The disciples of Pythagoras had an implicit faith in their Master’s doctrine: “HE HAS SAID IT!” was for them the solution of all problems.
Your host, Jean Meslier
The majority of men act with as little reason. A curate, a priest, an ignorant monk, will become in the matter of religion the master of one’s thoughts. Faith relieves the weakness of the human mind, for whom application is commonly a very painful work; it is much easier to rely upon others than to examine for one’s self; examination being slow and difficult, it is usually unpleasant to ignorant and stupid minds as well as to very ardent ones; this is, no doubt, why faith finds so many partisans.
The less enlightenment and reason men possess, the more zeal they exhibit for their religion. In all the religious factions, women, aroused by their directors, exhibit very great zeal in opinions of which it is evident they have not the least idea. In theological quarrels people rush like a ferocious beast upon all those against whom their priest wishes to excite them. Profound ignorance, unlimited credulity, a very weak head, an irritated imagination, these are the materials of which devotees, zealots, fanatics, and saints are made. How can we make those people understand reason who allow themselves to be guided without examining anything? The devotees and common people are, in the hands of their guides, only automatons which they move at their fancy.
In the past, I have referred to religious people as “stupid” or “religiots.” Since then, I’ve recognized that’s an ableist attitude and it’s inappropriate.
Meslier shows us the way: they’re not stupid – they’re intellectually lazy. There is a tremendous wealth of information – philosophy, including science, which is sufficient to convince anyone who sincerely studies that there is no god, or (at best) a vanishingly irrelevant god. There is enough philosophy out there to convince anyone that authoritarianism is unfounded – ignorance is a choice and ought not be respected.
Right. Newton, Faraday, Maxwell and Abdus Salam were intellectually lazy. I’d say rather that Meslier exhibits a classic trait of the intellectually lazy, blinkered ideologue; insisting on a simplistic answer (consistent with their ideology) to a complicated question.
I agree.
I disagree. A child is born in a religious home where parents indoctrinate them since an early age. The child gets scolded whenever they ask “why?” At school teachers further emphasize that questions shouldn’t be asked, that the child should just accept whatever they are being told. Fast forward to adult life—the person is busy with work and making ends meet, they don’t have that much spare time to read philosophy or ponder about religion.
Moreover, in order to find out the truth, one must already know which questions to ask, which topics to research, which books to read. Otherwise you just read books semi-randomly and what you learn is going to depend upon chance (for example, you stumble upon some blog post which gets you interested in some topic, then you get some more books about this topic).
Luck is also important. You got lucky with parents who encouraged you to ask questions. I got lucky, because I was born in the atheist country. What genes you get also plays a role. In religious families it’s a common occurrence to have one sibling who is curious, always asks questions and is suspicious towards authority figures; the other sibling is more obedient and accepts dogmas without questioning them. Such personality traits are influenced by genes, and nobody gets to choose those.
One’s ability to research various topics is also influenced by how much they already know. For example, at school during history lessons I was taught about Homo erectus and the Stone Age; during geography lessons I was taught the basics of paleontology. Thus there’s no way I could ever buy the argument that this planet is only a few thousand years old or that fossils were created during the Noah’s flood. Many other people weren’t as lucky as me with the education they got. Then there’s also the fact that I already have a university degree. I’m already used to parsing scientific studies, and understanding how science works helps me in weeding out the bullshit claims.
My point is that some people were unlucky and for them ignorance wasn’t really a choice. I’m not denying that your claim “ignorance is a choice” is true for many people, but this isn’t always the case, it depends on individual circumstances.
There’s a fear factor inherent in religion that isn’t present in other curiosities. Religious zealots have been raised to believe that you will suffer eternal torment and torture for the sin of just questioning doctrine. And not just you, but also your progeny. If you heard this as truth for your entire life I think fear of the lord’s wrath would motivate you to avoid having questions. Plus, there’s a very real fear of being ostracized from your entire community.
Rob: A person can be vigorous and exacting in his thoughts regarding some topics, yet also be culturally-bounded, wooly-headed or wrong on other topics.