Belief vs knowledge. Knowledge is facts. When you know something, its not a belief. You can know that you need to breathe a media containing oxygen to live. You can know that 2+2=4 and the grammatically correct english spelling of dog is d-o-g. Belief applies to concepts that have yet to be proven as fact (and consequently, have yet to be disproven and false), or concepts that are subjective. One can believe that 16 year olds are or are not adults. They can legally obtain a drivers liscence, but they cannot vote. Some 16 year olds are more emotionally and intellectually mature than other 16 year olds. Thus, this belief is subjective. One can believe that humans have or don't have a soul. There is no conclusive evidence that humans have a soul. There is also no conclusive evidence that they don't. Many aspects of our kbowledge of the world around us originated as beliefs. Disease, for example, was believed by some to be caused by organisms that were too small to observe naturally, until the belief was proven by inventing artificial means of perception. Disease was also believed by others to be a punishment for immorality, until the belief was disproven by the the same afforementioned invention. In that context, and specifically regarding beliefs of a spiritual nature (like the existence of a human soul), is belief one way or the other immoral or 'wrong'?
Agreed. Believing something so strongly that you claim it as fact despite lacking the proof is akin to delusion.
Believing a lie - which I'm defining here as a falsehood that serves a person's egotistical side - is obviously immoral.
I would argue that the idea that disease is not a punishment for sin has not been disproved, we have just figured out the how the theoretical punishment works. I am not arguing that illness is punishment only that the theory that it could be has not been disproved. fact is people live according to their beliefs, every person on the planet does it some beliefs are based on true facts others are based on speculation and yet others are based on faith. it is literally impossible not to act according to what you believe. you can certainly do things that are for example against your religion but at the moment you do they you believe they are the best action for you. Smoking for example. everyone knows for a fact that as you smoke a cigarette that it is killing you but people still smoke because they believe that that cigarette will not kill them and that the pleasure they get from smoking it is better at the moment. now if we are making determinations that affect other people, making laws for example we need to be very careful about how we use our beliefs. i would say things we know are things that transcend belief universally.. Gravity makes things fall for example
Not really. The overwhelming majority believe that because it's what they've have been taught, not because they have personal knowledge.
Well then the knowledge base if individuals is tiny. I have no first hand knowledge that my lungs filter oxygen from the air and put it into my bloodstream.
“Spend more time getting better evidence, rather than trying to convince people in the absence of it.” Paraphrased Neil deGrasse Tyson quote.
They are the same thing.. I have faith that doctors and scientists are correct that my lungs are filtering the oxygen in the air and putting in into my blood. I have absolutely no first hand knowledge that that is true. I accept it by faith and faith alone. What you accept by faith is what you believe. Even first hand knowledge is the same way. I believe by faith in gravity that if i jump into the air that gravity will bring me back down.
Your belief in gravity is not by faith but in experience and experience is a form of evidence. Faith is generally used to infer a belief without evidence. Faith in your doctor... Perhaps you don't have much history with them and are not equipped to determine their skills and abilities and so you have faith because well, what choice do you have? That's all faith is really. It's to make a person feel better about their choices or because they feel uncertain, unsure, or unsafe not having the answer to what is or will be.
Yup and the bible is equipped to determine right from wrong in the same way a doctor is equipped to determine what my lungs are doing.
Belief is subconscious and unavoidable so I don't see how it can be moral or not in itself. What we choose to do about our beliefs, along with our acceptance that is what they are, will be the important element.
i agree with your conclusion about behavior but my belief/nonbelief in both God and Gravity is fully conscious
good quote, however there are many that manufacture evidence in an attempt to get others to believe...
I do not think so, it's only morally wrong when they use that belief to deny others rights or justify harming others now some beliefs can be harmful to themselves, but it's not immoral for them to believe it example, if one believes a fruit only diet is healthy, that is harmful to themselves, but not immoral, forcing a baby to eat only fruits is immoral if better options exist so I did not answer the poll as not really a yes or no, it depends
If one believes that "We saw, we came, he died"...does that make it right- or wrong? (For those of you seeing this- let's place bets on deflections- The admin this dude (or chick?) voted for is the rep here
making an assumption that everyone has the same 'bible'... ergo, change your word 'our' to 'my' (meaning yours)... con > to make someone believe something false + science> to build & organize knowledge= false science... conscience: con science > to build & organize false knowledge
Beliefs exist only in the mind of the thinker, therefore they can't be immoral because they are not actions. Only actions can be immoral.