We need to have a serious talk about beliefs in this country. It seems that over and over again progress—civil rights, gender equality, the rights of women to control their own bodies—are all being stymied because of people with “sincerely held beliefs.”
Sincerely held or not, you beliefs are not sacred just because you have them.
A Belief is simply a series of generalizations we create to explain some aspect of the world that we don’t understand. It’s one of the ways our minds cope with the millions of bits of information bombarding them at any given moment. But that’s the irony. The fact that we have to create a belief suggests that there isn't enough evidence to support our idea, but we like the idea, so we create a belief about it so that we can “make it true” anyway.
I don't believe in the sun.
I don't believe in gravity.
I don't believe in fire.
I don't believe that water boils at 212 degrees.
These things "are" regardless of my thoughts about them.
I do however, believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky… and then I step off the Empire State Building and I fall… fast… and hard.
So much for that belief.
And these realities are heartless. Gravity doesn't care if you're an innocent child who ties a cape around your neck because you think you can fly like Superman, or if you’re a toddler who found an open window several stories up.
If you say, "I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman," that means you're operating outside the realm of science.
Scientific method starts with a question:
"Is marriage really between a man and a woman?”
The scientist then follows it up with some research. In the case of marriage, a little research reveals that our current conceptions of marriage have very little in common with the historic notions of marriage.
So now a hypothesis is constructed: “Is it necessary to “protect” marriage and society by offering marriage only to one man and one woman.”
Next, some tests are performed and some experiments are set up.
Once done, that data is analyzed, and then shared—and then peer reviewed.
These peers then add their own insights, perform their own experiments. And then they publish their findings.
So there’s no need to believe. If a scientist has a thought they might say, “Well, it appears…” or “it seems…” or “I’ve noticed…” or “The evidence seems to suggest…” They use these words to avoid creating a belief since, once created, beliefs don’t like to be challenged.
As a general rule, when someone says, "I believe…" it’s because that’s what they WANT to be true. If they’ve done any research at all, it’s all been filtered through their belief in an attempt validate the belief. This is also why they have to resort to their “sincerely held beliefs” when trying to justify their actions.
This is why the rest of us need to stop acting as if a belief is even at all relevant. Even if it’s “sincerely held,” it’s still just a belief. And since it’s a belief, it hasn't been tested… and it probably can’t be tested. I can have a sincerely held belief that animal sacrifice is necessary to please god, but is this something we want to allow in the public square, or an enlightened society?
So from here on out, when someone says “I believe…” we need to ask for, and demand, their research—peer reviewed. We need to examine their testing methods, and their publications before we give those beliefs any credence.