Why People Believe What They Believe
BY ARLENE HARDER, MA, MFT
Explore why people believe what they believe and how our beliefs support basic psychological needs that change over our lifetimes.
If you were asked WHY you believe what you say you believe, what would be your answer? If you are a Christian, you might say that you want to follow the truth and that your religion must be true because millions of people around the world are Christian. When asked what else you base your beliefs upon, you may answer, "The Bible tells us to believe this . . . or do that . . . or avoid doing another thing." When pressed to explain a Bible verse, you may turn to the interpretation of scriptures as taught by your pastor or priest because that person has done a great deal of study and is a well-known theologian or expert in the area. And similar answers can be given by those who follow the Koran, the Torah, or Tibetan holy books.
While such answers may seem to support your beliefs, they raise a number of questions. For example, is the number of people who believe in a religion really a good barometer? More people in the world aren't Christian than are. And why have you decided to accept the sacred writings of your religion as a blueprint for your life? Other texts are considered sacred by other people. What is it about your holy scripture that makes the most sense to you?
Further, there are many interpretations of the same biblical passage. Why do you put your faith in one interpretation rather than another? The world is filled with experts, yet you have chosen one or a group of experts rather than someone else.
So why do you believe what you believe? The truth is that each person's heart is opened (or closed) to a set of religious beliefs or to spiritual experience in a slightly different way. Each person chooses the particular beliefs that best meet his or her psychological, social, and mental needs. The more we understand why we believe one thing rather than another, the more we can strengthen the beliefs that are most important to us, question those that no longer work for us, and gain greater tolerance for the beliefs of others.
The Influence of One's Culture
We fail to understand one another not only because major religions, such as Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism, have both liberal and conservative branches and numerous sects, but because there are two basically different ways of conceptualizing God and transcendence.
In the western tradition, the divine principle is one in which "God" created the world, so He-She-It and the world are not the same. There is an essential distinction between the creator and that which He-She-It has created, often told in myths (some of which are believed literally) of a perfect creation, a Garden of Eden, where God sets down a law which a man and woman disobeys. This gets them both kicked out and needing to find their way back in by entering into an acceptable relationship with God.
Thus the goal for humans is to determine how they might submit themselves to the power of God by having the right relationship with Him-Her-It. Who determines what that relationship should be? For many centuries the institution of the church, temple, synagogue, and mosque was given the authority to determine what it is that God demands from His creation.
In the Jewish tradition, Yahweh is the god of the Jews alone and a covenant sets out their special relationship. Other western religions also claim to have "the" God and to know what their God asks of them. In "The Fiddler on the Roof," the main character, Tevye, says that the villagers wear their prayer shawls because of tradition to show their constant devotion to God and, "because of tradition, every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do."
In the Christian tradition, it is slightly different. Since nature is the creation of God, rather than a part of God, when Jesus becomes true Man and true God, a mystery is created because He combines these two natures. Through a relationship with Jesus, who's become the Christ, you can be in touch with the divine. Without Christ, you are separate from God.
In other words, the general spiritual perspective in the western tradition presupposes that there is a soul within people that may, or may not, be in proper relationship to the powerful creator. Throughout the centuries, of course, many Jewish, Islamic and Christian mystics have developed methods for getting in touch with what they believe is their creator.
From the eastern perspective, however, things are very different. In that worldview the divine is not something that lies outside a person, but is part of the individual. Within each person there is a piece of God. Thus the goal in the religions that grew out of this cultural perspective are very different than the goals of western religions. These spiritual practices (for they are more "practices" than a set of dogma) are designed to allow the individual to identity with the transcendent, of which he or she is already a part.
The various deities referred to in these traditions represent the transcendent. In other words, these Gods, rather than being an end in themselves, point the way toward the essence of eternal mysteries. One might think of them as symbols through whom the light of transcendence shines, much as many different sizes and shapes of light bulbs are not, in themselves, important. Rather, they are valuable as vehicles for transporting what is important, light itself.
This is a very brief description of western and eastern religious perspectives, but I present it here because I believe it is important to understand how an overarching view of the wider culture informs and shapes the beliefs of groups and then of individuals.
Relying on Our Parents for Guidance
Religion is a marvelous mechanism for raising children. Left entirely to their own devices, children would end up as demanding, dependent, self-centered creatures. To awaken their hearts to compassion and love for their fellow humans, churches have long played an important role in instilling high ideals, even though their followers don't always live up to those ideals.
Yes, it is possible to teach children to be moral and ethical without belonging to a church, but parents can more easily reinforce their positive goals with the support of a group that shares their views. A child raised in a particular faith is likely to continue following those traditions.
