BELIEF

The human capacity for belief is astounding.

Everybody believes something: Atheists, Agnostics, Monotheists, Polytheists, Scientists, Salespersons, Politicians, Dog walkers, and Dish washers.

You name it, we all have beliefs.

Beliefs shape how we think and how we view the world. They influence our behavior.

We do not come pre-programmed with beliefs. Beliefs are acquired.

Our earliest, perhaps our strongest, beliefs were instilled when we were small children; acquired from parents, grandparents, older siblings, and others. 

Some beliefs are short-lived and subject to change. Some become entrenched.

There are two basic belief-types: 

Non-Ideological Beliefs

Non-ideological beliefs are formed from empirical, fact-based knowledge by which one can anticipate a given behavior or outcome.  As such, they are easily changed. 

For example, meteorologists base their predictions, their beliefs, about future weather on their knowledge of weather patterns and current conditions, but if a weather pattern suddenly changes, meteorologists have no difficulty changing their predictions.

All beliefs possess this predictive quality.

Ideological Beliefs

The most enduring type of belief are those of an ideological nature. Most ideological beliefs were handed down to us, or we gave our assent to them because they satisfy an emotional or intellectual need.

Ideological beliefs are not dependent on empirical or fact-based knowledge and are less likely to change.

As such, ideological beliefs can be concretized to the extent that any change to the conditions upon which they were predicated will likely be interpreted in such a manner as to authenticate the original conditions on which they are based.

As a result, conflicts can arise between those espousing non-ideological beliefs and those with strong ideological beliefs.

A prime example would be the on-going kerfuffle caused by Darwin's theory of evolution, a non-ideological belief, which conflicts with the ideological beliefs of certain religious groups. 

Although Darwin's theory is virtually accepted as fact due to the overwhelming preponderance of empirical data supporting it, there are ardent groups within Christianity*, for example, who insist that God created the world in six days as stated in the Holy Bible.

The belief in a six day creation is not derived from any empirical, fact-based knowledge other than the fact that the story is written in the Holy Bible's book of Genesis. 

That certain religious groups consider a six-day creation to be a "fact" is based on their belief that the Holy Bible is the Word of God and, as such, is inerrant. 

In other words, to believe in a six day creation one is likely to believe that the Bible supersedes all other factual data outside of its leather bindings.

No matter how strong fact-based evidence counters that belief, for those firmly entrenched in believing a six day creation as fact, the factual evidence against it will likely be used to predicate other ideological beliefs to defend their belief in a six-day creation. 

For example:

1) Carbon-dating is unreliable;
2) God created all things to look old;
3) The close genetic link between people and apes is likely the result of sinful humans having
     illicit intercourse with monkeys, or
4) People who don't believe in the six day creation don't believe in God.

The list could go on.

The veracity of ideological beliefs is hard to establish because most are derived from abstract constructs that one has to subscribe to in the form of intellectual assent. 

Subscription to an ideological belief automatically contains subsets necessary to sustain loyalty to the core belief, as demonstrated above.  As such, certain ideological beliefs are assigned values to give them weight.

Some ideological beliefs come to possess an aura of morality about them; that there is such a thing as a right way and a wrong way to believe, to think, or to act.

Frequently, beliefs that possess a moral quality defines a believing community's identity and provides cohesion amongst its members.

*Many Christian denominations and individuals readily accept Darwin's theory.

Belief and Values

Beliefs and values have become interchangeable terms, with the term "value" attached to certain beliefs to give them more weight and moral authority. 

Politicians and religious leaders have have been quick to latch on to this principal, turning it into catch-phrase. 

In the U.S., for example, we hear of American Values, Christian Values and Family Values. But these values are nothing more than sets of beliefs that some have given moral weight to and use to appeal to or sway public opinion. 

Their ability to do this generally attracts support from highly ideologically based groups.  This practice is seen elsewhere in the world, as well.

Belief and Faith

In Christianity, as well as other religions, beliefs are connected to the concept of faith.  In fact, for many, faith and belief are synonymous.

As with linking certain beliefs to values, linking certain beliefs to faith make those beliefs sacrosanct. 

Whereas beliefs of all types can be changed; generally speaking, one's faith or one's values are not as easily changed.

Should one change a belief linked to faith, one has lost faith. 

If it is linked to values, one has lost one's sense of value.  

Why is that?

Beliefs shape perception.

Beliefs are at the core of how we see ourselves and are at the core of what others see in us.

When a core belief, usually an ideological belief (a belief that is linked to value and faith) has changed, in some sense, our identities and our associations with others change. 

We no longer seem to be the persons we once were. 

This can result in experiencing a profound sense of loss and disorientation for those whose beliefs have changed and confusion for those with whom they associated.

Beliefs are ubiquitous and found working at every level of conscious and unconscious awareness.

Beliefs involve complex mental processes related to one's environment, culture, family, personal experience, and overall knowledge.  

As mentioned in Part I, beliefs can be given moral weight or value.

For example, the belief that one shouldn't steal has a real moral value; becoming a universal law.  Belief in the Golden Rule has a strong ethical value found throughout most, if not all philosophical and religious traditions. 

Designating beliefs that are ambiguous in their meanings as having moral or ethical value, however, can be misleading.

For example, American Values, Christian Values, and Family Values connote vague beliefs; in that, not all Americans, not all Christians, and not every family share the same beliefs as to what being an American, being a Christian, and being a family means.

In the United States, the issues of rights; racial rights, minority rights, women rights and gay rights are reshaping long-held (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) ideological beliefs and present a challenge to those who wish to convey by the term "value" such traditional, ideological  beliefs about race, minorities, women, and sexual orientation. 

Of course such views are out of vogue and not mentioned in the larger public square today, but those of us who grew up in the era Civil Rights can recognize that they implicitly undergird what is meant by the majority of those who claim to promote those values.

When ideological beliefs become concretized, they can be considered a matter of faith (in the religious sense of that word). As we shall see in further posts, faith is not belief. 

When beliefs are treated as unassailable matters of "faith," as truths, they can be the cause of violence; should those subscribing to them perceive they are being challenged or refuted in any way.

Throughout history people have persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and killed millions because of what they believed, and millions have been persecuted, imprisoned, tortured and killed because of their belief-identities.

We cannot escape believing.

Believing allows us to function.  If we did not possess beliefs, we could not function at the level humans do.

We are, after all, animals.

To be human is rise beyond our animal attributes and qualities.  Doing so is a matter of survival. It is our capacity to be aware and to believe that permits us to do so.

Being the high functioning animals we are has provided us with heightened drives found in our fellow animals.  We can be highly aggressive and violent.  We are highly sexualized animals.  Our appetites know no bounds if left to themselves.

It is likely we would have wiped ourselves out long ago had we not evolved strong mental capacities to counter these drives, and this is where our capacity to believe proves vital to our existence.

Associated with our ability to believe is our ability to will; to act on our beliefs.

For example, our aggressive, violent nature is tempered by music and visual arts which allow us to objectively express and view our nature and beliefs. 

We have evolved social awareness, the concern for the mental and physical well-being of others, and the capacity for compassion and open mindedness. 

As humans we have, within the strength of our varied beliefs, the ability to resist aggression, sexual exploitation, violence of all types and preserve our planet home.

We also have, within the strength of our varied beliefs, the capacity to destroy the world. 



Until then, stay faithful.