The Free Market of Ideas
On a level playing field, good ideas are accepted and bad ideas are rejected. However, the world is still filled with bad ideas. If the premise is true and the conclusion is true, then we must assume that there isn’t always a level playing field in the free market of ideas.
We know that the world is still filled with bad ideas. All we need to do to show this is to point out any religion. Even if one were a Christian and strongly believed that Christianity was a good idea, he or she would still have to admit that Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. are all bad ideas. This of course supports the conclusion that the world is filled with bad ideas.
So how can we distinguish between good ideas and bad ideas? This is what reason, logic, and the scientific method are for. Using these tools we are able to separate the bad ideas from the good ideas. Don’t believe me? If I were to state that the world is flat, we can apply our tools to figure out if this is a good idea or a bad idea. We see the shadow of the Earth in an eclipse, we have traveled around the Earth and observed that it is a sphere, and we have taken photos of the Earth from space and have observed that it is in fact not flat. So that would be a bad idea. We all accept this as fact even though we can stand on the Earth without falling off and that when we look at the ground it appears to be quite flat.
Now if we all accept that the Earth is not flat and is in fact spherical based on the tools of logic, reason, and the scientific method, why is it that religion more often than not attempts to bypass those tools through the concept of faith? Why is it that religion more often than not attempts to bypass those tools by spreading their ideas to people who are emotionally or intellectually unable to use those tools?
Let me clarify this last point. I am not saying that religion goes after stupid people exclusively. What I am saying it that more often than not, religion attempts to spread its ideas when people are too young to use the intellectual tools of reason, logic, and the scientific method. Also, religion more often than not, attempts to spread its ideas when people are in emotionally distress or turmoil. During these moments (sometimes they are brief moments) people are not thinking rationally. The tools of reason, logic, and the scientific method are being circumvented.
It certainly seems to me that the tools of the intellect, logic, reason, and the scientific method are used and accepted by everyone when it comes to everything except when it comes to religion. When it comes to religion, people through out the intellectual tools and instead use faith.
It seems that religion knows that it cannot compete on an open playing field with science and reason. As a result, religion has found ways to propagate itself by cheating the intellect. If religion is such a great idea, then why won’t it compete on an open playing field? Why has it become taboo to criticize religion?
Filed under: anti-intellectualism, culture war, Decline of Religion, logic, Religion
