What’s the harm in believing? Reasons for skeptical thought and critical thinking
By Andy Kaiser
Article ID: 114
What’s the harm in New Age beliefs? What’s the harm in a non-questioning acceptance of religion? Is anyone really hurt if you give money to television psychics, or worship any particular brand of god? In fact, let’s look broader than the umbrella of religion, New Age and superstitious beliefs. Let’s examine credulity.
A common argument when discussing skeptical thought goes something like this:
“Fine, so you think that psychics are either frauds or deluded. That’s your opinion. I think ESP is real. I believe in God. I may not know for sure about the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot or the healing power of crystals. But I’m open-minded enough to know they might be real. There might be something to it.”
And then comes the zinger:
“What’s the harm in believing?”
This article is a response to that question. There is indeed harm in belief, whether we’re discussing something as broad as world religions to something as small as a Tarot reading.
Granted, not all things are equal. If you compare the Muslim extremist suicide attacks of 9/11 to using a quartz crystal to cure headaches, one topic obviously affects more lives, one is more obviously tragic. The list below, this list of reasons for skepticism and critical thinking, addresses that inequality.
Reasons for skeptical thought and critical thinking
1) You’re wasting your time and your life
“Reality is what refuses to go away when you stop believing in it.”
- Philip K. Dick
We’ll use Mr. Dick’s very powerful quote above to address the most lowly of reasons to subscribe to credulous belief. If the world would behave the same whether or not you believe something, how do you know what you believe isn’t delusion or lies?
Test. Examine. Replicate in a double-blind environment. If you succeed, then you have something. If you don’t, how can you distinguish your beliefs from those of a crazy person?
Finally, think of the example of a person whose spouse is having an affair. If you were the victim, wouldn’t you rather know about the affair? Or would you prefer the “ignorance is bliss” philosophy? Knowing the facts, despite being happier without them, is a healthier mindset.
There’s nothing like a doomsday cult to further illustrate the point.
2) Personal freedoms and sexuality
“Christian Fundamentalism: The doctrine that there is an absolutely powerful, infinitely knowledgeable, universe spanning entity that is deeply and personally concerned about my sex life.”
- Andrew Lias’ .sig file, Internet
Religious mandates to a way of life, from homosexuality to allowable clothing, impact lifestyles. Sometimes repressively. Traditional rules seem backward and stodgy when examined in the twenty-first century. I’m not dismissing the need for tradition or rules, but am saying there must be better justification than using books written for completely different ancient civilizations.
I’m also close to a libertarian mindset: If someone isn’t harming me, let them do what they want. That means to let boys kiss other boys. Let them get married if they want, and get the same tax benefits as a split-sex marriage.
Masturbating? Sure, why not? Again, I don’t care what someone else does, and I certainly don’t want a masturbatory overseer mandating why I can or can’t do this.
Dancing? Drinking? Eating certain foods? There’s nothing wrong with doing these things or not. The error lies in forcing others to conform to your behavior and thoughts. This is against the concept of personal freedom, and is wrong.
3) Money and ethical behavior
“The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them, for then it must sink back into savagery… It may matter little to me, in my cloud-castle of sweet illusions and darling lies; but it matters much to Man that I have made my neighbors ready to deceive. The credulous man is father to the liar and the cheat.”
- W.H. Clifford in his essay “The Ethics of Belief”
So you spend a few dollars on a book or trinket or doodad, after you’re told it will magically change your life in some way. Of course there are many cheats out there – it’s a sad part of human nature.
How do you know you aren’t falling victim to a scam?
If the cost is expensive (like a $600 psychic reading), are you sure this is an intelligent way you want to lose large amounts of money?
If the cost is cheap (just a couple dollars for a good-luck talisman), look at the person doing the selling. Do you want to support someone who makes a living by (knowingly or not) abusing everyone’s trust and goodwill? Thousands of sales of cheap trinkets is a lot of money.
4) Ignorance, logical inconsistencies and arbitrary guidelines lead to acceptance of Dark Ages reasoning
“Is god willing to prevent evil but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?”
- Epicurus (341-270 BC)
“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
- Douglas Adams
“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.”
- Galileo
Why Can’t I Own a Canadian?
October 2002
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast resident, which was posted on the Internet. It’s funny, as well as informative:
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God’s Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them:
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord – Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness – Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offence.
Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighbouring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can’t I own Canadians?
I have a neighbour who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself?
A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination – Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don’t agree. Can you settle this?
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? – Lev.24:10-16. Couldn’t we just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God’s word is eternal and unchanging.
- author unknown
Apart from an overabundance of applicable quotes, here are some more examples from Christian mythology:
If transubstantiation or “real presence” truly occurs at a Roman Catholic mass, if the blessed bread and wine literally become the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, fundamental laws of nature would be warped and broken. Simply put: this would be BIG. Also simply put: this would be easy to test. Yet, perhaps for obvious reasons, no one dares to test this theory, to properly verify this transformation actually happens.
