Hi everyone! How are you doing? I have a great challenging question for you!?

Question

Ok, this is a really good question we were talking about in my gifted learning class, here is the question:

"Is it possible to be religious, and be a critical thinker?"

Answer 1

What is 'Gifted Learning'?

All priests are critical thinkers. Meet some rabbis and you'll soon know what I mean.

Yours is a feeble question. God help us all!

Answer 2

haha I had this my junior year as an essay. Yes it is because I am religious and a highly critical thinker , people say well if your are religgious, you should not question the beliefs. But i personally think its quite natural to question the unknown dont you? So yea I do believe its very possible to be a critical thinker and religious.

Answer 3

Yes, faith is a gift from God.  But that does not mean that they have lost the ability to just look at the facts alone and come to a conclusion.

The problem about critical thinking, as David Hume proved, that you can never prove causality, so in the end, critical thinking needs to take some principles on faith without them being proved.  Religious believers according to Hume believed on one thing through faith, God.  Scientists on the other hand took far more scientific laws on faith.

David Hume is often maligned by Christians because he was an atheist.  But his book is aimed at Science, not religion.

David Hume foresaw a day when Scientists would be unquestioned by the common man.  So he used logic to prove that through observation and measurement of results of an experiment, no scientific law could ever be proved.  His thesis was to help people see the shortfalls of science and show that the scientific method needed "faith" just as much as religion.  

Hume proved that any scientific law always is an assumption, not a law.  He demonstrated that it would not be possible to  set up any experiment without assuming what what the scientist was trying to prove.

In doing so, he also proved that no scientist could prove causality.  What they were doing was in effect observing an event that happened before another event,  but it does not mean that the first event was the cause of the second event.  Almost any other "cause" could be substituted and observed.

So critical thinkers need to believe in far more unproved scientic laws or in other words take a multitude of scientific principles on faith.  When it comes to faith critical thinker use far more faith than any believer in God does.

Answer 4

Of course it is.  Why is this special education??

Answer 5

Ummmm sure I guess?

Answer 6

i have no clue!

Answer 7

I think this is a great question and one that came up in a conversation with friends last year.  A friend said that "Faith is the absence of rational thought".  Being the daughter of a scientist and a minister this struck a chord with me.  I would ask "What rational person has faith in NOTHING?"  I'm  not sure I have a good answer to either, but both of my parents are scholars and critical thinkers and occasionally faith is created by having more information, not less.  Keep asking the hard questions!

Answer 8

I think that if you belive anything is posible! I know, I know, I know your thinking man thats so corny but its not! Trust me it works. Think positive not negitive!

Answer 9

NO it isn't.

Answer 10

Absolutely, Religious people are in all areas of Medicine, Science, Education.  Your professors question implies religious people do not think for themselves, I find that quite offensive.

Answer 11

Religion = traditional forms carried out as part of ritualized behavior

A person can be religious and not even think, just participate in up and down, Amen, etc.

A critical thinker would find it impossible to be involved in a religion because his thoughts would lead him to question the forms and rituals, many from years and years before, and he may even have to research this religion.  Inevitably, he finds politics and infighting have formed this religion, or at some time pagan rituals were mixed into the religious to encourage pagans to join the Christians, and it is not fit for him to participate in.

SO, my answer to that question is YES.  I know I just proved otherwise, but I state that it IS possible, because our churches are filled with critical thinkers who turn their minds off and do not think at all while they practice their religion.

TX Mom