Do you think religious belief is inconsistent with reason and corrosive to the mind?

Question

Here is an article that puts forth an argument that really deserves to be pondered I hope you can take the time to read it and give your serious comments.
We of little faith:http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sue_blackmore/2007/06/we_of_little_faith.html

fireball226. I realise you didn't read the article, boy! do you have a closed mind or what?

Answer 1

Three cheers for Tony Blair, he always tells the truth no matter who cares to hear it.

You non-religious types are so close-minded. Why is that most of you are?

"What we have here is, failure to communicate." ( Cool Hand Luke)

Answer 2

I've read the article. I do NOT agree with the author, especially his/her definition of faith. And the point about universities teaching us to accept facts only. Not true, either.
When a scientist plots a graph based on the experimental data, what then? Interpretation, yes. Anything else? EXTRAPOLATION. Or the interpretation and extrapolation of a sales curve. Are the extrapolations facts or based on facts? Neither. Each is just an educated guess. That is faith, religious or otherwise.

Answer 3

I see, So if one has had pure evidence passed down from generation would not that be true even if you have to rely on faith that they passed it down right. I have better things to do than wonder if religious belief is corrosive to the mind. My people have a stranger story than most anyway and it starts with a little bug swimming to the bottom of water and piling mud up the build a place to stand on.

Answer 4

No not all. authentic faith of the Bible from the writer is truthfully existence like. The fake religions of the international, many claiming to be Christian, are at free of charge of reason. look in any respect creation. The planets, the universe is an particularly form of reason and order. look on the water cycle of earth. It creates a organic clear out for clean water, even nevertheless guy is making an attempt to destroy it. look on the alignment of the earth. 23.5% off axis ensures seasonal climate differences and the moon pulling tides ensureing climate varieties. a majority of those issues factor to a God of reason and order. somewhat than corrosive, it lubricates and feeds the innovations with large suggestions and objectives. fake faith is what you're used to and that's punctiliously without reason. a million+a million+a million=a million??? once you die, reckoning on the preacher's temper, you're a) interior the grave b) in purgatory c) once you're a baby, that element of purgatory has been closed or d) in heaven. existence like? not of undertaking! in assessment, the Bible tells us in Eccles. 9:6-7,10 the ineffective at the instant are unable to experience something or do something. different Bible verses evaluate dying to sleep. No hearth, no torment, no bliss. they are able to have a resurrection by means of God. it particularly is from person who made us interior the 1st place so He could somewhat understand how.

Answer 5

if our minds are open to believe what ever we so chose and that would include thinking out side of the box of all these institutions that so proclaim such knowledge that is never to be questioned, or you might be weird, or you might have been lead astray by perhaps some spiritual truths you may have deemed truths for yourself and then dubbed that your faith,
well,I reckon you then have left all reasoning and have definitely been coerced outside the box of this great knowledgeable institution.

it has nothing to do with religion, if that were the case then all learning in all( boxes, institutions,churches) etc..would be considered without reason.
faith has nothing to do with a box.
It has to do with freedom to reason with an open mind.

defending faith is like saying,
one should defend wind, b/c we cannot see with our eyes what is the depth of ones mind.

It would be reasonable to say,
Blackmore could use some reasonable thinking outside a box that we have all the answers on how the mind works.

describe light?
Jesus is the light of the world.

peace

Answer 6

here's some more facts WHY religious beliefs are inconsistent with reason and corrosive to the mind:

"religion is Spiritual fraud";
"religion is the Worst invention of humanity";
"Universal Truth has eliminated religion from Spirituality",
quotes of Jesus Christ, Buddha and any one else with Spiritual intelligence.

"When a person is freed of religion, they have a better chance to live a normal and

wholesome life." S. Freud

Here are some of my quotes:

Only with Our Creator's Love and Peace will we be Truly Free!
Without God, there is No Love; Without religion, there are No Wars!
Freedom of religion is Freedom from religion.

atheists = all the people in religion = all the ignorant fundamentalists = all the cults/superstitions = paganism = wicca = = taoism = xians = scientology = homosexuals/lesbians = skinheads = politicians = george w bush = lawyers;

Here's the Solution for religion:

Create a Private, Personal, Direct, Divine Relationship with Our Creator and save Your Soul from religion's and atheist's beliefs and start Your journey back home, to Heaven.

<<<<<<< UnConditional Love is the only answer >>>>>>>

Love and Believe in Our Creator;
Love and Believe in Yourself.

Answer 7

Ms. Blackmore is a complete and total moron, posing as an intellectual. Writing an article does not make you an expert. I hope those who read this article realize that. It's amazing to me what people will or will not believe just because they choose to. They read one thing and believe it. No documentary, historical, or experiential evidence, but they still believe it. Yet the Bible is automatically to be disbelieved, because it is a "religious" book written by man. EVERY BOOK IN THE WORLD HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY MAN. Name one that isn't. Yet some people deem one false and another true. How convenient.

Answer 8

Yes, I think religious belief is inconsistent with reason, and to an extent is corrosive to the mind, as you describe it.

I think religion is just there as a support for the human race. For most people religion is there to explain things that they cannot understand (such as evolution), or have any influence over (such as death).

Answer 9

I read the article you linked, and I find her conclusions simplistic, transparent and predictable. To rely on provable fact alone would cause logistical grid lock. It is human nature to rely on faith and to turn to religious beliefs. If reason and science alone were so overwhelmingly convincing and factual, then "reason" dictates that religion would fade away. I find the lack of tolerance amongst the "enlightened non-religious" to be very telling. Religion is tolerant and accepts science, the reverse is not true.
.
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Answer 10

I do think the author is way off base. I have faith in God and Jesus. Look how many other things in the world that leaves wide open for me. I think it is another attack on Christianity. He even boasts about getting students to change their mind about God. He acts as if that is proof he is right. I value myself as a open-minded thinker and not a flock follower. I think deeply about many issues. There are people out there that he is right about but he is ignorant to suggest reason and faith do not go together.