jar-baby
Arcanist
- Jun 20, 2023
- 459
I'm no fan of religion either, but no, they're not. At least, not all of them. They're just stuck in an ideological prison. Religious beliefs are often hereditary and if you were indoctrinated sufficiently when you were young you're pretty much doomed, regardless of how smart you are in the conventional sense.
I've said this elsewhere, but if you were raised in a religious environment, beliefs that seem absurd to an outsider capable of critical thought become part of your internal model of reality early on. You may critically examine what you learn in later years, and the older/smarter you are, the better you'll be at distinguishing what's true from what's not. But ideas that were instilled in you long before your cognitive faculties developed—ideas that have, again, had time to cement themselves as part of your fundamental model of reality—are impervious to critical thought because you'd never think to subject them to it. That's why intelligent religious people exist—because an aptitude for logical thinking generally isn't enough to escape an ideological prison.
I agree that the average theist might not be the best critical thinker but if you want to steelman the religious position you're probably better off reading/listening to theist apologists/philosophers.
I've said this elsewhere, but if you were raised in a religious environment, beliefs that seem absurd to an outsider capable of critical thought become part of your internal model of reality early on. You may critically examine what you learn in later years, and the older/smarter you are, the better you'll be at distinguishing what's true from what's not. But ideas that were instilled in you long before your cognitive faculties developed—ideas that have, again, had time to cement themselves as part of your fundamental model of reality—are impervious to critical thought because you'd never think to subject them to it. That's why intelligent religious people exist—because an aptitude for logical thinking generally isn't enough to escape an ideological prison.
I agree that the average theist might not be the best critical thinker but if you want to steelman the religious position you're probably better off reading/listening to theist apologists/philosophers.
I really feel you on this though. One of the things I hate most about religion.
