Cherry Picking

[Bad Writer]

The concept of Cherry Picking is derived from the idea of a gardener harvesting the fruit from his cherry trees. He determines the health of a cherry by careful examination of its physical appearance, and also by its feel. This concept is used as an apt analogy for how followers of religion pick and choose the good and bad from its historical and (this especially) its religious documents.

Religions come with the good, the bad, and the ugly. What I would like to discuss is the process for how this is done, the merits of doing so, and the pitfalls that are associated with it as well. Since most people here have been or are associated with Christianity, I expect there to be much talk of the Bible, but I put this in the main section of the Religion forum as to way to not exclude other faiths from the discussion.

[Raven]

Religion is just another human endeavor, consequently it is subject to all the things that occur to any other human endeavor. What I mean is that when something starts out you will have an idea of what the faith believes according to the founder(s). Not everything that is posited as being a tenet of the faith is going to go down equally well with every single person who subscribes to it. I would imagine that this would be true from the very beginning. For example, I would find it surprising that even the very first Xtians were unanimous in there support for every last little doctrine of belief. People are just naturally given to picking and choosing, so they just go ahead and do so. They really don't even think about it. In my own personal experience as someone who was raised in the RC church, there did not appear to be anyone who did not go ahead and do that, and as a general rule people just believed that which corresponding with their own personal leanings and ignored the rest. Technically we were all wrong for doing so according to the church, but no one ever gave it a thought.

It is probably a good thing that people behave this way because who would want to live in a society where we still stoned people for picking up sticks on the sabbath? Of course, some things appear to be a big deal to some folks for whatever reason and then you get into the whole schism thing. You have yourself a knock-down drag-out over the forces of orthodoxy and change, with both sides being convinced that they are in the right. Which, as we know from history can get quite bloody at times. But let us all remember that religion is always, in all times, a force for good! Amen.

[Doubting Thomas]

Well to cherry pick the good out of Christianity it takes a dual mindset, or compartmentalization. You have to pretend that God really, really does get upset over gay people having sex, but then also pretend that he doesn't care if people eat shrimp or pork any more. Or, you have to pretend that you follow all of Jesus' teachings but get upset over having to pay more in taxes so some poor people can get welfare benefits.

[Bad Writer]

Not everything that is posited as being a tenet of the faith is going to go down equally well with every single person who subscribes to it.

...

It is probably a good thing that people behave this way because who would want to live in a society where we still stoned people for picking up sticks on the sabbath?

I for one am thankful that we don't live in such a society. It's very true that Xians, for example, will recite the ten commandments up and down all day long, but then stoning naughty children at the edge of town is conveniently forgotten. And good thing too!

I would say that even fundamentalists that have to believe in every aspect of their religion have to cherry pick to one degree or another. Christian scientists have to do this every day when stories in the bible do not correlate with facts of the natural world.

So this is the good. What about the bad, or the pitfalls?

[Raven]

@ Doubting Thomas: Very true. Compartmentalization is a very human trait, one that we all make use of even if we don't realize it. I doubt that we'd be able to get through our lifetimes without it. Politicians are true experts at the art, it allows them to talk out of both sides of their mouth and still take themselves seriously.

[Faith No More]

The pitfall is that it ceases to be a search for the truth and merely becomes an extension of what you already believed in the first place.

And then they defend that with the unfalsifiable claim that a magic ghost guided them to the truth.

[Raven]

The pitfall is that it ceases to be a search for the truth and merely becomes an extension of what you already believed in the first place.

And then they defend that with the unfalsifiable claim that a magic ghost guided them to the truth.

I very much agree. But until we outgrow our need as a people to believe in religions this is going to continue. And the true believers will do just as you say and claim that God guided them to the truth.

Myself, I was Catholic for a time only because I was raised that way. Like most people I went with it for no other reason. But from when I was just a little kid there were things I could never accept. Original Sin was the first one. I just could not accept that idea. I was like "But I just got here! How could I have done anything yet?" I refused to accept the notion, I did not care what the church said was true. By the time I was old enough to vote there was a whole laundry list of things that did not set well with me and that I rejected. I was far from alone in the pews with picking and choosing. Even my Sunday school teacher sister does it, and she's as religious as they get.

[Minimalist]

The pitfall is that it ceases to be a search for the truth and merely becomes an extension of what you already believed in the first place.

Theists are not interested in truth. What they seek is validation of their closely held beliefs....no matter how stupid they are.

[Godscreated]

I for one am thankful that we don't live in such a society. It's very true that Xians, for example, will recite the ten commandments up and down all day long, but then stoning naughty children at the edge of town is conveniently forgotten. And good thing too!

That's not true period, the verses you refer to have been explained many times and have never been refuted by atheist. You all like to say Christians cherry pick yet atheist are more guilty of this practice, you only pick out one or two verses.... oh wait you go to a website that has done all the work for you and grab a few lines and claim you found them, that's dishonest. You have no idea what is in the Bible because you parrot others, maybe we should start calling you guys mockingbirds that way we can cover two reasons with one bird. Hey did I just kill two birds with one stone. Why do you want us to study evolution before we argue it, yet set a second standard for yourselves and say you do not need to read or study scripture. Double standards and double talk, use others work and claim it for yourselves, great moral standards you have.

[Raven]

The pitfall is that it ceases to be a search for the truth and merely becomes an extension of what you already believed in the first place.

Theists are not interested in truth. What they seek is validation of their closely held beliefs....no matter how stupid they are.

Was any of this ever a search for truth, or was it never anything more than a search for comfort in an uncertain world?