thread: 2011-07-11 : Hooray for Religion
On 2011-07-12, Josh W wrote:
Why not? Just because something is logical, doesn't mean it's not wrong:
Logical just means there's a system that puts it all together, (maybe proper axiom stuff, but probably just internal consistency), verifiable means that the tests you've thought of come out correct. We may have more comprehensive batteries of tests, and/or more rigorous standards of consistency, but it's still belief. It's still an idea a person has about the world that they have great confidence in, or enough confidence to stick to it to some extent.
About your lift question, bear in mind that people can also continue habits based on social norms; say every saturday you avoid the lifts, often with other Jewish people. That's an easier habit to stick with than checking whether there are other Jewish people around first. People can just do stuff they do for social reasons all the time rather than check if someone's looking.
If a social restriction is not contradicting or working against your principles and you can follow it without having to think much, then many people will just go for it.
I suspect that's why behavioural codes sometimes tend towards strictness; the most restrictive one wins!
Of course, that's excluding those people who have principles about taking on pointless restrictions..
