Intolerance In Religion

It seems that every day there is a new report about the latest act of terror or brutality occurring somewhere in the world. These events, though they are horrific to hear about, can be hard to grasp as they can seem very foreign or carry no personal connection. However, they are more globally connected than it seems. That connection is religion. Religion has become, just like talking politics at Thanksgiving, taboo. People are afraid to talk about it in fear of offending someone. The topic of theology is a difficult one because for every person it varies in importance and in meaning. As a result of this disunity, religion finds itself in the position to influence major conflicts. This is a huge contradiction of idea and action as many religions …show more content…
As previously derived, the individual inherently believes in himself and therefore believes that his way of thinking is the only correct one and he cannot be wrong. This inability to see a flaw in thinking is called “error blindness.” (Schultz, 2011) Psychologically when a person encounters someone who disagrees with their opinion they put them into one of three categories: the other person is misinformed, stupid, or evil. If the person falls into the first category it is because they have been fed false truths or are missing information, thus cannot come to a correct conclusion. The second option is that they have all the correct information but are coming to the wrong conclusion due to their own inabilities. Finally, if they don’t fall into either of the other two categories and still disagree it is because they know the truth, but are intentionally spreading false information for their own gain. No matter the reason the other person disagrees, there is no possibility that they are right, only a psychological justification for why they disagree. (Schulz, 2011) In addition to being psychologically opposed to what contrasts our own opinions, humans are also biologically developed to be apprehensive of what is unknown or different. Recent studies in neuroscience have proven that humans are emotional beings, rather rational, as Descartes would have hoped. This stems from our genetically ingrained instincts for dealing with potentially dangerous situations. (Noll, 2003) Daniel Kahneman highlights this dichotomy between instinct and logic in his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” “System 1” as he calls it, is the part of the brain responsible for reacting to life in real time. The system is always running, and consequently is wired to be as efficient as possible; the result often overlooking or misinterpreting our senses. The other part of the brain,