Once I asked a great-nephew what he believed about something and he said, "My mom believes such-and-such so I guess I do, too." Because his faith is presented in a loving way and the church the family attends have a strong program for the children, so it is very possible he will continue believing what his mother believes.
However, there generally comes a time in all of our lives when we realize we are responsible for affirming our beliefs without reliance on our parents. It is then that we move into a more mature relationship with faith. Then we may truly commit ourselves to the teachings of the church in which we grew up. Or, for a variety of reasons, we may make what could be considered a "lateral" move. For example, we might have been a Methodist but marry a Presbyterian and decide to join that church. Similarly, we might transfer our allegiance from a Jewish Reformed congregation to an Orthodox temple.
Very often, as we move beyond the religious beliefs (or non-beliefs) in which we were raised, many of us decide to give up entirely on religion or choose to set out in a new direction and create our own unique sets of beliefs.
Turning Away From the Faith of Our Parents
There are numerous reasons why we fall away from the faith of our parents or, if our parents didn't observe a particular religion and we went with a friend to their church, from a faith we believed when we were children.
First of all, in observing the state of the world today, it's not surprising that we can feel like Dorothy in the Land of Oz. The landscape has changed and the old answers that seemed so comforting to us as children don't seem to apply as readily as they once did. This can be especially true when death of a loved one, near-fatal accidents, and loss of an important job can strip away the illusion of security we might have previously attributed to faith in a particular religion.
Then, too, when a busy life places so many demands on us, going to church can be just one more thing in a schedule that already has too many commitments clamoring for attention. Gradually the "importance" of faith becomes less and less. And if you haven't experienced your faith wholeheartedly, but swallowed it whole, believing only because your parents believed, then the tenets of faith may not have had a chance to "grow deep tap roots." Then beliefs can vanish in the pressure of daily life and the call of a culture that places power, beauty and appearance above commitment to ideals.
Further, as you can read in the Stages of Life section, different kinds of growth and maturation seem to arise when we reach different ages and stages in life. For example, as you shift from the tasks of young adulthood, such as getting yourself established in a career, finding a mate, and raising children, you move into the less-pressured years of middle-adulthood. It is then that you may find yourself naturally begin to think of issues of faith you hadn't thought of before. You may sense something is missing and begin searching for it by returning to your old faith or searching in a new direction.
When Religions Meet Basic Psychological Needs
Recently there has been much laughter and derision of the Raelian group, the sect that claims not only to have cloned a human baby, but to believe all humans on earth were created from a clone of extra-terrestrials. Why do people accept such beliefs? To most of us, this seems just plain silly, yet the group attracts followers.
When pondering why people choose to join fringe or apocalyptic sects, even relatively new religious movements such as Mormonism and Scientology (or choose to remain in such organizations if they were raised in one), I have a hypothesis. I believe these groups find converts because they do a good job of meeting two basic psychological needs. One is the need to belong. The other is the need to feel special. Thus, affiliating with a religion that sets itself off from the mainstream to a significant degree — and particularly if that religion also has a strong structure of brotherhood and sisterhood — allows one to meet these needs easily and effortlessly. A person doesn't have to do anything other than accept the precepts of that religion and he or she can believe they are a very special person and are part of an important (superior) group.
By saying this, however, I am not implying that anyone who ascribes to religious or spiritual practices that are unconventional does so for this reason. There are many nuances to the reasons we join one faith or another (or choose not to join any church, temple or mosque). I merely notice the power that belonging offers members of a group. Even very traditional, conventional faiths offer a sense of community that can be an extremely important component of mental health. We all want to belong, to feel we are part of a loving group. To the extent that a church or belief provides that support, we are more likely to remain believers and not question the tenets of the faith.
Interpreting Scripture to Support a Worldview
Once we have joined a church or accepted the creed on which a religion is based, it becomes important to study the teachings of that faith. The more we understand why certain scriptures are interpreted a certain way, the more likely it will be that we'll remain faithful to that religion.
That is why Bible study is a focal point of many churches. Yet if you take a moment to think about it, every church interprets scripture in such a way as to reinforce the basic beliefs of that church, temple, or mosque. And as I said earlier, there are a hundreds of potential interpretations.
I'm reminded of a story Lynne Fearman, a lovely woman who comes every once-in-awhile to give me a soothing massage, tells of her childhood. The daughter of Jehovah's Witnesses, she often went with her mother door-to-door distributing literature and proselytizing her faith. When she was a teenager, she happened to meet another girl who was also knocking on doors in an attempt to gain converts. This girl was a member of the Worldwide Church of God, a sect that also believed in strict interpretation of scripture. They got to talking and soon, sitting on a curb and using their Bibles, they started debating the merits of their beliefs in what she referred to as a "scriptural battle."
