, how can someone see the inner workings of the body, understand evolution, all the scientific rigor that goes into understanding that and still believe some guy was born of a virgin and died and was resurrected? I don't get it either, but they know why, and it's their life, and accepting that humans do this and leaving them alone, respecting their autonomy, not picking on people about their religious beliefs is how I think we should behave. There's merit in the conduct a lot of it brings out of people if nothing else. We all have faith in something. We are all members of some type of cult, with or without the negative connotations that come with that word, most of us that would classify ourselves as atheist would never admit that many of our beliefs are faith, that we go with the flow of social expectations, that we are probably wrong about most of what we believe, it's as real to us as anything, and we would do well to look at ourselves rather than heckle people we don't understand.

inthessa 3y ago
But this fails to address the question and just reasserts that what I asked is true while seemingly sounding like you’re attacking me for bringing it up…? > we would do well to look at ourselves rather than heckle people we don't understand. When a question asked in good faith about faith is answered by accusing the asker of being a heckler is usually a sign that that bit of faith is threatened by critical thinking. > it's standing on a branch and being sure it won't break. When your branch has the political will to harm others you can believe I’ll be asking questions why you think that branch will hold. I just hope you have the conviction of belief to answer honestly. > accepting that humans do this and leaving them alone, respecting their autonomy, not picking on people I like a simplified version of your suggested world
- friend_and_foe 3y ago
  First, I'm not religious in any way. I thought that was clear but maybe not. Second, I'm not attacking you. My candor comes across as brash sometimes. Asking "how come smart people often believe stupid shit" (again, candor, that's basically what you're asking) doesn't really have a reply that would satisfy you. But you don't have to understand it, they do. All you have to do is acknowledge that people believe what they believe and let them be. Whether someone else's branch is harmful says something about your particular brand of faith. They don't think it harms others. Would anything you believe in harm people if it were implemented? Is everything you think good and correct? People don't owe you an explanation for what they believe, just like you don't owe me answers to these two questions. We all believe things others don't like, we all believe things that others would view as harmful, and we all believe things we don't understand.
catlover76 3y ago
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jemmyw 3y ago
None of the doctors I've known have been overtly religious. None of my small sample of 3 that I know personally are religious. A quick search and everything about it seems to link back to one survey of US doctors in 2005. The US is a very religious country compared to where I live, and it got me wondering if maybe the relationship is inverse - you're more likely to become a doctor if you're from a religious background. After all, it's a very well respected career and as Father Ted stated, the intelligent child would go off to train as a doctor and the stupid one would become a priest "your brother's a doctor isn't he Ted?"

inthessa 3y ago

But this fails to address the question and just reasserts that what I asked is true while seemingly sounding like you’re attacking me for bringing it up…? > we would do well to look at ourselves rather than heckle people we don't understand. When a question asked in good faith about faith is answered by accusing the asker of being a heckler is usually a sign that that bit of faith is threatened by critical thinking. > it's standing on a branch and being sure it won't break. When your branch has the political will to harm others you can believe I’ll be asking questions why you think that branch will hold. I just hope you have the conviction of belief to answer honestly. > accepting that humans do this and leaving them alone, respecting their autonomy, not picking on people I like a simplified version of your suggested world

friend_and_foe 3y ago
First, I'm not religious in any way. I thought that was clear but maybe not. Second, I'm not attacking you. My candor comes across as brash sometimes. Asking "how come smart people often believe stupid shit" (again, candor, that's basically what you're asking) doesn't really have a reply that would satisfy you. But you don't have to understand it, they do. All you have to do is acknowledge that people believe what they believe and let them be. Whether someone else's branch is harmful says something about your particular brand of faith. They don't think it harms others. Would anything you believe in harm people if it were implemented? Is everything you think good and correct? People don't owe you an explanation for what they believe, just like you don't owe me answers to these two questions. We all believe things others don't like, we all believe things that others would view as harmful, and we all believe things we don't understand.

catlover76 3y ago

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jemmyw 3y ago

None of the doctors I've known have been overtly religious. None of my small sample of 3 that I know personally are religious. A quick search and everything about it seems to link back to one survey of US doctors in 2005. The US is a very religious country compared to where I live, and it got me wondering if maybe the relationship is inverse - you're more likely to become a doctor if you're from a religious background. After all, it's a very well respected career and as Father Ted stated, the intelligent child would go off to train as a doctor and the stupid one would become a priest "your brother's a doctor isn't he Ted?"