How To Use Critical Thinking To Cross Examine Your Beliefs
and why it is important to do so
Introduction
Everyone is affected by their subjective biases. We are individuals who grow up in our own environments, classes, nuclear family structures, cultures, and time. These aspects of our environment and the events in our life impact how we view the world. In order to develop your own unique perspective of the world you need to be willing to tackle ideas that may be different from your own.
There are roughly three models for examining religions. These include the Truth Model, the Transformation Model, and the World View Model. The model I am most concerned with in this piece will be the Truth Model and the World View Model.
So lets break those down shall we?
The Truth Model
I recently read Subodh Pandit M.D.’s “Cross Examination — The Evidence For Belief” and in it he buffed out an interesting method of weighing his religious beliefs. Prior to this book, I was always approaching the idea of faith from an emotional and biased position, and thus had never thought critically about religion. In the book, Dr. Pandit took an academic-philosophical approach to the material. First he pondered relative truth versus objective truth. Second he assessed arguments for an against God’s existence. Third, he developed a method to weigh his beliefs.
Weighing your beliefs requires that you consider the balance from within your self first. Specifically, you will need to balance your hospitality and your security.
Hospitality is your ability to listen to, and be open to alternate beliefs. This could mean letting those with opposing views into your home, into your social circle, and allowing them to openly espouse their ideas. If you are too open, you then can become overly influenced and will lose the ability to reason through the ideas being presented. Some objectivity will still be required along with your hospitality. On the other hand, being so open can be a risk to your security.
Security means guarding against other opinions. Perhaps you feel a great sense of unity with those who share your beliefs. If you start to believe otherwise, perhaps you may lose some of your connections. Or, maybe you feel a great responsibility for making sure you and your loved ones stay on the “right path.” This isn’t a negative sentiment at its core. However, there is such a thing as being so certain in your views that you exclude evidence that contrast with your beliefs.
We should all be looking for the truth. In order to do that we sometimes need to tackle ideas that are different from our own. So, how do we do that? ONWARD!
First, Dr. Pandit asked the question, does God exist? Using principles of reasoning, logical analysis, and statistical analysis he came up with arguments for and against God’s existence. Ultimately, Dr. Pandit surmised that God exists.
What are some methods we can use to reason for and against God’s existence?
Well if we consider the average western theistic version of God, then we can ask questions about the qualities of God. In this realm there are two main types of arguments that can then be separated into additional categories.
- A Priori — arguments made from concepts to conclusions (before experience).
* The Ontological Argument — No one can imagine a greater being than God. - A Posteriori — arguments made from observations of the world leading to conclusions.
* The Cosmological Argument — Effects have causes, and God is the first cause
* The Teleological Argument — The intricate design of the universe all the way down to single cell organisms implies a creator
Of course there are also philosophers who counter-argue these ideas. To give a brief example:
Anselm (1033–1109 CE) was one of the main proponents of the Ontological Argument. He proposed that God was the greatest conceivable being, and that in order to be so he would have to exist in both the mind and in reality, otherwise he would not be the greatest conceivable being. Guanilo (994–1083 AD) counter-argued with his “Lost Island” objection, wherein he suggested one think of the greatest conceivable island they could. Think a warm breeze, cold ocean, never-ending coconuts, and a constant supply of your favorite foods. You have just imagined the greatest island possible… but does it exist? Probably not. All islands on Earth experience a storm or two and being far away from land, on an island no less, can present its own challenges. Just because you can imagine something perfect, doesn’t mean it exists in reality.
In these ways, we can develop arguments for our beliefs, share those ideas, and see what else someone may have to say about your ideas.
I intend to write another article concerning the pros and cons of more of the A Posteriori arguments, so stay tuned!
Second, Dr. Pandit set about establishing an argument: what would it mean if his belief was belief-based versus evidence-based? (Page 36)
On the side of faith being correct due to pure belief, Dr. Pandit determined that there would be a few key issues. One was that all religions would need to be accepted as true regardless of whether they conflicted with each other. Another was people could arbitrarily create their own characteristics of God. The main issue with these two concepts would be that your belief would not be able to stand up to scrutiny. You would be describing you religion based on feelings The other is that your created version of God would be limited by your belief and your imagination. When you encounter an issue in your life your version of God would not be big enough to surmount your problems, because he would be limited by your imagination.
On the side of faith being correct due to evidence, Dr. Pandit determined that not every religion could be correct. God would have different characteristics based on which faith was followed, but they would be inherent to His character. Even more so, evaluation of the surrounding facts would bestow a greater strength in one’s faith, or make a believer out of someone.
