What Is Religious Belief? Does It Matter and Is It Relevant?
By: Keith Kelley
Tags: Life, William James, Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality

What Is Religious Belief? Does It Matter and Is It Relevant?

And can it avoid being dogmatic or absolutist?

Photo By Robert Lukeman — Unsplash

Religious belief is confronted by everyone in life. We can ignore believing or taking an interest in quantum physics, but that is not open regarding religion. We must take a position — to believe, disbelieve, or to abstain believing by being agnostic.

But what are we endorsing or refusing to endorse? Answering in terms of a single religion is unlikely to be productive. It is more fruitful to separate issues of religious belief into roughly 4 categories:

1. Discussions of religious belief should focus on what is common across religions. What is it and how does one come to believe?

2. What is the evidence for the belief in God? If one believes, can it be a reasonable belief?

3. What place does religion have in an individual’s life? Does it influence behavior or make them a better person?

4. Can religious belief correspond with modern society’s precepts?

If we address these queries, it will facilitate the understanding of each other. Since religious wars and antagonisms have occurred since the dawn of time, understanding seems a worthwhile endeavor.

What is Religious Belief?

The core of religious belief and the nature of the divine is not easily discerned in holy texts such as the Torah, Bible, or Quran since their specifics are very different. But it is possible to abstract common elements.

William James, a Harvard philosopher and psychologist at the turn of the 20th century, offered two statements of the common features of religious belief,

I.“…religion says essentially two things. First, she says that the best things are the more eternal things…perfection is eternal…second… that we are better off if we believe the first affirmation (the best things are eternal)” — William James, The Will to Believe

II.“A man’s religious faith…means…his faith in the existence of an unseen order of some kind…the physical order (is) a partial order… we have a right to supplement it by an unseen spiritual order…the world of our present natural knowledge is enveloped in a larger world of some sort.” William James, Is Life Worth Living?

Most major religions believe in a spiritual being who is perfect, eternal, and transcendent from the physical world and provides order and explanation to it. Belief is good for those who believe. These common elements underlie or are logically prior to the dogma of each religion and satisfy what we mean by religious belief and the nature of God. Dogma is not precluded, but James personally did not believe dogma was necessary or assisted our lives.

How Does Belief Develop and Does It Make Sense?

James’ background as a clinical psychologist gave him insights into how religious belief is formulated and how beliefs themselves are developed and structured.

From a psychological viewpoint, we may feel an intense desire to trust in an invisible order,

“But it feels like a real fight, -as if there was something really wild in the universe which we, with our idealities and faithfulnesses, are needed to redeem…” William James, Is Life Worth Living?

Deep in the “crepuscular depths of personality”, we feel called to have faith in an invisible order: to order our lives and the universe, to lend meaning, and explain moral beliefs and obligations.

But believing because of a desire to trust is not a thoughtful or inspiring position. According to some of the agnostic or scientific persuasion, one should believe something only when evidence exists, has been examined, and truth verified — the scientific method. Agnostics claim there is no sensible evidence for religious belief and no inferences or conclusions based on reason. Hence one must withhold religious belief. If persisting in believing, is a religious conviction determined by volition?

James’ answer is yes, but it is not the dispirited yes a skeptic might hope for. It is understood by examining the structure of belief. Life is built upon formulating belief in possibilities, trusting, and acting upon them,

“…the scientific life itself has much to do with maybes, and human life has everything to do with them. So far as man…is productive or originative at all, his entire vital function may be said to deal with maybes…it is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true.” Is Life Worth Living?

In science, one first forms a working hypothesis then seeks evidence and validation. Similarly, we advance through life is by first believing and acting on the belief, then finding evidence and verification. Often, it is only by first having faith in a belief that the desired result comes true. For example, in personal relations, one may gain a friend only by choosing to seek friendship, then hoping one’s effort is reciprocated and validated. One believes without waiting on the evidence.

