Why would anyone defend a belief that has been proven to be untrue?

Question

http://www.thedarksideofsaltlakecity.org/

Answer 1

Indoctrination from childhood. Very difficult to clear, cleanup, defragment and restore.

Answer 2

Every religion on the face of the planet spends a good deal of time trying to defend beliefs that have been proven to be untrue. Why should the Mormons be any different?

Answer 3

The usual answer is simply ignorance, believers either haven't heard the refutations or simply do not know enough to understand them.

I suspect though that a belief in some indefensible position is often by choice, usually because a belief can somehow be comforting. This works well for revealed religions, alternative medicine (especially pain relief- you may want to look up the placebo effect) and many other complex things.

We should not discount the effect or laziness or stupidity either.

Answer 4

People believe what they want to believe whether it is true or not..No doubt all of us believe a lot of things which are not true.How can you prove any belief to be untrue to one who wants to believe it? A case in point is Mormonism. It is based on a book which contents were obtained fraudulently.It was based on rumors and speculations which were circulated to a large extent in the late 1700's.Compare the language to the language of the King James' version of the Bible. That style was not in use during Joe Smith's time.

Answer 5

its hard to let go of something youve believed in for so long. For some people its just not possible. The mind gets warped and being told something different just doesnt compute. For example, if you took a child, and raised him thinking that the sky was green, the grass was orange, the sun was purple, water was black etc...and for many years that was truth to him...when someone confronted him about it, he wouldnt be able to understand. He would probably become upset and confused and fight for his belief that the sky was green, and reject all others. Now, get together a group of people, over the course of a period of time with these teachings, and it becomes infinately more difficult to persuade people than it would one person. We can disprove things all we want...but its not going to change anything.

Answer 6

I don't know what the most recent stats are, but Utah used to have a very high incidence of spousal and child abuse, as well as higher suicide rates, presumably because women are not as highly valued in the Mormon religion, and children are a necessary by-product of Mormon temple marriage. Mormon men want to be gods someday, and I've always found that they start their run at godhood while they're here on earth. Women are baby factories, giving bodies to all those spirit babies who need to be born - whether they really want to have kids or not. It's hardly a women and children first mentality. The idea of families forever is hogwash, too.

Even without polygamy, females get the dirty short end of the stick.

Answer 7

Interesting Facts:
yes, there are small groups of polygamists living in Utah. They also have communities in Colorado, Arizona, and other states. the state of utah has sought prosecution on some polygamists in the past. it is a difficult stance due to the conflict of human rights and religious freedom.

the main religion known as 'mormon' (LDS) abandoned polygamy a long time ago, and in fact excommunicated some of it's member's for continuing practice after that.

while this is an interesting article, it is not necessarily 'true', and has many points that are in conflict with actuality, mostly stemming from misinformation and confusion.

Answer 8

The difference between Knowledge & Belief is that Knowledge needs proof and Belief defies it. Proof in any direction stops belief from being belief

Answer 9

Whoa, that is pretty powerful. I believe that those who are in power are very weak and pray upon those who are lost to make themselves feel more powerful. That's probably why they marry the young girls off so young. If they waited until they matured, they would have minds of their own and it probably would have ended a long time ago. It is indeed a form of child abuse. Once these young girls are pregnant the cycle continues. They are in a continuous holding pattern for the rest of their lives I guess until something stronger comes along. :-(

Answer 10

There is and there always going to be religion or people who make up rules to fit their life stile and many people will go along with it. Most of them call them self Christian and they are the very people you need to look out for. It is so sad that this go's on and there not much you can do about it.

Answer 11

read a book called the march of folly by the historian barbara tuchmann. although it doesn't deal with religious belief, it does show how people cling to ideas that are so obviously wrong and failing, no matter what.