"Religious ideas are teachings and assertions about facts and conditions of external (or internal) reality which tell one something one has not discovered for oneself and which lay claim to one's belief." Sigmund Freud
All teachings like these, then, demand belief in their contents, but not without producing grounds for their claim. They are put forward as the epitomized result of a longer process of thought based on observation and certainly also on inferences. If anyone wants to go through this process himself instead of accepting its result, they show him how to set about it. Moreover, we are always in addition given the source of knowledge conveyed by them, where that source is not self-evident, as it is the case of geographical assertions. For instance, the earth is shaped like a sphere; the proofs adduced for this are Foucault's pendulum experiment, the behaviour of the horizon and the possibility of circumnavigating the earth. Since it is impractical, as everyone concerned realizes, to send every schoolchild on a voyage round the world, we are satisfied with letting what is taught at school be taken on trust; but we know that the path to acquiring a personal conviction remains open.
Let us try to apply the same test to the teachings of religion. When we ask on what their claim to be believed is founded, we are met with three answers, which harmonize remarkably badly with one another. Firstly these teachings deserve to be believed because they were already believed by our primal ancestors; secondly, we possess proofs which have been handed down to us from those same primaeval times; and thirdly, it is forbidden to raise the question of their authentication at all. In former days anything so presumptuous was visited with the severest penalties and even today society looks askance at any attempt to raise the question again. " SF
" We ought to believe because our forefathers believed. But these ancestors of ours were far more ignorant than we are. They believed in things we could not possibly accept today..." SF
"The riddles of the universe reveal themselves only slowly to our investigation; there are many questions to which science today can give no answer. But scientific work is the only road which can lead us to a knowledge of reality outside ourselves." SF
Someone I love very much believes that the Earth is flat. I didn't understand, until this person came into my life, that in the twenty-first century people could believe in a flat Earth; but a quick Google search made me aware that there are communities around the world that can't accept a globe like planet for their home.
I have had the opportunity to listen to my friend on many an occasion, but I have no rebuttal. I haven't been in orbit about the Earth to see what it looks like. So I can't defend a position I only accept on faith myself. A round earth makes sense to me. All the evidence makes sense. A flat earth seems like a crazy belief. But I have known my friend for a long time, and it's not a "crazy belief" to my friend.
This helps me understand the world I came out of and now get to look in at from the outside. I once believed with certainty in a cosmic figure that listened to me every time I opened my mouth and my thoughts. I believed that cosmic figure had power and could change my circumstances, but often wouldn't either because a lack of faith... or because what I was asking for wasn't what I needed. (ie... like a living Dad instead of a dead one). I had then, what seems to me now, as crazy beliefs. But I was convinced in them. No one then called me crazy. Maybe because the communities I was hanging out with believed the same things. Still... I wasn't called crazy... and all I had was belief... no proof.
What if I could give my friend proof of a round earth? What if I was given the opportunity to fly out of the earth's atmosphere? What if I took a picture of the earth from orbit? Would my friend believe me? So many pictures exist today by people who have had that opportunity. My friend doesn't believe them.
I have learned over the years that what I might see as "crazy beliefs" are a sort of life blood to people I love. I have no desire to call them illusions or delusions. I only can smile, listen and say nothing in response. This is the world I live in, these are the people I love.