Jesus Christ was born to the Virgin Mary. She was, obviously, mystically impregnated by Devine Sperm.
Christianity is a monotheistic belief. Only “pagans” have multiple gods. Yet Christianity also professes belief in the “three in one” paradox – That “God” is actually comprised of a combination of three separate entities – the “Father” (God), the “Son” (Jesus), and the “Holy Spirit”. This is the mystery of the “Holy Trinity”. It’s three gods in one. Yet it’s always worshipped as one god, except in certain writings and gospels when each are praised and prayed to separately. Having more than one god would violate the “any religion with multiple gods is pagan” rule, so these three gods break that rule by just hanging out very closely together. To any outside observer, there would still seem to be three gods. But it’s not. It’s one god. Even though there are three entities. Confused yet?
Those without a skeptical viewpoint open themselves up to all kinds of foolish thinking. They don’t have the proper toolkit to critically analyze a situation.
5) Subjugation, physical harm and death
“The [Washington Star] newspaper remarked:
‘Nothing is funnier than the misapplication of a rigorous discipline to tasks disproportionately trivial. It is overkill. It is classic gnat-killing by sledgehammer. It is the machine-gunning of butterflies… the line between sense and nonsense is not, we think, so stark as these earnest vigilantes of science make it out to be, nor the dangers of mass popular delusion so menacing. …What has happened to their funny-bones?’
I do not know who wrote that, but he must know that it infuriated more than one member of the SCICOP. That writer never saw the distraught faces of parents whose children were caught up in some stupid cult that promised miracles. He never faced a man whose life savings had gone down the drain because of a curse had to be lifted. He never held the hand of a woman at a dark seance who expected her loved one to come back to her as promised by a swindler who fed on her belief in nonsense. ‘Nothing is funnier…’? Tell that to the academics who lost their credibility by accepting the nonsense about telepathy that came out of the Stanford Research Institute. ‘The machine-gunning of butterflies’? Explain that to those who spent their time and money trying to float in the air because a guru said they could. Are the ‘dangers of mass popular delusion’ not ’so menacing’? Mister, go dig up one of the 950 corpses of those who died in Guyana and shout in its face that Reverend Jim Jones was not dangerous. ‘What has happened to their funny-bones’? That deserves an answer. Our collective sense of humor has been dulled by the grief, frustration, and anger that comes of preaching in the wilderness. The Star, apparently, would like that wilderness to continue to be empty of rational forces.
I hope they enjoyed their big laugh.”
- James Randi, “Flim-Flam!”
I have spent nearly 42 years of my life believing things, that I now know to be fairy tales, lived in fear of hell, divine retribution etc, had my marriage and family nearly destroyed by the influence of a “warlock” and his white witch wife, (I’m not making this up!), and have spent the last five years trying to rebuild all the damage that numerous new age crap has caused. Believe me, it is far from harmless.
- “Dave” at randi.org
- mindovermyth at iidb.org
“This deeply christian man told me that he had a few weeks earlier attended a service where a christian healer (from US and of some fame) was invited to do his thing. This man had along with a number of fellow believers stepped forward, stated his illness to the “healer”, been pronounced healed and happily went home. As he believed himself healed, he stopped taking his prescribed medicine. For a few weeks he was in a bliss, believing to be cured by god, until he had an epileptic attack so severe as to “nearly kill me” -his quote.”
Here is a sad summary of a death that occurred when a woman was persuaded to use alternative medicine as a therapy for breast cancer.
On a lighter note, read about Stan Jones, whose use of a home remedy turned his skin blue. This was from ingesting too much colloidal silver, intended for use as a self-proscribed antibiotic that prevents colds and flus.
On a heavier note, read about a teenage rape victim who received 200 lashes and six months in jail for “being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape”. This is due to the strict Islamic doctrine called Wahhabism, dominant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where the incident happened. Wahhabism forbids unrelated men and women from associating with each other, bans women from driving and forces them to cover head-to-toe in public. Here is a first followup and more information about this case. Here is a second followup and more information. Here’s a third followup. Here’s a fourth followup, detailing how the rape victim has been pardoned.
As has been mentioned elsewhere on this site, read this short story to take credulity to its logical conclusion: What the world would be like without a skeptical, scientific viewpoint.
Religious fervor is also an easy excuse for murder and violence. If there is no justification apart from “because I said so”, we get 9/11 terrorists and holy crusaders who can ignore human laws at will, in the convenient excuse of serving their higher power. Here’s an essay on the dangerous mixture of religion and politics.
For an extremely comprehensive site detailing harm caused by a lack of critical thinking, visit “What’s the harm?“
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