verklingen

why do you single out christianity?

the way i see it, religion was a way for us to come to grips with reality. the remarkable diversity of religious beliefs is, i feel, a powerful testament to the imaginative ingenuity of man. "science" as we recognize it today has been going on at least as long as recorded history (existing alongside religion in greece, rome, india, china & and mideast), and has fallen prey to the same dogmatic problem of religion.

the west forgot all about science after the fall of the roman empire, and when dark age scholars discovered ancient greek works of science they were considered in their respective fields a kind of perfect and unchangeable cannon. galen was considered the supreme authority on medicine/biology until the renaissance, and even people in that time were hesitant to rewrite his "truth." once the microscope was invented, observations made with it that refuted galen were considered false due to the "unnatural" method of observing. the telescope faced similar troubles, and these were rational thinking, "awakened" scientists; not the usual closed-minded dogmatic type you might expect of the virtuously religious. sir isaac newton spent the majority of his life's work trying to prove things in the bible scientifically. einstein refused the validity of quantum mechanics. examples of scientific dogma are myriad.

what i think this points to is that once humans achieve a certain level of comfort in their beliefs they become less likely to rethink things. when that belief is shaken some ponder and reach a new conclusion, but others are more likely to cling that much harder to their belief and resist contrary evidence all the more. both these responses are, i believe, based in that distinctly human gift of imaginative ingenuity i mentioned before. for those who accept change, they strengthen the incorporation of their beliefs with reality. for those who resist it, they imaginatively override the evidence to make it accord with their belief.

anyway i know this is about christianity but i just thought i'd explain how i see this psychological mechanism operating in general for all belief. no proof or evidence of fallacy can bend an unwilling believer.

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“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”