Subject:
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Re: Personality test vs. Religion
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 26 Oct 2004 00:10:25 GMT
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Viewed:
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1890 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, David Eaton wrote:
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I’ve noticed that too. I’ve also noticed similar things with people who are
just “decisive”. They’ll form an opinion early on, then focus on facts that
support the opinion, rather than base the opinion on facts. Of course it’s
more like a sliding scale than a rule-- ‘the more decisive you are, the more
likely you might be to see things you *want* to see and ignore things you
*don’t* want to see’.
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I would say that it’s definitely a sliding scale, because we’re all guilty of
that to some extent. I certainly note such tendencies in myself--I just try to
keep them in check.
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But that right there got me curious-- if people inherently *want* a God to
exist (I know I always did as a kid, and heck, it still might be really nice
depending on the God),
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That’s an interesting separate question: do atheists, by and large, *want* a God
to exist? Do they wish God *did* exist?
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and if the above is true, should it follow that religious people
are inherently more decisive than atheists?
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It is an interesting question. I do know, though, that there are many religious
people who believe that atheists are the ones who are stubborn in their
disbelief of God, and that it is atheists who refuse to consider all the
evidence. Of course, it is entirely possible that this is simply what such
religious believers want to believe about atheists, and cling to it only
because they refuse to consider evidence to the contrary. :)
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And how about how closely you adhere
to your religion, or how ... uh... ‘vehement’ you get at people who present
opposing views? (I’m not sure I know how to phrase that in a PC manner at the
momnt)
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I think that in general, the more you have riding on a certain belief being
true, the greater the tendency is to view the evidnce in a skewed fashion. So
those who feel they have everything riding on a certain belief being true are
the most likely to only consider evidence that they think supports that belief
and reject anything they see as threatening the truth of that belief.
When it comes to religion, many believers see the stakes as pretty darn high.
Much of their comfort (belief that there is a benevolent being watching over
them and their loved ones, belief that their life has transcendant importance,
belief that their conscious existence does not end at death) is riding on their
basic religious beliefs. So there is a corresponding tendency to stifle any
doubts that would threaten the belief system, and where doubts persist, a
tendency to seek out evidence that one’s belief system is well-founded, even if
it requires a very skewed view of all the available evidence.
But I would guess that this sort of thing is the case for human beings whether
the beliefs in question are religious or not. It is sort of a cliche, but
consider the wife whose whole happiness and sense of self-worth comes from the
belief that she has a perfect marriage. Although there may be ample evidence
that her husband is cheating on her, evidence clear to friends and relatives,
she will nonetheless have a great tendency to ignore or “explain away” such
damning evidence and be all too quick to point to flimsy evidence to the
contrary.
Is such a wife being “decisive” about her marriage?
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Anyone know any Meyers/Briggs analysis that cross references religion?
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That would interesting for whatever results it suggested.
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Certainly the Bush/Kerry thing would seem to support the theory if nothing
else :)
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Your first paragraph certainly did seem to me like a thinly-veiled critique of
Bush on Iraq.
Is it possible to see the world in shades of gray (instead of stark black and
whites) and still be “decisive”? The latter doesn’t seem to rule out the
former.
-Brendan
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Personality test vs. Religion
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| (...) I'll put it this way-- I'd wish a "truly fair" God existed-- one that believed in relative morality, etc. Because, hey, it IS somewhat comforting to know that "everything's gonna be ok" or whatever. Would I want a Christian God to exist? (...) (20 years ago, 26-Oct-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
| | | Re: Personality test vs. Religion
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| (...) Fundamentally, I prefer the way things are : God doesn't exist, so I'm free. Free of being good for myself and others, not because some Gog decides that's the way to go. However, I'm not the only human on Earth. I cannot decide for others. So (...) (20 years ago, 1-Nov-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Personality test vs. Religion
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| (...) I've noticed that too. I've also noticed similar things with people who are just "decisive". They'll form an opinion early on, then focus on facts that support the opinion, rather than base the opinion on facts. Of course it's more like a (...) (20 years ago, 25-Oct-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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