The other girl would use a verse to demonstrate that Lynne was wrong and Lynne would point to another verse giving a different point of view, whereupon the girl will counter with another verse to refute Lynne's and Lynne would oppose that verse with still another one. At the end of two hours they decided they were both right — if "right" was determined by the interpretation of scriptural verses. They both came to the conclusion that you can find support in the Bible for any point of view if you took hard enough. Want justification for revenge and conflict? There is support for an eye for an eye. Want to emphasize peace? Turn the other cheek.
And that day Lynne lost her faith, since she had been taught that her religion was based on believing there was only one right way to understand scripture.
While I am most familiar with competing interpretations of the New Testament, I have been told that two rabbis can give three opinions on any part of the Torah. Many scholars of Eastern religions claim to be the "correct" interpreters of their holy writ. And there are thousands of self-styled prophets, philosophers, channelers, mediums, and leaders of utopian sects, each carefully selecting supportive documents for his or her point of view.
The Ego Gets in the Act
We're generally so convinced of the rightness of our position that it's almost impossible for us to be objective in examining the degree to which our beliefs (or our resistance to spiritual awareness) are driven by ego.
One of the reasons I believe we're generally so convinced of the rightness of our religious and spiritual beliefs is because of what I think of as our "roll-top desks." It's our ego's way of dealing with internal inconsistency. Let me explain.
In old-fashioned desks (and in newer models as well) there are lots of little cubbyholes and drawers into which we can separate our papers, pencils, keys, checkbook, bills, etc. But there always seems to be one that is used for whatever doesn't fit anyplace else. Since it's a roll-top desk, we can close the cover and not be reminded of that little compartment. We can create the illusion that everything has a specific place and fits together nicely. And in a way we're right. There is a drawer for "other stuff." Our sorting system has a place for "other stuff.".
Well, our minds are like that, too. We have a place where we shove stuff that doesn't fit — namely any beliefs that contradict our core beliefs and firmly held beliefs that are inconsistent with known facts. What happens, I surmise, is that our ego has such a need to be right that it convinces us that an incongruent belief does, in fact, make sense. If we give it any thought at all, we simply decide it is something "we have to take on faith." So we deal with such matters by shoving them into the drawer for everything that doesn't fit our worldview, but which we nevertheless say we believe.
Thus, it is possible for someone to believe that "God is love" and also believe it's okay to slaughter innocent people in His name. It is possible to be fervently pro-life and yet favor the death penalty. It is possible to believe in a strict, literal interpretation of the Bible and also claim Jesus didn't really change water into wine ("that was just an error in translation") in order not to appear to endorse alcohol.
And believers in creationism are like a friend of mine who accepts scientific research when it bolsters her beliefs, but dismisses scientific findings that refute her beliefs. For example, carbon dating of the recently found crypt supposedly belonging to a disciple of Jesus is welcomed. But she disregards scientific measurements of the age of fossils or sedimentary rock by saying the scientists "must not be reading their measurements correctly." The drawer in her roll-top desk is tightly closed and locked.
It is interesting that the goal of most religious and spiritual practice is to conquer the ego and yet it is the ego that can keep us most attached to our beliefs. Once I had a conversation with a friend who is a strong fundamentalist. When I asked what it would mean if he ever discovered his beliefs were not the one and only set of correct beliefs, he took a deep breath, stepped back from me for a moment, and replied, "Well, then my whole existence would be negated." In other words, his ego is so closely aligned with his beliefs that he dare not question or stretch his understanding of other faiths because it would jeopardize his sense of self.
We Are All Unconscious, to One Degree or Another, of Our Motives for Believing or Disbelieving
I hope that, after reading this article, you don't come to the conclusion that I don't think anyone really knows why they believe what they do. There are many who have given their beliefs a great deal of thought and have concluded that whatever form they follow is the best form for them at that particular time in their lives. However, there are many who have blindly accepted their faith without any conscious evaluation of whether it makes sense, of whether it is hogwash or holy.
My purpose in writing this and several other articles in this section is to encourage you to live your faith and follow your beliefs with an open mind and an open heart. Sort the wheat from the chaff. As I say in To What Should You Surrender?:
If you believe there is truth in the religion to which you subscribe, then by all means find that truth. Live the religious life and life it fully. If you choose to be a spiritual seeker, then by all means seek with all your heart and all the passion you can muster.
© 2003 Arlene Harder, MA, MFT |
