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I was reading this article about a book that claims the earth is 6,000 years old, and I'm just dumbfounded. Here's some snippets:

the author of the book frequently described as the greatest history book ever written, said the world was created Oct. 23, 4004 B.C. – making it exactly 6,009 last Monday.

The book...is a favorite of homeschoolers and those who take ancient history seriously.

It's a classic history book for those who believe in the Bible – and a compelling challenge for those who don't.

Does anyone really believe this crap anymore?

So then I was thinking - what makes a belief ridiculous? What causes people to look at something, and think to themselves 'this is bullcrap'? How can people who have ridiculous beliefs, claim others are ridiculous, but not theirs? What does it take to get someone to see the ridiculousness for what it is?

Who Knows wrote:I was reading this article about a book that claims the earth is 6,000 years old, and I'm just dumbfounded. Here's some snippets:

the author of the book frequently described as the greatest history book ever written, said the world was created Oct. 23, 4004 B.C. – making it exactly 6,009 last Monday.

The book...is a favorite of homeschoolers and those who take ancient history seriously.

It's a classic history book for those who believe in the Bible – and a compelling challenge for those who don't.

Does anyone really believe this crap anymore?

So then I was thinking - what makes a belief ridiculous? What causes people to look at something, and think to themselves 'this is bullcrap'? How can people who have ridiculous beliefs, claim others are ridiculous, but not theirs? What does it take to get someone to see the ridiculousness for what it is?

This brings up another issue. People demand respect for their religious beliefs, but at one point do you just have to say, "I find your religious beliefs absurd"? When someone begins spouting stuff about Xenu and Thetans, are you supposed to bite your tongue and say, "I can respect that"?

Of course, the topic at hand really doesn't have anything to do religion. The author makes some absurd statements based on his or her religious beliefs, but they aren't religious statements in themselves. So, you can say, "Your evidence is absurd," or "Your conclusions are absurd" without necessarily insulting the religious belief.

Who Knows wrote:I was reading this article about a book that claims the earth is 6,000 years old, and I'm just dumbfounded. Here's some snippets:

the author of the book frequently described as the greatest history book ever written, said the world was created Oct. 23, 4004 B.C. – making it exactly 6,009 last Monday.

The book...is a favorite of homeschoolers and those who take ancient history seriously.

It's a classic history book for those who believe in the Bible – and a compelling challenge for those who don't.

Does anyone really believe this crap anymore?

So then I was thinking - what makes a belief ridiculous? What causes people to look at something, and think to themselves 'this is bullcrap'? How can people who have ridiculous beliefs, claim others are ridiculous, but not theirs? What does it take to get someone to see the ridiculousness for what it is?

Yes, people do believe this mythology, still. I think it is becoming even more prevalent in the U.S. today.

I am dumbfounded by it.

About a year and half ago, my daughter suffered a serious accident. She missed school for a couple of weeks. On her first day back to school, she was still on crutches. I attended the whole day of school with her to help her. During her reading lesson (she was in 2nd grade), they were required to read a story about fossils. While the students were taking a test, the teacher came over to talk to me. She commented to me that she didn't like the story because it was about fossils, which, to her, promoted evolution, which she didn't believe in! I just nodded a little, not sure what to say.

I live in a poor, small, redneck town in the Bible belt. The school principal is a preacher, and many of the teachers are preachers wives. When I first registered my kids in the school four years ago, they asked me what church I went to. I'm not sure which is the lesser of two evils to them, to be atheist/agnostic, or to be LDS!

My husband, who works with educated people (scientists, mind you) who are also highly religious (Pentecostal, Baptist, etc.) has found that it is harder for them to accept his agnosticism than anything else. I think it would be easier for them if he were still a believing Mormon, even if they do think Mormons are going to hell. At least he would still believe in God! He loves a good discussion/argument, so he often gets them going. He says that sometimes, they will even defend Mormonism against his atheism!

This goes back again to that thread on MAD where I asked TBM's if they would believe if they didn't have their spiritual witness and most of them said they wouldn't. I think TBM's know their beliefs are weird. But, that's what makes them a peculiar people...a fact which they are infinitely proud of.

You've all seen the Bill Moyer's essay, "The Delusional is no longer marginal?" If not I can find a link or copy excerpts...

I sometimes pick up random rocks and look at them. I have even put a few in a hat just to get a visual representation of how the Book of Mormon was translated. I've even put my face into the hat. Try as I might, I can't make myself believe this happens or happened. I have absolutely no evidence that the observable, verifiable world works in this fashion. Yet, a key point in my religion requires I believe a youngman literally did this. And to make it even harder to believe, its not something that was done after that, by anyone else, ever. A truly fantastic claim. My brain realizes the odds of this actually happening, but the heart gets tied up in family expectations, tradition, culture, and fear of the unknown. Given enough time, I think the brain will actually win out. But it isn't without some saddness at what the heart lost.

Here's my .02$

I think when very very VERY specific claims are made (such as the world being created Oct 23 4004 BC or whatever) can be shown to be not only wrong but very very VERY wrong beliefs are ridiculous.

Another example (for me being a military history buff)....the Book of Mormon narrative that a battle took place where 2 million plus people died....till I see evidence, I'm not believing it (particularly in light that the largest pitched battles in WORLD HISTORY [such as during WWII, which used technologies for killing that would far surpass Book of Mormon technology] didn't reach 2 million killed).

It's a classic history book for those who believe in the Bible – and a compelling challenge for those who don't.

I love this quote. Every apologist, no matter what they are defending, claims that the critics have a big challenge on their hand trying to disprove them.

Beliefs become ridiculous when they belong to someone else. Everyone has some beliefs that are illogical. Usually, these are stories that are presented as truth by people we trust when we are small. These "truths", no matter how ridiculous, are the hardest to shake. Intelligence may not have much to do with identifying magical beliefs, particularly if one is conditioned to such belief as a child.

I don't hold out much hope for living in a rational world. Magic is alive and well (and perhaps necessary for some people.)

I think we just have to admit we are complete solipsists. The more I have talked to people who believe in things I find ridiculous, the more I have realized that they are actually firmly convicted that whatever they believe is true! At that point they completely lose their ability to understand the opponent. Take bcspace, for instance.

I got into a debate with this young Earth creationist once about evolution; to him, accepting there is organic macroevolution meant accepting the Universe was created as a result of the Big Bang, which completely takes God out of the equation, in his opinion. I kept saying "But organic evolution has nothing whatsoever to do with the Big Bang", but it just wasn't registering. I seriously think he was hearing something else.

What's truly scary is the possibility that I might be a lunatic and everyone around me keeps telling me that, but I somehow manage to process their words to mean something completely different. There is really no way of finding out.