[sexdrugsmoney]

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As I said you need to believe that.

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I believe IronUnkind summed it up well when he said:

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It is not "pride in unbelief" that is the motivating psychological factor, nor is it "pride in getting it right"; it is more along the lines of "shame of being considered unintelligent."

Existing in a culture such as a university environment where religious belief is widely considered to represent an intellectual flaw or even a psychological defect, one confronts strong social pressure to conform to the community standard.

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Continuing ...

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But the fact is that "pride in getting it right" is a far greater motivater to smart people than "pride in unbelief".

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So the truly smart people are the ones that keep an open mind and are willing to accept the truth if they meet it, regardless of the consequences?

Even if it means a sudden criticism of their reputation and the potential damaging of the long-standing friendships they have built up over the years with others in academic positions that shared their then belief?

See IronUnkind's quote above.

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(In my case there was never a pride of unbelief or a desire to escape moral commandments. It was just as I learned more and more, it became more and more obvious that any religions specific precepts had to be a big underdog to be true. It was no different than how I decided astrology or rushes were big underdogs to be true. I'm quite sure that most scientists reach their skepticism in about the same way.) And even a nine year old kid is capable of thinking "Wait a second, there are at least ten types of major religions with significant differences. And those who practice them are all sure that the evidence supports them. So even if there is a God, a randomly chosen religion is no more than ten percent to be right. Yet these religious people are all SURE they are right . What's wrong with them"?

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So what you are saying is:

Take a child's surface view, add up the numbers, it's not worth investigating each religion as you're probably still a big underdog to be right.

?

Cheers,
SDM