We need to have a serious talk about beliefs in this country. It seems that over and over again progress—civil rights, gender equality, the rights of women to control their own bodies—are all being stymied because of people with “sincerely held beliefs.”
Sincerely held or not, you beliefs are not sacred just because you have them.
A Belief is simply a series of generalizations we create to explain some aspect of the world that we don’t understand. It’s one of the ways our minds cope with the millions of bits of information bombarding them at any given moment. But that’s the irony. The fact that we have to create a belief suggests that there isn't enough evidence to support our idea, but we like the idea, so we create a belief about it so that we can “make it true” anyway.
I don't believe in the sun.I do however, believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky… and then I step off the Empire State Building and I fall… fast… and hard.
I don't believe in gravity.
I don't believe in fire.
I don't believe that water boils at 212 degrees.
These things "are" regardless of my thoughts about them.
So much for that belief.