We can evaluate our own faiths in a similar way. Theism isn’t the only belief system that currently exists in the world. Timothy Kneppler has an interesting take on western-theistic models of philosophy of religion. Religions are as diverse as the types of people on the planet, and so he suggests that we look at religion study with an equally broad perspective. Kneppler proposes five questions that interrogate the journey of an individual’s general religious views. For those with a monotheistic view he offers additional questions which relate more so to the state of reality, its journey, and where reality is headed, in which you insert whoever your figurehead is. I find this approach appealing, because it does not presume that a monotheistic view is correct, and gives fair consideration to all religious fields.
Kneppler’s 5 Questions Regarding Your Religious Journey:
- Who am I?
- Where do I come from?
- Where am I going?
- How do I get there?
- What obstacles are in my way?
Kneppler’s additional 5 Questions for Mono-theists: (feel free to insert God rather than cosmos)
- What is the cosmos?
- Where does the cosmos come from?
- Where is the cosmos going?
- How does the cosmos get there?
- What obstacles lie in the cosmos’s way?
Third, Dr. Pandit attempts to weigh five of the most prevalent long-lasting religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism. He asks 10 questions about the texts, the founders of the religion and their history. He then systematically assesses these religions based on these ten questions. I’ll share them because they provided a good basis to work from for anyone of faith to cross examine their beliefs, though I will not share his conclusions. If you want to know what conclusions Dr. Pandit came to using his methods of analysis and critical thinking, please read his book. It was fascinating!
Those 10 questions were (pg. 42):
1. What type of literature is the writing?
2. Does the writing open itself to be challenged for authenticity?
3. What is a top feature of the writing?
4. What is the highest claim of the founder for himself?
5. What is the nature of the message/mission of the founder?
6. How does the life of the founder compare with his own teachings?
7. How does the length of ministry compare with the results?
8. What are the reports of the birth of the founder?
9. What were the circumstances at the death of the founder?
10. What was the post-death scene?
This would allow you to assess your beliefs based on the objective facts known about the books, the founders, and how the writing was designed. In doing this you are no longer relying on your base knowledge of your religion gained from your family or your local church. You may find information that challenges your preconceived ideas. Or, you may develop strength and conviction in your original beliefs. Regardless, you will have critically analyzed your beliefs and culled areas that had no strength, and strengthened areas that you may have previously been unsure.
Why Should One Critically Examine Their Faith?
Simple. If your beliefs are identifiable, testable, and factually verifiable, there should be no threat in being an inquirer and testing your beliefs. You may even find greater strength in your beliefs at the end of your journey.
This also enable us to understand others and their beliefs. We are less likely to vilify another person if we understand them. While this contemplation may not change our beliefs, it may help us become more tolerant of opposing beliefs. You may come to find that there is a good bit of overlap which connects us rather than divides us.
What Did I Do After Reading Cross Examination?
I lacked a lot of prior information, and so that was the first box I wanted to check off on my checklist. I set up my own set of questions and plan on reading texts from both the Bible and the Quran. I want to know what the texts themselves have to say about life, legacy, history, and the afterlife. I started consuming content from people with different beliefs. I also started looking into the history of belief. I also wanted to know more about logic systems, critical thinking, and philosophy. I wanted to embark on that journey of self discovery so fervently that when selecting my final class for my General AA, I decided on an Intro. to Philosophy course (a mini-b *cries*). In essence, I wanted to gain the skills that would allow me to critically analyze the things I was learning, and develop conclusions from that.
I felt that since I did not believe in the concept of God that at the very least, I could come to understand why religion itself was so prevalent, and I could at least learn to respect beliefs that differed from mine. I never would have expected that reading these texts would change my perspective on the existence of God.
Questions For My Audience:
What are some of the texts you are reading regarding the topic of philosophy? Let me know!
I am aware that the Quran is strongest when read in its original language, but what would be the best translated version of the Quran you suggest I read? Let me know in the comments!
What topics would you like to see me touch on in the future?
What Is Next?
I will continue on this journey of discovery and contemplation. I hope that you will join me, debate me, and inform me throughout this journey!
I will be releasing more articles in TRIBE about:
* Famous Philosophers
* Different modes of philosophical thinking
* How philosophy impacts society
* How philosophy impacts government
* How philosophy impacts religion
* How religion impacts society
* Evidence for and against God
* Why science and religion do not technically negate each other
* Epistemology
* Metaphysics
