Is any belief really wrong?

Question

Excluding beliefs like "It's ok to kill, hurt, or take away thr rights of other people", of course. If you don't try to force your belief on others and don't use your belief to hurt anyone, is any belief really wrong?

Discuss.

Yeah, ok. I'll be sure to believe in Bod.

Answer 1

I would say some beliefs are bad choices.

Or better put, there are better choices than some beliefs.

Answer 2

But beliefs can cause harm in unintended ways. Even the definition of "others" can complicate the issue. A little potential-Einstein, indoctrinated from infancy into some sort of hyper-Evangelical, anti-science mind-set not only "hurts" the child, it also deprives us of the child's potential.

There are also other aspects to beliefs that while not directly harmful, are generally detrimental. You may not go out and kill the people from the group you think killed your savior. But depending on how those beliefs affect your other actions, you may not jump in to rescue those "killers" when your neighbors or government decides to take action against them.

So I'd add 2 more to the list of "not so nice" beliefs:
1- Those that devalue other human beings because of some trivial condition.
2- Those that campaign against intellectual achievement.

Answer 3

No, no belief is wrong...not even the ones you mentioned. They are all subject to the situation at hand. Maybe killing one person, saves 1,000 more. A woman who is raped and can no longer conceive may adopt a few in need babies that she otherwise would not have.

I try not to judge beliefs as right or wrong because who's to say that 'goodness' ten fold cannot result from someone's 'bad' belief.

In other words, every life has a purpose...and for some that purpose is to show us what not to do, where we have come from and where we need to go.

There is no right or wrong...only consequences...

Answer 4

Well, by your own question you establish some that are wrong. All that it takes for a belief to be wrong is for it to have incorrect knowledge.

For instance, if I had a religion that believed that 2+2=17, that belief would be wrong. It wouldn't matter how hard I believed it. It'd always be wrong.

There are people that believe that if they can completely disbelieve gravity, it won't affect them. This too will always be wrong.

Each belief must go through the process of facing the issue of whether what it teaches is in fact true, or whether it is in fact false.

Answer 5

Well, for an idea to be wrong, one has to accept the concept of 'right & wrong.' There are some folks who reject this as a false dichotomy, and who instead would choose a linear scale which ranges from 'most desirable' to 'least desirable'.

There are prevailing agreements among majority groups, but these can't always be trusted, since at times the 'crowd is driven to carry praise or hate too far, as Robert Frost implied.

I would say, 'To thine own self be true' in other words, listen to a balance of your rationale and your intuition, when you discern whether something is right or wrong.

In cases where your perception is limited, your intuition will serve you. In cases where your emotions are controlling you, your reason will save the day.

Answer 6

Yes.

Any belief that cause the believer to harm themselves or others, or does not allow for others to hold their own beliefs without fear of persecution or bigotry is wrong.

Any belief that makes the believer a better person or benefits the world as a whole is good (whether I agree with said belief or not))

Answer 7

Wrong for what? If you mean harmful for well being and human dignity, than yes most belief systems are wrong to some degree. Communism, Nazism, and Islam all hold in essence that some people are less human than others, be they the bourgeois, Jews, or infidels. Islam, like Nazism is a supremacist ideology.

Answer 8

I think there is probably only one truth, and though some of us might have an idea as to what it is, it's likely that nobody knows exactly all that the "truth" is. So yes, probably, a whole bunch of us are wrong, no matter what your faith, but, I think it's just fine to believe what ever the heck you want as long as you're not hurting anyone. :)

Answer 9

Any belief which does not help you deal with day-to-day life could be considered unwise, though if you're holding to it because you wish to, that would be your own business. No belief is wrong, some are just more useful than others.

Answer 10

That's a very relative question.
Personally I am of the opinion that right and wrong are only ever opinions, and thus not ever the truth.

So technically speaking, no belief is ever wrong, but then, no belief is ever right either.

It's all a matter of perspective really.

Answer 11

Beliefs can certainly be wrong. For example, some people believe Global Warming is man-induced while others do not. One group is wrong.