Essay: Why Do We Believe?

[mahnmut]

This is the 4/4 part of the essay on faith.


Why Do We Believe?

In most cases, the reason for faith is that a person feels much more comfortable when having faith in an assertion which he accepts as fact in defiance of all logic. Here I will not dig too much into the reasons for believing in love, friendship and justice (a generalized classification of the types of faith was made in the previous part). The above faith is not essentially faith as such, but a phraseological unit which rather declares a hope/wish for a world dominated by love, friendship and justice. Similar, let us call them 'poetical' constructs, have no pretence beyond just expressing a personal attitude of the believer on a given issue, which in most cases is associated to a certain emotional state, or an appeal, rather than true faith. Some of the specific reasons for which a person devotes himself to religious faith will be examined below. These are associated to the type of faith which implies not only an appeal for a certain moral (the world would have been a much better place if religion was doing only this), but also a firm conviction that a set of unproven assertions are actually an absolute truth.

Similarly to an insane person who in most cases is unable to realize his own insanity, the religious believer could not recognize on his own the reasons for which he has been tricked into believing in absurd declarations, accepting them as ultimate truth. An external and objectively and rationally thinking person is needed for that, someone who could analyze the act of faith, as the insane person would need a psychiatrist.

Throughout many of my conversations on this topic, I have reached the following rational reasons for which a person could devote himself to the religious faith.

1. Fear of death
This is by far the strongest reason which has determined the present wide spread of the mass psychosis of religiousness. Every person - regardless of their intellectual or social status - experiences a fear of death, very often this fear evolving into horror. I am not talking about the self-preservation instinct, which is necessary for protecting us from death and pain. What I am talking about is the clear acknowledgement that after death, we just vanish and exist no more. Our genes remain in our successors, but our feelings, thoughts, and memory - what we call conscience - cease to exist. This is indeed an appalling thought and if there is a person who has managed to completely overcome it, he is either not completely frank to himself, or more probably he needs a psychiatrist. This fear explains to a large extent the mass spread of religions. Each one of them postulates a back-door which guarantees the preservation of one's conscience even after the physical disintegration of the body, and it is hardly possible to invent a more appealing idea for the human psyche - so appealing that people are not even willing to contemplate for a moment whether it has any relation to reality. In fact, if we think about the abrasiveness and aggressiveness of most existing religions (especially of the Abrahamic branch), we couldn't help noticing that those of them which are the most dominant - Christianity and Islam - are relying exactly on this type of P.R.: in the case of the former, "you should pay some money for indulgence and you will go to Heaven", and in the latter, "blow a plane into the WTO of the infidels, and 72 virgins are awaiting you in Heaven". Here of course I am generalizing, but the correlation between the insistance with which religion gives promises about the afterlife, and the level of spreading, the stability and the fanaticism of said religion, is fairly obvious. Notice that religions and teachings which are primarily concentrated on spiritual experience (rather than a certain set of rules the abidance to which uarantees an eternal bliss after death) - like those of the East - are far more humane in general. We have yet to see a Tibetan monk blowing up a kindergarten... In any case, ever since the time of polytheism, the main reason why religion has obsessed the mind of mankind with such stunning ease, is the thought of death.

2. Psychological comfort
Of course, the promise for an eternal life provides a good psychological comfort, but it is not exhausted with this only. Humans are social creatures, and they need certain relations with the rest of their fellows. The attitude of other people could be changeable according to one's actions, but is there anything better than having an omnipotent, supernatural creature which feels a limitless love for everyone and benevolently watches over all of us, provided we follow its commandments? Many people are simply feeling more secure from the irrational thought that God cares about them and protects them, therefore they simply do not want to put this fact to test, as it gives them the needed psychological comfort.

3. Geogaphical and historical determinism
Here the reason is rather mundane: very often one devotes himself to a religion, simply because he happens to have been born in a particular region, at a particular epoch. If the Pope was born 2500 years ago in Athens, he wouldn't have adhered to Roman Catholicism, instead he would have probably worshipped Zeus and the rest of his pack. Or if he was born somewhere in India, he would probably be a Hinduist. This leads us to the next reason...

4. Herd thinking
A person who feels as part of a social group is supposed to adopt the rules of that group. When nanny Harriet goes to church to pray to God, her neighbor nanny Anne, so as to not be left behind, would do the same. It is doubtful if both nannies are actually deeply realizing what they are doing and why, but this is the power of tradition. Sometimes embracing a given religion is done (also not very consciously) simply because it is easier to go with the flow of people's customs and traditions, instead of rowing in the opposite direction. And unfortunately, even today, in countries like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, there is a death penalty for those who dare to throw away the 'right faith'. [1] [2]

5. Ignorance / laziness
I am still astounded each time I meet a person who claims with a firm conviction that the Universe is 7,000 years old. Modern science has been categorical on this question - evolution, Big Bang theory, carbon dating, you name it. These are things which have been comfirmed scientific facts for decates, and are now only experiencing further tuning and evolving, as new evidence is collected, which re-confirms them and supports them. Since the primeval position of humans since birth is the predisposition to believing in the supernatural, some certain steps are required in order to overcome this delusion. These steps are usually made at school and in the library. In some cases, this road is not completed for various reasons, and then the person does not succeed in realizing the entire picture of the world (for which ample evidence is available, if he lets it access his knowledge). Such a person remains at the level of blind faith in nonsense. Unfortunately (for the lazy ones), the challenges of the world are such that it is much easier to believe in something, instead of looking for answers on your own. Most people are not inclined to do the effort of learning about the world around themselves, and they remain down at the level of believing about the world, simply because the former requires reading more than one book.

(Of course, a large part of my own blog will be dedicated to the comedy which starts when the above-mentioned ignorant people suddenly turn into knowleable authority in cosmology, physics, biochemistry, evolution, paleontology, geology... and meanwhile, they start supporting their theses with scientific evidence).

The above list of reasons for believing is certainly far from being exhaustive, so I may continue adding more examples here.

Comments

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Your enthusiasm in putting religion to rout is unmatched. If anything, the next posts are bound to be a helluva intriguing read, so keep'em comin.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

You forgot history. Nothing is as entertaining as reading a history of the world by the likes of Tim Lahaye or his Muslim counterparts.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Gee, how could've I forgotten HISTORY!

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

I used to think #1 was the primary reason, but you know, you don't need religion to believe in an immortal part of yourself.

I actually think it has a lot more to do with #4 now. I wouldn't call it 'herd thinking' personally, but being part of a social structure yes, and even more so if, #3: you were raised to value that group highly.

I think you'll find a strong correlation of those who don't nee a strong sense of social group belonging are also those who don't have a strong religious identity.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't put a correlation between the two, although this is indeed another very interesting topic. For example I feel a strong sense of social group belonging, and more importantly, I feel the need for such. This is determined by the way of life I have, the work I do and the people I meet and interact with. And it has absolutely nothing to do with any religious beliefs, simply because I don't have any.