Exploring the Landscape of Belief

 Living in the world in the twenty-first century can be fascinating, yet confusing. There is an overwhelming amount of information available to us, making it difficult to navigate what is true and what is not. One of the CEOs of Google, Eric Schmidt, once said, “The internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn’t understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.”[1] I believe this to be true partly because the world contains many people with diverse beliefs who are able to post whatever they want without regardless if it is true or not.  It is up to us to use logic and reason as a filter to determine whether this information is true.

This leads us to consider the concept of objective truth, the idea that certain truths exist independently of individual beliefs or perceptions. In the last forty years, the United States has undergone radical changes in culture, long-held beliefs, and values. In our everyday lives, we are constantly being bombarded with topics such as same-sex marriage, legalization of drugs, redefinition of genders, and the rejection of objective truth. These radical changes coincide with the postmodernist movement that has influenced our school systems, literature, social media, news feeds, movies, and music. It is a mindset of skepticism, relativism, and rejection of any certainty regarding empirical facts or the existence of objective truth and moral values. Postmodernist roots began as early as the 19th century with philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche, and were further developed in the 1960s by thinkers such as Michel Foucault and Jean-François Lyotard. It seems relevant then, that we are as skeptical and relative as we are today, since it takes two to three generations to change a society’s perspective and become mainstream.

Besides the cultural integration of Postmodernism, the psychological dynamics at play in how we form beliefs cannot be overlooked. Humans are naturally inclined to find comfort in numbers; this tendency, known as social proof, leads many to adopt the beliefs and practices of the majority. Solomon Asch's experiments in the 1950s highlighted how easily individuals conform to a group's views, even against their better judgment. This natural inclination can result in the perpetuation of particular ideologies simply because they are widely accepted. We see trends such as “Gallup estimates that 9% of U.S. adults personally identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual. This percentage is essentially unchanged from last year but remains more than double the 3.5% from 2012, the first year Gallup measured LGBTQ+ incidence.”[2] There are many factors involved, but how much influence does social media have on younger kids?  For instance, Sam Smith, a musician and social media influencer with over 30 million followers, has stated that “I feel just as much a woman as I am a man. I’m not male or female, I think I float somewhere in between.”[3]

Not only does social media influence what we wear, who we date, or if we get tattoos or piercings, but more profoundly what we hold as a worldview. Supporters of religious pluralism argue that despite the surface differences among various faiths, many share fundamental ethical principles. This moral commonality suggests that while the paths may differ, the underlying goal of leading lives of meaning and purpose is universally sought. However, this optimistic view faces challenges. The law of non-contradiction makes it clear that mutually exclusive claims cannot be true simultaneously. For example, Christianity asserts that salvation comes through Jesus Christ, while Islam denies this and presents its own exclusive narrative. This contradiction raises valid concerns about the validity of multiple truths coexisting harmoniously. As philosophers like William Lane Craig have pointed out, if several religions claim ultimate authority over truth, at least one of them must be incorrect.[4]

Blaise Pascal

Logic must prevail if we are to continue to grow as a society and make breakthroughs science and technology. Any scientist who just ‘makes up’ his own laws of physics would be laughed out.  So why are other disciplines so different? We must understand when we are being influenced by mere social media or the popular things du jour. Just the same as all religions cannot be true at the same time, either theism is true or atheism is true but both cannot be true at the same time. Blaise Pascal, the famous mathematician, scientist, and philosopher of the 1600’s offers a pragmatic lens through which to view these existential questions. His wager argues that believing in God is a rational choice because, if God exists, the potential infinite gain of faith outweighs the finite loss of disbelief.

The exploration of religious belief involves navigating a complex landscape defined by pluralism and conflicting truths. While the arguments for religious pluralism advocate a shared ethical foundation and spiritual unity, the logical contradictions that arise undermine this argument. Coupled with the quest for objective truth and the psychological factors influencing belief, we are left to ponder our place within human understanding. Ultimately, we must decide not only to investigate the truth but also what we want to do with it.

[1] Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business (New York: Knopf, 2013), 19.

[2] Gallup. “LGBTQ+ Identification Holds Steady at 9% in U.S.” Last modified February 22, 2023. https://news.gallup.com/poll/702206/lgbtq-identification-holds.aspx.

[3] Gwen Aviles, "I'm not male or female': Sam Smith comes out as gender nonbinary." NBC News, March 18, 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/i-m-not-male-or-female-sam-smith-comes-out-n984541

[4] J.P. Moreland and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2003).