You do
not have the right to believe whatever you want.
From
The Ethics of Belief, by William K. Clifford, published in 1874:
A shipowner was about to send to sea an emigrant-ship. He knew that she was old, and not overwell built at the first; that she had seen many seas and climes, and often had needed repairs. Doubts had been suggested to him that possibly she was not seaworthy. These doubts preyed upon his mind, and made him unhappy; he thought that perhaps he ought to have her thoroughly overhauled and refitted, even though this should put him at great expense.
Before the ship sailed, however, he succeeded in overcoming these melancholy reflections. He said to himself that she had gone safely through so many voyages and weathered so many storms that it was idle to suppose she would not come safely home from this trip also. He would put his trust in Providence, which could hardly fail to protect all these unhappy families that were leaving their fatherland to seek for better times elsewhere. He would dismiss from his mind all ungenerous suspicions about the honesty of builders and contractors.
In such ways he acquired a sincere and comfortable conviction that his vessel was thoroughly safe and seaworthy; he watched her departure with a light heart, and benevolent wishes for the success of the exiles in their strange new home that was to be; and he got his insurance-money when she went down in mid-ocean and told no tales.
What shall we say of him? Surely this, that he was verily guilty of the death of those men.
It is admitted that he did sincerely believe in the soundness of his ship; but the sincerity of his conviction can in no wise help him, because he had no right to believe on such evidence as was before him. He had acquired his belief not by honestly earning it in patient investigation, but by stifling his doubts. And although in the end he may have felt so sure about it that he could not think otherwise, yet inasmuch as he had knowingly and willingly worked himself into that frame of mind, he must be held responsible for it.
I am often asked by acquaintances that know I am an atheist, "Why do you not believe in God?" Before the 2004 Presidential elections, friends that knew I was going to vote for John Kerry would sometimes ask, "Do you believe he'll win?"
Belief has nothing to do with it. I don't "believe" in God or anything else. What matters is not what I want to believe, but what evidence I have to support such a belief. (If compelling evidence of a god materializes, however, I would be happy to examine it with an open mind.)
As to the other example, the Kerry question: My answer was always, "I don't know. I don't have enough data to make an intelligent guess one way or another." As the fictional character Sherlock Holmes once said to Watson, "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."
To paraphrase Carl Sagan: Really, it's okay to reserve judgment until all the evidence is in.
So why do I say "belief" is so dangerous?
Well, the shipowner in the above example from The Ethics of Belief illustrates it quite nicely. This man believed that the ship was not going to sink. Why? Because he talked himself into it. Yet his belief resulted in the lives of everyone on that ship being lost.
He had no right whatsoever to believe that the ship was sound. The responsible course of action would be to overhaul the ship, because that is what the evidence suggested.
You have no right to believe whatever you want. No one does. If you do not have evidence for it, reserve judgment. Belief without evidence is dangerous.
How about a few more examples?
Belief is what caused hundreds of thousands of people, mainly women, to be tortured and killed centuries past in Europe. It was believed that they were witches -- without a shred of proof. They were tortured until they confessed. Confessions, by the way, are anecdotal evidence, and anecdotal evidence is worthless.
It was believed that black-skinned humans were inferior to white-skinned humans; that their rightful place was to be slaves. Did people have a right to believe that?
People believed for years that cigarettes were not harmful to one's health, despite evidence to the contrary, and despite studies starting as far back as 1953. Yet tobacco has killed more people than World War II.
Americans believed President George W. Bush when he said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and when he implied that Saddam Hussein had a hand in the 9/11 attacks. Most Americans did not apply critical thinking. Riding a wave of emotion, they simply believed the President. Too late, all the recent polls indicate that Americans are finally asking themselves whether these beliefs were justified.
I'm sure you can think of more examples. These are just a few.
When you ask a scientist or a critical-thinking person a question, you'll often get an answer along the lines of, "I don't know." Or, "I don't have enough data to theorize yet." Or, "We'll have to collect more evidence before we can form an opinion."
The most intelligent people in the world realize that they don't know much. The dumbest people in the world are sure of everything.
You do not have the right to believe whatever you want.