Is it IRRATIONAL to believe in a doctrine in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary? Why or why not?

Question

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If a doctrine requires you to disbelieve the best evidence available, and accept the doctrine on faith, does the doctrine require a believer to behave in an irrational manner?

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Answer 1

I am a born-again Christian and I will give you that one. Faith is irrational. It does often fly in the face of apparent evidence to the contrary. However, the bible warns us to trust God and not rely upon our own understanding, and Hebrews 11:1 says that faith is the substance of things not seen and the evidence of things only hoped for.

Answer 2

1. We do NOT have all of the answers to even our own existence.

2. All of the theories that we use to define the world around us have significant questions which must be answered.

3. ALL doctrines of any form require some measure of faith in order to believe (christianity, buddhism, atheism, etc. etc.) as NONE have definitive tangible evidence which supports or denies them.

4. FAITH in something is inevitable if you choose to believe ANYTHING at all.

That said, unless one chooses to reject all "doctrines" (which is to make a de facto decision based also upon "faith" that there is no true doctrine), then faith to some degree or another is required.

Answer 3

Its not irrationational to believe in a doctrine in spite of all odds, coz when you see "evidence to the contrary", you are able to tell between right and wrong.

Because ::: The doctrine is not faulty but those living it prove their lack of understanding or refusal of the said doctrine in part or whole.

Do I make sense?

Answer 4

Faith is a belief in things unseen.

Man has been gathering evidence for thousands of years. It was heresy for awhile to think the world was round!

I don't think it's irrational to have faith. If this is truly all their is, if there's no greater deity or power, if there's no hope of heaven, then this life pretty much is for nothing too I would think.

Answer 5

Of course. If something has been proved untrue (overwhelming evidence) it would indeed be irrational to still believe it was true.

People would think someone irrational if they still insisted that the sun rotated around the Earth.

Answer 6

The Greeks thought Pythagoras was irrational for believing the Earth was spherical.

Answer 7

I think by definition believing something counter to the evidence is irrational.

Answer 8

This is where you nonbelivers are so clueless. It isn't a matter of logic, but getting what you want. Think about it: with all your rationalization, has it ever gotten you laid? NO!
Us orcs on the other hand love war and bloodshed and we believe. See where that got us? YES!! We get what we want! Death and damnation of all sorts of people! So we say believe in nonsense and you'll get what you want!

Answer 9

I think that's pretty much the definition of irrational...

Also, the HRC is cool... I used to raise money for them...

Answer 10

I don't think anyone can say faith is ever rational. That's why it's faith and not logic.