Religious beliefs are similar. In choosing to believe in an unseen and eternal being, one has faith in gaining beatitudes and perhaps eternal life. It is a “momentous” choice — one may gain much if God exists or may lose things of importance by disbelieving. Religion also requires us to take the first take step to meet God before He will meet us halfway. Only faith in the desired result can make it come true,

“The universe is no longer a mere it to us, but a Thou…we feel, too, as if the appeal of religion to us were made to our active goodwill might be forever withheld from us unless we met the hypothesis half-way.” The Will to Believe

Religious belief is determined by volition. But since it shares the characteristics of many beliefs, since we have much to gain and little to lose, and since we may gain truth only by taking an initial step, it is rational to have a religious belief. Moreover, agnosticism with its prohibition on believing in the absence of evidence makes little sense,

“a rule of thinking that would absolutely prevent me from acknowledging certain kinds of truths if those truths were really there, would be an irrational rule.” The Will to Believe

We conduct our lives and advance by recognizing possibilities, then believing and acting on them.

Does religion make a difference in life?

We have illuminated religious belief and shown it may be rational, even if based on desire and faith. Does religion make a difference in our lives?

Besides our hope and trust in beatitudes, James believes religion gives meaning to life, illuminates what is good, and promotes moral behavior,

“This life is worth living…since it is what we make of it from a moral point of view, and we are determined to make it from that point of view a success…our faith in an invisible order is what inspires those efforts and patience which makes this visible order good for moral men.” Is Life Worth Living?

Individually, we freely embrace moral truths, but they become imperatives by believing they are desired by a divine thinker. Our faith in the moral demands of a divine thinker gives purpose to life by directing moral activity. We can hope our actions make the world a better place.

Is religious belief relevant in modern society?

We can enumerate some ways James’ doctrines correspond with modern thinking:

· Religious intolerance is generally rejected by society since many wars have been caused by religion, often over dogma. Dogma is unimportant to James, and he condemned weaponizing religion,

“(Do we have)…a license to define in detail an invisible world, and to anathematize and excommunicate those whose trust is different? Certainly not! Our faculties of belief…were given us to live by. And to trust our religious demands means…to live in light of them.” Ibid

By giving guidelines for moral living and avoiding dogma, religion should increase our tolerance of others.

· An issue related to tolerance in religion belief involves recognizing the possibility of doubt or uncertainty,

“But will our faith in the unseen world similarly verify itself? Who knows?” Ibid

We do not know for certain that God exists or what he desires — we take it on the same type of faith we have in many beliefs before we act. Recognizing we may be wrong should make us cautious and lessen the tendency to impose beliefs on others.

· James’ philosophy is consistent with the modern belief in the agency and responsibility of individuals. He argues that individuals believe as an act of will.

· His moral universe is built on two propositions — there are no absolute or a priori truths, and our desire to do good is best stimulated by our desire to heed the moral demands of a divine thinker. His allowance for moral agency and responsibility and rejection of absolutism is consistent with free and open societies.

Evaluation

James’ framework answers our initial questions and fosters critical examination and discussion.

His contribution is significant since it places the believer at the center of the religious universe. The nature or existence of a divine being may be less important than what we believe about Him. Therefore, it is important to examine our beliefs and how we come by them.

As an empirical scientist, James was uniquely qualified to undertake that analysis. He clarified the structure of beliefs, how they drive action, and how results may be achieved. Religious belief shares a similar belief structure.

Religious belief is not just passively hoping for beatitudes, it should drive our moral lives- we should try to make the world better. But since we know that many possibilities we consider turn out to be wrong, it points away from dogmatism and moral absolutism and promotes tolerance.

There are two other measures to evaluate James’ success :

Philosophically, he cleverly gives the individual a central role in religion and agency in the world. But he avoids the charge of nihilism that dogs others who displace God as the primary agent and assigner of meaning.

However, while God is not perceived as acting in the world, James claims belief in Him is paramount in directing moral activity and in finding meaning. But is that true since people often find meaning and act morally without religious belief?

Also, his claim that religious belief is of the same type as other act-directing beliefs may be doubted — we verify the truth of many beliefs in this life but are unable to do that with religious belief.

The other measure is theological — does he give answers to what is sought? Is his framework worthy? James provides a coherent and systematic whole while avoiding dogmatism. In that regard, his project seems worthy.