Is blind faith a surefire way of blocking progress?

Question

Since prehistory mankind has sought to rationalise the world using a creator and tribes have installed a system where all whom belong to the tribe will follow their given religious system. Over time religions have died out, not because any are necessarily more true than others but mostly through the dominance in war of these tribes. Judaeism spread because they invaded such a large part of the middle east that it became the natural religion for centuries. Then one day, for example, the prophet Mohammed came along and said "believe this", and when he was laughed at he brought along an army of thousands. Is that a good way to decide faith? And yet it is the same with most major world religions and free thought is actively discouraged. If religious leaders and religions themselves are so worried about being questioned doesnt this pose the possibility that there is no rational reason to believe any of it? This is not to say that anyones beliefs are wrong but oughn't we to question them?

Answer 1

We absolutely must question beliefs! Learning and wisdom come from questioning. It's not blind faith so much that blocks progress as it is close-mindedness, I think. And, of course, blind faith is one of the major forms of close-mindedness on the planet. I feel that if a religion can't stand up to questioning and, in fact, actively discourages questioning, you need to wonder what the fear is. Seems to me these religious leaders know what they're spouting is bogus, and the only way to keep people accepting of this is to discourage independent thought and questioning.

Answer 2

Since I do not believe blind faith is an accurate portrayal of Bbilical faith its hard to answer. I think its important ot know why you trust something and it helps both the person and someone they are talking to.

I do not believe in blind faith or leap into the dark
I believe in a leap toward the light and I think thats a more Biblical view and blind faith

In some ways a faith based on nothing may be a glorified predjudism and I think people actually always have some basis for faith even if they cant put their finger on it. I Think the way people are wired asking honest questions can help stretch faith and I see many people in the Bible asking heartfelt honest questions and growing in fiaith... some questions are phony smokescreens and even if they are answered the hard heart aint gonna budge...

Point of fact, the scientific revolution flourished when? In post reformation Europe and Chrisitanity accelerated science, build hosplitals, schools and banned slavery particularly post reformation Europe. It wasnt perfect but made many steps in the rigth direction.

Answer 3

In early human history, it's questionable whether the great states could have existed without a common religious faith. Because they existed, a liesure class had time to sit around and think and great "progress" was made. But then those religions got supplanted by others (through war as you stated), and much of what had been learned was intentionally destroyed out of fear it would undermine the new dominant religion.

So it's a mixed bag. Modern societies would probably not exist if not for the deification of early rulers, but at the same time, had faith died off after that, we'd probably have explored the galaxy by now (or annihilated ourselves). At this point in history, faith is probably more dangerous than it is helpfull, particularly in nonhomogenous nations like the US. It serves to divide rather than unite in secular societies.

Answer 4

Faith does pave the way for progress. In terms of religion, sometimes blind faith doesn't hurt, but most of the time its BAD. You have to understand clearly why you believe in something and what specifically you believe in.

But you seem to claim that religions spread because of blind faith or solely war. What? History lesson should tell you that religion spread for many different reasons, one of which may have been war, but I certainly wouldn't call it the main one. Religions should teach a dependance on believe and faith in that belief, not on blind faith.

Anyways, so in terms of blind faith, we deal with it everyday. In most cases, why is it that we go through breakthroughs of inventions of scientific laws/theories? Its not because human beings are any more intelligent than they were 500 years ago, but simply that we build upon the past, or we simply are able to base everything on foundations based on assumptions. I mean Physics for example, which argueably is the basis for all material sciences, is based on laws of the universe that are pretty much assumptions. The only way that we can advance, is by putting faith is some sort of basic foundation, and then building upon that.

So thats enough rambling for me.

Answer 5

I believe that faith is good for a person- though not blind faith. It concerns me that some children are taught religion by their parents without the opportunity of questioning it. If I were to subscribe to any specific religion, I would have to extensively research them all first, right back to the origins of religious artifacts- I would want hard evidence! But then, proving or disproving a religion has the potential to cause mass conflict.

Answer 6

Absolutely question. Any leader afraid of questions is afraid because an answer might serve to undermine the leader's authority.

I will not attend a church or belong to a religion which does not allow questioning of anything and everything right down to the color of the carpet.

Always question, but be willing to accept "I don't know" as a legitimate answer, provided the person giving the answer is honest.

Answer 7

Blind Faith is simply another word for Fanatic. It is the single most dangerous thing on this earth. Look at History. All the truly evil things have been done by those with absolute faith. (The Inquisition, Hitler, Egypt enslaving the Jews)

Answer 8

over a hundred years ago, the medical community world wide (mostly europe as germany had the most advanced medical system in the world at that time), started using cadavers to learn about the human body and also to practice doing surgery on.

The religion right was in an uproar over this and tried to get laws passed to stop this "blasphemy of violating the dead". It's a good thing they didn't get their way or we'd still be using a witchdoctor to get well.

Same thing is happening with stem cells.
history DOES repeat itself !
tom

Answer 9

Nothing "blind" (in the figurative sense) is good. Sometimes something "blind" can turn out to be good, but this is merely by chance, not because it is "blind".
The exception of course is a blind being in the literal sense, I don't mean to suggest blind people are bad.
Blind suggests that it is accepted or done without reason.

Answer 10

How do you know blind faith in religion isn't what keeps a lot of would-be criminals in check? Devout Christians, Muslims and to a lesser extent Jews need to have an incentive for being good -- that's part of their subconscious motivation for embracing religion. Without fear of 'God's' wrath, they might have little or no sense of morality.