On How We Know and Lying for the Truth

How do we know anything? There are three basic ways:

• instinct
• we are taught by someone else
• we find out for ourselves

Maybe there are more, but these will do for the moment. Each of these methods can fool us:

• instinct Sometimes, if we are careful, we can catch our brains red handed making things up. Consider your blind spot. This can be a shocking phenomenon if you are not familiar with it. Google: "blind spot" gives Seeing more than your eye does. I strongly suggest that if you have never seen your blind spot before, that you do the exercises there. So our visual system tells lies to us.
• we are taught by someone else Are they a reliable source? Where did they get their information from? It's easy to lie, sometimes emotionally harder to tell the truth.
• we find out for ourselves This method is the most direct but it is strongly discouraged by religions. It is easy enough to misinterpret facts, and so we must keep alert for our own biases. It's easy to fool oneself. But if you check things out for yourself they can be quite convincing. For example, you don't need to rely on what I say to know that you have a blind spot. You can check for yourself. You will if you are a normal human with normal eyesight. You won't if you are an octopus. (If you are an octopus, please write to me.)

So how can we know anything when all the roads have pitfalls? Fortunately we have figured out a way to gain solid, reliable knowledge. It's called science. You don't need to trust me on this. You can learn how the system works and verify it for yourself.

Science is a community effort at knowing about the universe and ourselves. It has a big advantage over other methods in that it is self correcting. People who lie are exposed by other scientists. Sometimes this happens quickly but that is rare because scientists know that they might get caught so they are careful if they chose to lie. But eventually they get caught. The case of Hendrik Schon is an example where a scientist cheated and was caught. Science burns away untruths.

In a prevous post, I wrote about Lying for the Truth, an unethical practice of many religious people.

The purpose of this posting is to examine this ugly practice a little closer because the case covered in that posting is the tip of the iceberg.

What do I mean by that? When I hear religious sermons (yes, I have been in churches listening on occasion) they often make me want to stand up and shout. The person giving the sermon will often make statements that are clearly made up and that have no substantial backing.

Let's take an example and google for "god told me". The first hit is quite interesting:

God told me to invade Iraq, Bush tells Palestinian ministers BBC 06.10.2005.

So what could the president have meant?

1. The statement was denied by Scott McClellan, the Whitehouse spokesperson, so maybe it was never said. In this case the Palestinian ministers lied. (On the other hand, McClellan is probably not a reliable source.)
2. The president heard things in his head. Normally we consider this a sign of illness. It's a terrifying thought that the most powerful nation on the planet is being run by an insane person.
3. God spoke to the president. Do we have a reason to believe this? No, all we have is what he (presumably) said. There is plenty of evidence now that he is not a trustable source.

   The president stated in the 2003 state of the union address "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production." The first of these statements was refuted by Joe Wilson before the address was given and the second one was also proven to be false. Apparently the Whitehouse response was to attack Wilson by (illegally!) revealing that Joe Wilson's wife was a CIA agent. (Republicans have been stalling the investigation of the situation for months. Why have Republicans become so dishonest? Is it their religious inclinations?) The Iraq war was sold on the basis of weapons of mass destruction but it is now well known that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

   So president Bush is not a reliable source for difficult questions! Given that, it is unlikely that a god spoke to him and other possibilities are much more likely. The next possibility is more reasonable.
4. The president made it up. This is called a lie.

Many hits are for Bush, so let's google away from him: "god told me" -bush

That leads to an interesting statement, partially true and partially false by Mike Feazell: 'God told me'. Let's examine it as an illustrative example. Some quotes:

• "God told me to..." is often a euphemism for "I want to and have decided to..."
  
  It isn't wrong to want to do something and decide to do it. But why not be honest? Why not say: "I have decided to go to Africa and work in a health clinic. Please pray for me." That would be honest. But 99 times out of a hundred (in my opinion, of course) when someone says, "God told me to go to Africa and work in a health clinic," they are playing fast and loose with honesty.

  Excellent! But then he stumbles:

• God can and does bless us in our decisions without making them for us. God gives us the ability to weigh the factors in our lives, get advice, do some research, study the issues involved and make informed, well-considered decisions. And we should ask him to lead us.

  How does he know these things? He made them up! He was dishonest in exactly the same way he had just spoken against!

So 'god told me' collapses to either a lie or an unbelievable and unproven claim. However, it is frequently made by religious leaders, which makes it likely that they are lying all the time.

One of the highest ethical principles is to tell the truth. Religions are failing to tell the truth and this is causing death and misery. It is time to stop lying.