A recent LiveScience article "Americans Believe in God, Astrology, and Ghosts" indicates that the beliefs people hold may actually be contradictory and a mix of a variety of themes.
This tends to confirm the view that people will believe almost anything regardless of whether it is consistent with what they profess. After all how does one reconcile the fact that 22% of those identifying themselves as Christians also believe in reincarnation? Nearly one in five has had an encounter with a ghost, while 25% believe in astrology.
While all this can be somewhat entertaining, I was struck by another article on LiveScience just a few days earlier; "Belief in Witchcraft Leads to Murder in Africa".
In this article the story dealt with the murders of albinos for body parts because it was felt that they contained magical powers.
Sound crazy? Well, we also have to consider other situations like Jonestown, the Branch Davidians, and even Heaven's Gate.
Some would argue that these are the exceptions, since we call them "cults" and aren't logically part of any religion. However, the term cult is invariably used only when people want to distance themselves from some of the extreme consequences of others beliefs.
Regardless of how one chooses to classify these things, in the end it always comes down to all the weirdness that people are willing to believe. An obvious question is why do people believe all these things?
It seems that a partial explanation may exist when one considers that every one of these beliefs suggests that the individual involved has either special power or special status that conveys some advantage to them that no one else has. Such groups may have special knowledge, or access to special powers by some supernatural entity, or the ability to communicate with supernatural entities, etc. In short, the main characteristic that these types of beliefs have in common is that they transform the ordinary individual into an extraordinary one. In this view of the world, miracles can occur to offset the vagaries of ordinary life. One isn't subjected to the normal problems or issues of the world, but rather one has a special friend that is looking out for them. Someone that is capable of effortlessly fixing problems. Someone that can appreciate how unjustly a person is being treated and correct it. Someone that has the power to give you a "do-over". Basically someone that can ensure that the rules of life don't have to apply to you, because you're exceptional.
It's little wonder that most people cling to their beliefs so desperately.
Comments
I agree that it's tempting to think of a set of rules regarding what is acceptable and what is not, but more to the point, the issue is when people proclaim that their particular religious view is the correct one. From that premise it is presumed that there really are a set of rules governing what those beliefs are. After all, if the only point was that we could believe anything we like, then there's no much point in religion and no point in proclaiming it's truthfulness.
Therefore it's a bit difficult when someone uses their religious belief to argue about the truthfulness in the Bible and hears the views of fundamentalist beliefs (i.e. the bible is the absolute word of God) and then hear how these same believers accept ideas that are completely opposite.
I would agree that there is a huge difference between what people claim to believe and what they actually do believe, but I think its the phenomenon of religious organization that creates the sense that there are rules and contradictory beliefs seem particularly foolish against such proclamations.
Gerhard Adam | 12/12/09 | 14:36 PM
Hey Gerhard... 22% of Christians also believe in reincarnation? How many "Christians" were interviewed? Where was the interview taken. How was the question posed or was the reincarnation interest a follow up question? There is a significant amount of confusing interviews and polls that have long served to provide a "snapshot" of the current populous, with the intent of revealing how goofy/confused/lame today's crop of Christians. Would you think that this might be done to discredit, if not the belief itself but the believers in particular? Please forgive the skepticism as you might expect from me but truth be known it all depends on where the question was asked and how it was framed. Are you celebrating the "Christmas Season Gerhard?...
PerryV (not verified) | 12/24/09 | 16:18 PM
I don't think the intent was to discredit anyone as much as it was to illustrate how people have a wide range of beliefs that typically extend well beyond what they may identify themselves as having.
Merry Christmas to you and have a great holiday.
Gerhard Adam | 12/24/09 | 17:05 PM
Beliefs are much more complex than you're suggesting and there may be a considerable downside to them. However, much of that is mitigated by modern society that places boundaries on such situations.
I don't even know where to begin with your comment that our "brains were just not designed for complexity", since that doesn't make sense at any level.
Gerhard Adam | 12/24/09 | 17:16 PM
Fair enough Gerhard...forgive my suspicious nature but it is for good reason and most polls are for self-serving reasons even though there is lip service given to it's perfectly innocent intentions. 4000+ folks seems like a large number but you and I both know that it is hardly representative of the Country as a whole. You can chat up 4000 folks in a couple hours standing on a sidewalk in NYC and the diversity will be hardly but a taste of that area and in the more rural section of the Country (say Kansas) this poll would (I believe) take on a whole different flavor. So this 22% number as far as Christians and reincarnation beliefs is concerned is isolated and moot. I like your effort though...
As for the the emotions and feelings directing the World?? You've got to be kidding...are you also held captive and walled off in a lab or school as you suggest Science is? You must be...do you actually believe that nothing harmful ever happens in a Science Lab? You should leave Science behind for a while and investigate some History. The brush you are painting with is generic at best and more skewed opinion based. If you think a brain is not designed (I won't even comment on the "designed" verbiage) for complexity doesn't even merit a basic response beyond that's a bogus statement, and I didn't miss the "mens even less" detail...you a fan of the "Lifetime" channel?? Poor people? Have you ever heard of Scientology....
As for the the emotions and feelings directing the World?? You've got to be kidding...are you also held captive and walled off in a lab or school as you suggest Science is? You must be...do you actually believe that nothing harmful ever happens in a Science Lab? You should leave Science behind for a while and investigate some History. The brush you are painting with is generic at best and more skewed opinion based. If you think a brain is not designed (I won't even comment on the "designed" verbiage) for complexity doesn't even merit a basic response beyond that's a bogus statement, and I didn't miss the "mens even less" detail...you a fan of the "Lifetime" channel?? Poor people? Have you ever heard of Scientology....
PerryV (not verified) | 12/24/09 | 17:45 PM
Rycharde Manne | 02/23/10 | 02:23 AM
I don't think those beliefs contradict themselves at all. God, ghosts, and astrology are all part of the "supernatural" or "paranormal" -- so if you believe in one, you are likely to believe or at least consider the other. Just because the belief in god is widely accepted, doesn't make it any less paranormal than the rest of the things you mentioned.
Michelle (not verified) | 05/13/10 | 17:41 PM
Nice article.
Science thrives off of contradictions, and in approaching them I think you have to assume that in an objective sense - as if from God's perspective - they don't exist. It is fascinating whenever you come across them, as they beg to be 'solved' like an algebra equation. Some of the largest theoretical leaps - think theory of relativity -stem from exploiting and solving contradictions.
To paraphrase Aristotle, the same thing cannot both be and not be in the same manner. Solving contradictions requires looking at whether 2 things are in fact the same or different and in what manner or circumstance. I think you're right to point to an underlying belief in one self being extraordinary as allowing for many of these contradictory beliefs to coexist.
From a purely rational perspective, it's tempting to think that belief in one religion would connote a set of laws which would exclude believing contradictory laws. That this isn't the case may throw light on the notion of belief in religion or of such 'laws'.
But regardless, from a larger perspective, one has to assume that there is no contradiction here whatsoever. Figuring out why there is no contradiction is half the fun.