Identifying as a Christian isn’t believing a falsehood, but it does give an incentive to believe certain falshehoods. See here for talk of unbelieving pastors:
What that inquiry found was that “one in six clergy of the Protestant Church were either not sure about or did not believe in the existence of God”, and that the longer you’ve been a member of the clergy, the more likely you were to be atheist.
(I want to make it clear that the argument I’m describing isn’t “believe in pleasant lies if it makes you good and happy”)
Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification, I had indeed misunderstood.
The important question might instead be “what is it best for me to identify as?” …where “best for me” and “best for society” and “best for me and society” are three different interpretations of that question, and which one I pick depends on how important I think I am relative to society, and where “identify as atheist” and “identify as Christian” are two of a near-infinite number of choices.
Identifying as a Christian isn’t believing a falsehood, but it does give an incentive to believe certain falshehoods. See here for talk of unbelieving pastors:
(I want to make it clear that the argument I’m describing isn’t “believe in pleasant lies if it makes you good and happy”)
Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification, I had indeed misunderstood.
The important question might instead be “what is it best for me to identify as?” …where “best for me” and “best for society” and “best for me and society” are three different interpretations of that question, and which one I pick depends on how important I think I am relative to society, and where “identify as atheist” and “identify as Christian” are two of a near-infinite number of choices.