Asymptomatic

I’ve lately noticed a specific quality that some people have to adhere to things they believe more strictly than reason dictates. And to be clear about this, it’s a quality of the person as a whole in many of their beliefs, not just about one thing in which they believe.

There really is only one good, universal example, and I dislike making it, but to explain further I have little choice. I do not begrudge anyone their religion. There is a place for me, too, in trying to figure out the bigger mysteries of life. Still, I don’t believe that these beliefs necessarily extend into every facet of life that some folks do. And that’s where you can find friction between what I think and what most everyone else on the planet thinks. But what makes me most different, I think, is that I’m still open to ideas and willing to lend them thought, whereas most religious people I’ve encountered are not.

I think there’s a switch somewhere deep in these people that is flipped to the setting that disallows them any further input. It prevents them from seeing reason in deference to their faith. I’m sure that it’s not just me who has tried to argue one thing or another (abortion, capital punishment, gay marriage, etc.) to a person like this and come up against the unassailable illogic of religion. But whatever this quality is about a person, I’ve noticed that it sometimes doesn’t only apply to their religious beliefs, but also to other thinking that they have.