It's Christmas and I'm having an argument over turkey dinner with a "friend". Who's right?

Question

Question: Does faith stifle free inquiry?

Answer 1

Yes, faith stifles free inquiry. The two are fundamentally incompatible.

Answer 2

Faith means beliving in something without having any scientific research or facts to support that belief .
If a person is insecure about losing the comfort that Faith brings them , they do not want "free inquiry" because they are aware that there might be scientific research or facts that might weaken their Faith and their comfort .
This is why people of Faith often try to *invent* scientific research or facts , such as the Creationism Museum . People who cling to the "teachings" of this "museum" do so in order to close their minds to "free inquiry" .

Answer 3

Mysticism is the antithesis of reason. If you're speaking nonsense, with no factual basis, you're not having a discussion nor a debate, you're just spouting threatening lies. There can be no inquiry, no thought, no reason, no facts based on observation, when mysticism is on the table. All faith can say is, "Stop trying to wake me up or I'll punch you." It's proof of only one thing: an abhorrence for reality.

Answer 4

If the Bible is the source of your faith, then if true faith stifled inquiry, it wouldn't have statements such as:
"Prove all things; keep that which is good." (I Theselonians 5:21)

There is no limitation on that statement; it doesn't say "prove all biblical things" or "godly things," it simply says "ALL things."

And there are many such statements in the Bible about knowledge and understanding -- that is, without restriction on only religious knowledge or understanding.

Answer 5

Yes, which of you who said it prevents free inquiry.. Anyone who is a believer of a faith based org becomes something of a robot, a slave to that religion. No religion wants their members to ask questions because all answers to such questions are nothing but lies. Just think about how often you hear about christians killing another or raping their spouse, or molesting their young children, etc, etc. They are really lunatics.

Answer 6

I believe it does, yes... the religious, especially Muslim, Jewish and Christian, are encouraged to accept what they are told and what they read in their religious texts without question.

Questions are the basis of free inquiry... the ability to question what we are told, continue to explore and look for ALL answers and decide among the answers.

Therefore, those who have faith in their chosen religion are less likely to question things and are more likely to discourage questioning of their faith and religion.

Answer 7

You can't have faith and leave it in God's hands if you haven't thought about it and inquired beforehand- That would make no sense...We don't just walk around blindly without questioning anything...That would make us mentally void.
Enjoy the Turkey and the debate:):) Sounds like fun!

Answer 8

No it doesn't
God desires us to know WHY we believe what we do, and to be able to answer the questions of the faithless who ask things like this. It's ok to search things out for yourself.
Faith is believing that God is who He says He is in the end. Asking questions only leaves us with this fact, therefore strengthening our belief.
(look up the Characteristics of God for this. I'm not going into that here.)

Answer 9

only if you would consider absolute truth as stifling free inquiry.

Answer 10

Not necessarily. My faith is malleable to new information. But then, I'm not following a particular religion -- it'd be a lot harder if I were.