DCP's first rule wrote:I long ago formulated what might be grandiloquently termed Peterson’s First Rule for the Study of Other Religions and Worldviews: If a substantial number of sane and intelligent people believe something that seems to you utterly without sense, the problem probably lies with you for not grasping what it is about that belief that a lucid, informed, and reasonable person can find plausible and satisfying.
drumdude, I agree with your sentiment that it would be well if Peterson allowed himself a better understanding of exmormons.There is a mutual abrasive factor making it more of a challenge.
I think the first rule is a good one . I also do not feel like saying Peterson is hypocritical about it. The rule points to reasons to understand a view you do not hold. It points to understanding peoples view but is not a requirement to like or agree with the view. It is well to understand how people came to accept Nazi thought and how that can happen in certain contexts. Understanding has no requirement to like or agree in this case. Peterson finds Calvinism abhorrent. That is a reasonable view from a Mormon perspective. It could well be based upon an understanding of the sense of Calvinism. I think I understand its sense to a reasonable degree. As a result of that understanding I find some aspects of it abhorrent just as Mr Peterson does.
For me some Evangelical's devotion to Trump truly tortures the opening rule. Can I find sense in that belief and devotion? It viscerally repulses me. There is a practical value to understand it but that carries no obligation to agree with it. I may be slow to pick up the understanding because it is like a shadow side, a reverse image, of some belief I hold.
I don't believe he's followed his First Rule for the Study of Other Religions and Worldviews when it comes to atheism. I also recall his disdain for Community of Christ theology.
“But if you are told by your leader to do a thing, do it. None of your business whether it is right or wrong.” Heber C. Kimball, 8 Nov. 1857
Everybody Wang Chung's First Rule: If you make up your own rule and post about it on a public forum, you need to follow the rule yourself or you will look like a complete idiot.
"I'm on paid sabbatical from BYU in exchange for my promise to use this time to finish two books."
A corollary to Peterson's First Rule for the Study of Other Religions and Worldviews could be called Analytics' First Rule for the Introspection of Your Own Religion and Worldview: if a substantial number of number of sane, intelligent, and informed people believe that your own religion is utterly without sense, the problem probably lies with you for not grasping the flaws in your own religion.
Modern psychology has proven that our brains are full of cognitive biases that allow us to believe false things. As Michael Shermer has documented, smart people believe weird things. On its surface, Peterson's point seems to be exactly what Shermer has observed: smart people believe weird things, yet they really are smart. But rather than advocating for an understanding why smart people believe weird things, Peterson asks for respect. I'd rename what he's really going after as Peterson's Golden Rule of Patently False Beliefs: I won't laugh at your silly beliefs if you promise not to laugh at mine.
Everybody Wang Chung's First Rule: If you make up your own rule and post about it on a public forum, you need to follow the rule yourself or you will look like a complete idiot.
This is the best rule; the one rule to rule them all.
The Mental Midget wrote:I very much doubt that our Village Atheist--that is, gemli--will be able to grasp the this item from Professor Peterson. It seems that the encounter with some teaching Nuns in a school that his otherwise parents, who seem to have been merely nominal Roman Catholics, since gemli has never once mentioned prayer in his home, or there even being a family Bible in his home, as he began, without reading book, soon after his encounter at the end of what we know as grade school into a very odd variety of atheist.
Gemli wrote:When my time is near its end, I will be at peace knowing I provided Dr. Midgley with a few meager scraps of irrelevant biographical information that he was able to weave into countless comments, some of which may have deepened the faith of those who needed the kind of spiritual boost that only comes from thinking they're right, while everyone else has missed the boat.
That's awesome from gemli. He really does handle Midgley's heckling with aplomb.
