Someone who is religious Outside The Laboratory believes something silly that eir culture promotes, so ey 1) has something of an excuse in the form of childhood indoctrination and 2) probably just believes in belief or professes to believe for the social benefits. Someone who believes in Santa Claus believes something silly for no good reason and with no apparent cause, and thus is probably clinically ill.
so ey 1) has something of an excuse in the form of childhood indoctrination and 2) probably just believes in belief or professes to believe for the social benefits.
This is why I don’t particularly care about people who “believe” in a religion. No matter how rational and intelligent a person is there simply isn’t time to test every belief, and most “believers” don’t really seem too entangled in their beliefs unless challenged.
People who advocate religion on the other hand—priests, preachers, ID advocates, or whatever—I think have an epistemic responsibility to study the actual support for their beliefs.
Someone who is religious Outside The Laboratory believes something silly that eir culture promotes, so ey 1) has something of an excuse in the form of childhood indoctrination and 2) probably just believes in belief or professes to believe for the social benefits. Someone who believes in Santa Claus believes something silly for no good reason and with no apparent cause, and thus is probably clinically ill.
This is why I don’t particularly care about people who “believe” in a religion. No matter how rational and intelligent a person is there simply isn’t time to test every belief, and most “believers” don’t really seem too entangled in their beliefs unless challenged.
People who advocate religion on the other hand—priests, preachers, ID advocates, or whatever—I think have an epistemic responsibility to study the actual support for their beliefs.