Given a historical study of various long-lasting and persistent belief systems, I settled on Christianity as the most probable belief system, based on my knowledge of human behavior, the historical facts of the actions surrounding the era and life of Jesus such as the deaths of the Disciples, a study of the bible, and a basic irrational hunch.
This sounds interesting. So were you raised an atheist or in some non-Christian religious tradition? Is the culture of your home country predominantly non-Christian? Conversion to a new belief system based on evidence is an interesting phenomenon because it is so relatively rare. The vast majority of religious people simply adopt the religion they were raised in or the dominant religion of the surrounding culture which is one piece of evidence that religious belief is not generally arrived at through rational thinking. Counter examples to this trend offer a case study in the kinds of evidence that can actually change people’s minds.
Apologies, I’m not as interesting as that. I changed a lot of beliefs about the belief system, but I was nonetheless still raised Christian. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise—pre-existing developmental bias is part of the ‘basic irrational hunch’ part of the sentence.
I agree that religious belief is not generally arrived at through rational thinking, however—whether that religious belief is ‘there is a God, and I know who it is!’ or ‘there is no God’. This is evidenced, for instance, the time I was standing there at church, just before services, and enjoying the fine day, and someone steps up next to me. “Isn’t it a beautiful morning?” he asks. “Yes it is!” I reply. “Makes you wonder how someone can see this and still be an atheist,” he says.
( head turns slooooowly ) “I think it’s possible to appreciate a beautiful morning and still be atheist...” “Yes, but then who would have made something so beautiful?” ( mouth opens to talk ) ( mouth works silently ) “I believe the assumption would be, no one.” “And what kind of sense would that make?” “I’d love to have that discussion, but service is about to start, and it’s too beautiful a morning for what I suspect would be an argument.”
This sounds interesting. So were you raised an atheist or in some non-Christian religious tradition? Is the culture of your home country predominantly non-Christian? Conversion to a new belief system based on evidence is an interesting phenomenon because it is so relatively rare. The vast majority of religious people simply adopt the religion they were raised in or the dominant religion of the surrounding culture which is one piece of evidence that religious belief is not generally arrived at through rational thinking. Counter examples to this trend offer a case study in the kinds of evidence that can actually change people’s minds.
Apologies, I’m not as interesting as that. I changed a lot of beliefs about the belief system, but I was nonetheless still raised Christian. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise—pre-existing developmental bias is part of the ‘basic irrational hunch’ part of the sentence.
I agree that religious belief is not generally arrived at through rational thinking, however—whether that religious belief is ‘there is a God, and I know who it is!’ or ‘there is no God’. This is evidenced, for instance, the time I was standing there at church, just before services, and enjoying the fine day, and someone steps up next to me. “Isn’t it a beautiful morning?” he asks. “Yes it is!” I reply. “Makes you wonder how someone can see this and still be an atheist,” he says.
( head turns slooooowly ) “I think it’s possible to appreciate a beautiful morning and still be atheist...” “Yes, but then who would have made something so beautiful?” ( mouth opens to talk ) ( mouth works silently ) “I believe the assumption would be, no one.” “And what kind of sense would that make?” “I’d love to have that discussion, but service is about to start, and it’s too beautiful a morning for what I suspect would be an argument.”
See also: Epistemic luck.
Ah, yes. that rather strikes a chord, indeed. Thank you.