Do your beliefs require empirical evidence?

Question

My son is taking a biology class and the prof. gave them a reading assignment called Why We Believe.
Here is the link to that letter/article:

http://facstaff.unca.edu/pomfrey/Biology%20123.htm

I found it very thought provoking and I thought about my new cronies here on Y!A while reading it. So I am throwing it out there to see what you think.

This is along the lines of other questions that have been asked lately, and I think we are doing well to continue the thread.

John D-I wonder if you read the article closely. Your answer, "The Bible", leads me to believe that your evidence for believing is contained within its covers. However, can you verify what the Bible says?

I would also like to point out that in this article the author clearly illustrates how beliefs are passed from generation to generation without question, and that is through indoctrinating children who do not have the intellectual capacities, cognitive development, to analyze and question what they are being told to believe.

rndyh77-no disrespect taken. My point in asking this question is to see how much "evidence" people need to believe something. I have found the answer to be so far "not much, if any."

For example, you and Evolver refer to god as He. Have you ever questioned that assumption? Do you ever ask yourself why we personify god?

Can you trace back to the age you were when you started believing what you believe now about god?

paul h- you asked, "Is truth always true or is it relevant truth?"
I am reminded of a line in a favorite movie, "The truth doesn't have versions."

Answer 1

If I am going to believe something exists, then yes, I need some evidence to examine, I can accept theories without empirical data as probable, highly probable or reject them out of hand, logic can dictate that,


Theism doesn't pass a kindergarten giggle test, let alone logical scrutiny of a critical thinking mind, forget about empirical evidence for a minute..

Answer 2

Of course my beliefs do not require "empirical evidence." Most of us take a lot for granted.

For instance, I believe I will get up in the morning. I have no empirical evidence that I will - I haven't had a cholesterol test this evening or checked my blood pressure; but I suspect it to be true nonetheless.

Life is not a science experiment, and things have meaning before they're put through the double blind clinical test. I know that sunsets and the birth of children move me beyond words - I haven't drilled down into it and analyzed why this is so - what neurochemicals trigger which cerebral hemispehere.

I simply accept it for what it is.

Similarly, why do I need to challenge God? He is someone I have a long and intimate relationship with. I can't prove my wife exists either - not in the existential sense, because the entire world could be an illusion passed to an elaborate simulation that is my consciousness.

Instead, I simply accept things for what they are.

And what they are is delightful.

As for Dawkins, he's a bit of an idiot savant. The fact that he simply cannot grasp why these traditions are important - how the welcome familiarity of God and a church/synagogue/mosque is solace when it comes time to bury that grandparent with whom you may share that belief. This solace is a far more useful and helpful thing than the smug sense of superiority that acts as the rejector's reward....

Answer 3

The article has some truth to the fact that children are brought up to believe what their parents teach them as being the truth and why there are so many different religions and beliefs. All people can do and should as parents is pass on to their chidren what they have been taught and learned in their lives as their knowledge of truth or belief. It's up to each person to search for answers to questions in their life as to whether they are right or wrong in their beliefs and take action from there to find "their" truth which may not be a good truth either. Is truth always true or is it relevant truth. People once thought slavery was ok and we had to fight a war to end it. It's easy to believe in things you can see, feel, or hear but some things have to be taken on faith. I wasn't around when the earth was created but I can see evidence of a creator just as I can tell someone made a watch without ever meeting them---I have to believe it was built by someone and it's too complicated to have just show up on it's own. My belief in God of the Bible may be totally wrong to some other people's beliefs but I'm content to believe what I've been brought up in and learned of to be the truth. Evidence of creation and events of long ago will always be subject to interpretation based on your pre-existing belief system be it right or wrong. If the evidence provides for more than one explanation, there will always be differences of opinions and beliefs until absolutely proven wrong. Most kids turn into teenager's that try to do just that.

Answer 4

This is the crux of faith, believers claim that the evidence is everything around us and in a book written 2,000 years ago.

But when it comes to belief, you can put it like this. Most people don't believe in God, they believe in the BELIEF in god. That the knowledge of the universe has been uncovered and all answers lead to God. (which really doesn't explain things anyway)

Answer 5

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I think that essay is a pathetic attempt to try to discredit people's beliefs.

The point the essay misses completely is that there is empirical evidence that God exists. The evidence though will only be given to the person who seeks it out sincerely. You cannot tell me that God exists or doesn't, and I cannot tell you whether or not God exists. We each have to search for the truth on our own and after we have made the effort, our prayers will be answered individually. God will not answer my prayers to you and he will not answer your prayers to me. He may answer them through me, but not to me. I have no knowledge of what your prayers are, so there would be no purpose in Him answering them to me. He will only make the answers to your prayers known to you.

Once he has made his answers known to you, you can begin to replace your faith with knowledge on those things where our Father in Heaven has revealed something to you. That is how we can begin to know that God exists and no longer rely on faith alone.

Answer 6

These arguments so good, but they are really vain and full of crap.