Just thought I'd chime in on the "Can theists be rational?" topic:
I tend to hold the perspective that rationality has to do with the soundness of your thought process (and not the facts/opinions it spawns from). Skepticism is where the questioning of facts and opinions comes from, and because of that I think that the failure of religion can be attributed to a lack of proper skepticism moreso than a failure to be rational.
For instance, it is a perfectly rational thought process that leads to hating gay people because the Bible says that a man sleeping with another man is an abomination IF you are operating under the assumption that everything the Bible says is true and right. It's thusly a lack of skepticism that is your problem: you're never questioning whether or not the Bible is true, so you're coming to a flawed conclusion.
I tend to hold the perspective that rationality has to do with the soundness of your thought process (and not the facts/opinions it spawns from). Skepticism is where the questioning of facts and opinions comes from, and because of that I think that the failure of religion can be attributed to a lack of proper skepticism moreso than a failure to be rational.
For instance, it is a perfectly rational thought process that leads to hating gay people because the Bible says that a man sleeping with another man is an abomination IF you are operating under the assumption that everything the Bible says is true and right. It's thusly a lack of skepticism that is your problem: you're never questioning whether or not the Bible is true, so you're coming to a flawed conclusion.
Hi and thank you for your thoughts. I think you are right. I may have misused the word “rational”. A person is coming to a wrong conclusion but not because of lack of rationality, but due to a flawed process of thinking. The premises are messed up.
Be reasonable
Fight the faith
Notes
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8bitian liked this
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journeylikejazz said:
Both of you are quite off the mark here. I am both gay and a christian. My thought process is not skewed. I’d challenge you to a therapy duel with an unbiased referee aka psychiatrist/psychologist any day.
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fightthefaith posted this
Welcome to my blog. I hope you find some useful information about atheism and rational thinking. Have you ever thought about living without fearing god? Maybe you'll find the answer here
