How can religious people be so closed minded?

Answer 1

Any people can be closed minded.

People with extremely rigid religious doctrines have a "house of cards" paradox with their faith. To bring one aspect of their faith into question, might possibly prove it wrong, and they fear that this could topple their precise lattice of beliefs. This lends them to closed mindedness, especially because in many of these religions, to even question the teachings of the church is considered sinful.

The strange thing is that this appears to be the exact opposite of the faith that many claim to posses. They are fearful (they haven't faith) that their beliefs might not hold up to scrutiny.

To be fair, the truly closed minded religious individuals I've encountered, were fundamentalists or quite extreme in how literally they expected their churches teachings to be adopted by every human in the world.

Most "religious people" are not this extreme nor so closed minded.

Answer 2

By closed minded, one is assuming that religious people cannot have an absolute truth. If the truth is absolute, then there is no other option. Maybe the closed minded ones could be those who refuse to believe in an absolute truth. Funny how the intolerance is pointed at "religion" and yet Christianity in particular has absolute truths, but is tolerant of others. We love people in order to win them, and yet are called intolerant. Strange
The other piece of finger pointing is that the "intolerant" people usually have good news to share. The closed minded ones are the ones who refuse to accept anything other than their world view.

Answer 3

I guess you are talking about conservative religious beliefs based on the Bible or the Koran etc.

Because they believe they have all the answers and that everything is preordained by God. They think that there is only one book worth anything and they aren't particularly receptive to new information which doesn't strengthen their belief. Their ideas are founded on a closed set of outdated ancient writings which are not able to be re-examined and discarded if examined in the light of the modern world. They cannot be questioned because they are right. Any one who doubts them is a heathen or infidel. They use the surety of their religious fundamentalism and faith to forstall logic and free-thinking discussion. They feel sorry for us because we are damned to Hell, but really I feel sorry for them because they are so unrealistic and inadequate. They use the ideas of dead bigots to try and live in today's world and they really are the cause of most of the violence and chaos in the world today. They are so blind they don't realise this and think that they are good and the rest of us are bad. They tend to be totally unelightened and think they hold the key to everything. (Generally speaking)

Answer 4

If you believe the Bible is the untainted word of God, and your priest provides all the answers for you, then you do not only not need to consider alternative explanations, you are often actively discouraged from questioning these principles. See what happened at Waco, would people buy guns and commit mass suicide if they had a healthy questioning attitude all through this process?

Answer 5

Like a glass that is full with water to the brim, it is not possible for them to pour more liquid other than water and still maintain the content's purity.

So I don't think it's closed minded, but rather filled minded.

Answer 6

Let's not generalize here. That is like asking how Asian people can be so bad at driving. There may be some instances of close mindedness, but not all are that way. Everyone has their beliefs.

Answer 7

It is because people stick to what they know. It'd be like if you went to a foreign country say, and some random person approached you on the street, and you didn't speak the language, you'd be afraid. It's that most people are afraid of what they don't know. I am, soon to be proposed to by a catholic, and I am a pagan. No one wants to accept us. I think it's merely that people are afraid. So, hope that helps. :)

Answer 8

I really wonder that myself. I mean, here I am, a catholic, sometime soon to propose to a pagan... and for some reason the whole world seems to have a problem with that. Sorry, I can't answer it, but just adding to the question now, but why do Catholics seem to be the worst of them all?

Answer 9

I dont think your question is clear enough. What do you mean by 'close minded'? Its just too vage a comment. If possible add details to your quiestion

Answer 10

what do you expect when they have to agree with everything their religious books are saying and have to believe without proof. that really affects the whole way a person thinks