The Belief In Belief

If you have ever seen a lecture, read an article or watched an interview with the eminent Atheist philosopher Daniel Dennett you would probably have heard him say that while most religious people, Or people generally, profess to believe in god what they actually have is a belief in the belief of god.

What Daniel means by this is that while they probably don't really believe in god they have been conditioned to believe that faith is a virtue and that anybody who believes is instantly a better person than those who lack a belief.

On this point - and many others - I agree entirely with what Daniel Dennett is saying. We only have to look at what people do and it becomes apparent that it completely contradicts what they are saying.

To make this point i am going to use cases that were reported in the media to show the hypocrisy of religious people and show that they say one thing and do another.

kent Hovind
Kent Hovind is a young earth creationist, or "nut" as i like to call them, Who believed the word of the bible so much that he built dinosaur adventure theme park that was based on the biblical account of creation, The false theory of young earth and showed humans a dinosaurs existing together. This man must surely believe in god, Right? Well if he did why is he in prison for tax fraud? Doesn't sound like someone who really believes in god to me.

Ted Haggard
Ted Haggard, A man who has the cheek to use the title "reverend", Runs a mega church where he preaches and collects vast amounts of money. So what does he do with this money? Does he give it to the poor? Some may go to the poor, but some goes towards buying meth and sex from rent boys. Doesn't sound like someone who really believes in god to me.

David Smith
"Rev." David Smith was jailed for just over 5 years back in May 07 for abusing 6 children over a period of 30 years. This disgusting piece of filth used his position of trust to lure young boys to "sleep-overs" where he would sexually abuse them. Doesn't sound like someone who really believes in god to me.

Of course it's not only the famous who are guilty of being hypocrites who say one thing and do another. you only have to look at the people around you who claim to believe in god and compare what they say to what they do, it soon becomes apparent that, Like Dan Dennett said, Most people don't believe in god, they only believe in the belief of god.

I would like to ask the people reading this who claim to believe in god to sit down and think about it for a while. if you can't be honest with us at least be honest with yourself. Do you really believe what you say? Or do you only say It because of conditioning and because you think it's the right thing to claim to believe?