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comment by b_b
b_b  ·  4771 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Founders: Religion, Virtue, and Morality and the Success of the American Nation?
By saying the Bible isn't rational, I didn't mean to imply that it is without wisdom, or that one can't gain perspective by studying its contents. Although there are certainly logical inconsistencies in its pages, and one could argue whether this or that passage is or is not rational, I was talking more generally about faith.

I'm admittedly not a man of faith, so I don't have a deep understanding of it, but it seems to me (again, as an outsider) that part of the point of faith is to shed one's connection to the world of logic and rationality and try to gain some other type of experience (spiritual peace or enlightenment, for example, I suppose).

On a related note, when I said the Bible was irrational, it was not meant as a pejorative. I'm not naive enough to think that hyper rationality is in any way a desirable way to live. There are many things that can't in principle be rationalized. To return to the Constitution, I think this can actually be a problem in our legal system. A courtroom is a forum where rationality is given great weight, and it can lead to strange outcomes, where, say, one man goes to prison for light shoplifting, while another goes free on a technicality after committing murder. I won't pretend to know a better alternative, but I think it is clear that rationality isn't always good or desirable.





hootsbox  ·  4767 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I could not agree with you more on what you refer to as "irrational" in that sense. Religious faith is mostly that - faith. It is not a physical touch and feel or mentally logical exercise for sure; it is to hold as true what may not be "seen". Not trying to be overly "preachy" here, but it is basically Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1. I can also agree that the courtroom decisions can be perplexing at times, and I think that "rationalizing" away horrible behavior such as you alude to is to fly in the face of good 'ole common sense. There is a quote from Paul (formerly Saul a Jewish lawyer) which states, "Professing to be wise they became fools"! Sometimes we get so "lofty in our rationale" that we forget the fundamentals of common sense. Good to talk with you b_b.