Sometimes people believe things because they have been told to believe them from when they were children. Sometimes these people do not know why they believe certain things, nor what reasons may genuinely justify their beliefs: only that it is vitally important that they believe, and this may even be a matter of life or death in their world outlook.
Suppose you were told that bananas are a holy object. Because they are holy, you must never eat them on Wednesdays after seven fifteen pm, and to do so might mean you would be tormented by pineapples for eternity after you died. If your parents told you this since you were little, you may agree to believe it and be frightened of eating bananas on Wednesdays. However, some part of you may not believe it. Someone who would then present you with reasons not to believe, might seem threatening. After all, if they convinced you, and in the end your parents were right, you might end up in eternal torment.
People in a similar position concerning their religious or political beliefs at times choose to be intolerant from this kind of fear. Their intolerance could be overcome if they chose to be more confident in their own beliefs. This can be done by investigation of their beliefs, analysis of their beliefs, and acceptance of their beliefs. Someone else believing differently need not threaten a person's very existence.
Sometimes people believe that if everyone agreed with them, then the world would be a good place to live. Therefore, they may insist that everyone has the same beliefs, whether they are religious, political, or even just everyday beliefs. However, the world is a big place with many people in it. Many things can be simultaneously true given differing circumstances. Some situations even require in depth understanding before a useful opinion can be formed about them, and this takes time: more time than one person sometimes has. Also, a simple system of belief may not provide answers to all situations for all people.
For instance what if you believed that magenta was an important color, so important that it should be able to solve all problems. You might then demand that everyone wear magenta, even if it might not look good on some people and some people may not be able to get clothes in that color. You might even decide that a war between two countries would be resolved if they all wore magenta. Wearing the same color might encourage the people at war with one another to see how people are really all the same in certain ways, and feel less inclined to fight. However, the issues that brought about the war may be so deep that such a superficial solution would make little difference. People may be so angry that they just want to fight, regardless.
Differing beliefs are important because some people may have important information on which they base their beliefs, and their beliefs can help to change and build your beliefs to those closer to factual truth. Sometimes differing beliefs cause people to investigate the facts in order to find the truth. Once some people wanted to fly and others said that it could not be done. Those who wanted to fly investigated the facts, and eventually built flying machines. This was a difference that created knowledge.
We cannot know all things all the time, and the best way to learn is to be open enough to at least consider other viewpoints, whether or not we agree with them. We would like to be a final authority on how things should be, or maybe know someone like that. Yet, it is more useful to allow for the fact that we are all just single human beings with certain limits on what we can know, and doing the best we know how with the help of others.
Copyright © 2002 March 08, Katherine Phelps