Conversation

Notices

1. Embed this notice
   HeavenlyPossum (heavenlypossum@kolektiva.social)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Feb-2024 18:51:21 JST HeavenlyPossum

   Religious beliefs don’t make people do bad things. They don’t make people do good things either.

   Beliefs generally don’t make people do anything at all. That is, beliefs are not really *causal* to behavior. People tend to act like the people around them, the people they associate with and can observe (in person or virtually). We adopt beliefs primarily as ex post facto justifications for *why* we acted the way we did. They make it possible for us to live with our actions, but they don’t *cause* our actions.

   Culture? Ideology? Religion? Not particularly useful indicators of how someone will behave.

   • Embed this notice
     HeavenlyPossum (heavenlypossum@kolektiva.social)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Feb-2024 18:55:17 JST HeavenlyPossum

     • Håkan Geijer

     @hakan_geijer

     I am not surprised you disagree, because most people disagree when they hear this idea. It feels so supremely contrary to our own lived, subjective experience.

     But it’s true! As you noted yourself, you made the change and then adopted a belief system that accords with that change.