Unjustified Certainty

“I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn’t wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.”
~ Bertrand Russell (1872-05-18— 1970-02-02)

Introduction

There is a television program called the Maury Povich show where young women persuade young men to take paternity tests. Before the results are announced, the woman announces she is 110% sure the man is the father of her child. The man announces he is 1000% sure he is not. Usually the woman freely admits she had unprotected sex with several other men and the man freely admits he had unprotected sex with the woman. Neither has any right at all to certainty about the results of the paternity test, but they don’t seem to notice how silly their claims are.

Christians are much the same way.

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
~ Mark Twain

Bible Infallibility

Christians like to claim the Bible is 100% true, despite all apparent conflict with observation because it is the word of God. If you ask for any evidence at all it is indeed the word of God, they are dumbfounded. They just know this. One is intensely evil to even question this. “Everyone” accepts that it is. What more do you want? There are thousands of religions besides Christianity and none of them postulate the Bible is the word of God. There is a ton of evidence it could not possibly be the word of God. Some loons will quote the bible itself proclaiming its special status as evidence, using circular reasoning. They are greatly overreaching, making such a huge claim without any backing for it whatsoever. They have absolute certainty without noticing their certainty rests on thin air.

You will Be Punished

The big selling point of Christianity is that you will be punished after death if you reject it. I suppose this is remotely possible, but it also remotely possible you will be given your own unicorn to ride after death. Before you can seriously entertain such fanciful notions, you need some evidence for them. Christians just puff themselves up, shout loudly and threaten, but offer no evidence. They feign certainty about mere speculation. There is some scant evidence for life after death, but Christians never mention it.

Fanaticism

“A fanatic is a man who consciously over compensates a secret doubt.”
~ Aldous Huxley (1894-07-26—1963-11-22)

“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.”
~ Bertrand Russell (1872-05-18— 1970-02-02)

“There is no place in a fanatic’s head where reason can enter.”
~ Napoléon Bonaparte

“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
~ Winston Churchill

Religious fanaticism is at the root of most of the world’s pointless violence. [The “logical” violence is competition for resources.] Could you imagine the brutality in Israel or Iraq would be as intense if both sides shared the same religious sect? Both sides are so utterly certain about mere speculation that they are willing to blow each other’s brains out.

The Nature Of Belief

The great hypnotherapist Milton Erickson would implant a hyponotic suggestion to do some silly action. The subject would on a post-hypnotic cue perform the silly action. When the subject was questioned why he did this, he was baffled. He invariably made up some nonsensical reason. This is how belief works. It is hypnotically induced at mommy’s knee, and is uncritically accepted simply because Mom said it. At that early stage, the belief does not need a reason or evidence other than Mommy said so. People are completely unaware of how many things they believe without any evidence at all. These beliefs feel utterly solid since they were installed as primary top-priority early teaching. They have false rock-solid subjective certainty.

Links

Mindprod Blog To Discuss Religion and Atheism

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