Belief and Knowledge

[bennyboy]

Lots of reasons to believe stuff without actual knowledge. Perhaps you are told something by someone you trust who has or should have actual knowledge. Perhaps you believe something because it conforms with your world view. Abiogenesis conforms to an atheistic world view which is why they believe it.

I don't see how it's possible for anyone to believe something that does NOT conform with his world view. So the question is-- how do people arrive at a world view, and how should one examine his own world view for flaws, in the hope of arriving at beliefs which actually represent reality?

Both atheism and science (for the most part), have arrived at the conclusion that those experiences which are shared, and which can be reliably communicated about, serve as the best basis for a world view. Rocks, when released, will drop for anyone. Materials, when treated in a particular way, will consistently form into other materials with different properties.

There are no experiences that we can share which are consistent with the God idea. As you've mentioned, this world view is developed differently. It focuses on the transmission of ideas through religious leaders and parents, through mutual affirmation and constant reaffirmation in a church community, and through the interpretation of experiences as being in support of the ideas.

But is this a good basis for a world view? I don't think so. You can see in the US that the suspension of critical thinking due to religious practices has led to serious and far-reaching consequences: to the neglect of the environment, for example, where the same process (accepting ideas based on transmission from trusted sources rather than on personal observation or critical thinking) has led to a complete refusal to observe. Forests are disappearing, ice caps are melting, people are becoming unhealthy, and what do you get? An unswerving acceptance of the party line, without regard to the visible, and important, changes happening in the world. And I find it highly ironic, given the content of the New Testament, that almost all of this is done in the name of Money.

So no. A world view based on shared observations is a sound one, and a world view based on feelings and proclamations from authority is a bad one. And everyone who believes in abiogenesis will tell you the same thing: show me the one who you say created these things, or give even plausible evidence-- actual observable, testable evidence, that your world view is anything more than a cultural fantasy. You might love your Granddad or whoever and be willing to take his proferred "wisdom" at face value. But we don't have to.