0.4.3 Religious beliefs: Can they be rational?

Version 1.0 March 2013                                Previous Version

These pages contain a lot about religion: what we hold dear, our ultimate concerns, the sacred.  Many people wonder whether it is possible to be ‘reasonable’ about religion, or deny that we can be.  Many people think that religion has to be irrational.  That is incorrect. 

·        The Buddha, Jesus and Mohammed, and their early followers, all believed their religion was rational, even if they didn’t use the word.

·        Many religious believers today are willing to explain why they think their beliefs should be followed by others, appealing to reason and the evidence.

·        Opponents of religion disagree with the reasoning and dispute the evidence.

·        These disagreements can be discussed calmly, rationally and politely – discussing the reasoning and the evidence, not attacking the person.

Some religious believers today acknowledge that the primary source of their beliefs is revelation.

·        Some believe that what was said by a teacher, or what is written in a sacred book, is literally true, not just a story with a moral.

·        Others have personal experiences that constitute personal revelations about god.

·        For such people, considering the evidence includes considering those “revealed truthsâ€�.  To them, the statements in the sacred book, such as the Torah, the Bible or the Koran, and their spiritual experiences are part of the evidence that we need to reason about. 

·        Some of these people feel that anyone who ignores this evidence must be ignorant or foolish, or, at worst, evil.  This is why such people can tolerate the idea of hell: you only get there through wilful ignorance, foolishness or choosing evil.

·        The reasoning and evidence behind “revealed truthâ€� must be examined seriously.  We must look at religious beliefs from the perspective of believers.  Just as we begin by trying to be reasonable, they begin by adopting their faith in revelation. 

 

Still others base their religion on practical experience rather than an initial rational conviction.  They adopt an approach, more or less on “faith�, sometimes explicitly on a trial basis, and by following certain practices hope to gain insights or the wherewithal to lead a more fulfilling life. 

For example:

●  People joining a monastery or a nunnery are usually on probation for a period, for their own benefit as well as that of the institution, while they test whether the life suits them;

●  We need to meditate ourselves before we fully realise the benefits of meditation.

●  Often we need to, or wish we could, “try before we buyâ€�.

Many religions are based more on ritual and narrative rather than central beliefs. 

In these pages we also appeal to reason and the evidence, in a broad sense, as well as to experience, to explicitly show on what grounds we can say our way is preferable.

It is reasonable for us to discuss these various approaches and perhaps learn from them.