Is it possible for mankind to separate belief from truth?

Question

For example, an atheist might believe that there is no God, and that everything is a product of evolution. A Christian might believe that God created the earth, and that He has a plan for humanity. Obviously, each person believes that his/her point of view is the truth, but neither can be proven to the same extent that 2+2=4 can be proven. This is where my question lies: Can mankind progress to a common understanding that there is a difference between what is concretely factual, and what is personal belief? Is this understanding necessary for societal relations in the future? Is it worth working toward? What effect would it have on how we address disagreements? Please discuss...

Thank you for making my question more relevant with your narrow-minded advertising and atheist-bashing, rkkcandi, but you missed the point entirely. Your beliefs are your beliefs, but did you ever consider that other people feel as strongly about their beliefs as you do about yours? I am asking if it is possible for people like you to look past personal beliefs for a second, and look at society from a humanist perspective. A perspective that is based on what works. Is the idea of using statistics and tangible historical evidence as tools to mold a society that accomodates everyone really so abstract?

Answer 1

Even harder is the possibility that what we conceptualize as the truth is even merely a negotiated reality of no understandable substance. I don't want to paint myself as a post modern academic muddlehead, since I still maintain the antiquated idea that there is a right and wrong, but the idea of "truth" presents problems in itself.
Science until the early 20th century carried the idea that there were possible ultimate truths, until the classical physics was shot with enough holes that another paradigm of reality was able to flourish withing the scientfic community-quantum physics.
Issues like particle duality, phenomenon of particles existing in two places at once caused reexamination of what we so comfortably call reality, where really things tend to be they way we define them. What everyone swore was an incontrovertible law showed how we try to force our observations to fit what we currently believe-even in science. It doesn't only suffer Bible thumping evangilizers.
I guess the short of it is that mankind can not come to a consensus on what the difference between belief and fact since both are negotiated from the tools we use to view our world. The hot issue has been HOW we arrive at what we consider "fact".
From the substance of your question, it would seem that rational positivism would be your preferred method of truth search, and it has by far yielded the majority of improvements that we see tody compared to our forefathers centuries ago. Rationality still has problems dealing with tradoffs such as rights vs obligations, collective vs individual interest and so on. It seems for many the idea is that not everyone's idea of right and wrong can be correct, so rationality ("truth") dictates that there is no one right and wrong. Is that the truth? I don't resonate with the absence of right and wrong.
Mathematically, this moment we are now alive is poised upon a denominator of infinite time, and if you are yet familiar with calculus, that means it is zero, yet we are alive right now despite this rational axiom that may also be proven.
This is a good question, not just for this forum, but one to meditate on in general.

Thanks to everyone for giving this some thought.

Answer 2

When dealing with a topic like this, I think the answer is honestly, no. First, you will always have people on both sides of the argument who are passionate, but cluless and uninformed, who consider it blasphemy or ridiculous to even consider that the other side might be correct. So you will always have Christians spouting off unrelated scripture instead of listening to Atheists' arguments, and you will always have Atheists who are bitter and angry and think Christians are stupid for their beliefs.

Second, I think that by their very nature, these two groups of people are unable to see each other's point of view. Even the most open-minded Atheist will never understand the inner joy and peace that a Christian feels, and the most loving, intelligent Christian will not understand how an Atheist can fail to see God's hand in the world.

Answer 3

Most of my family is Catholic, and yet my dad is one of the biggest names in Virology around, a die hard liberal and evolutionist. And I take after him.

So yes, it is possible for religion and truth to be separated, but it isn't always necessary. Personally, I think God and science compliment each other very well, just because sometimes the facts aren't always enough.

As for separation of state and religion... Well, until we lose the Freedom of Speech as well as Freedom of Free Will, there will be nothing we can do.

I think that people need to learn that just because you believe in God that doesn't mean the answer is always "because God says do". These kinds of people need to stop persecuting others.

The Republicans are becoming worse than the Spanish Inquisition...

Answer 4

hmm.. tremendous question! the following is my opinion: convinced there's a huge difference between what's concretely genuine and own conception. even besides the undeniable fact that there are 1000's of diverse religions or beliefs..i trust there's a truth. There will be a god there would no longer, yet because the fashion of beliefs are turning out to be so complicated it really is confusing to easily p.c.. one and be properly, ya understand? also, i do submit to in innovations reading a passage in the bible about how each religon will come at the same time as one, and im no longer optimistic that's obtainable -only putting forward that..completely random- Im no longer extremely optimistic what the different questions are asking b/c im in uncomplicated phrases 14, yet im optimistic if u dumb them down somewhat i will understand what you recommend. wish that permits..which it probably did not lol

Answer 5

Is it possible for man kind to realize that everything comes from ONE God and nothing else. Is it possible that we make everything seem to be so important that it could have nothing to do with what God wants. Why can't you figure that even with God evolution is very important. We evavle everyday. Athiest are spoiled, stubborn, and have no clue. They all believe in something and can't deny it. There is one God and he was and is the God of Abraham, Adam, Moses and many more. Here is the shocker, He is even YOUR God.

Answer 6

From my experience I would be inclined to say that there is no one truth. As humans we are subject to our perceptions, which in turn are formed in part by our beliefs.