Christians, Atheists, Muslims and everyone else (except agnostics): Are you being intellectually honest?

If you are, you should be ready to abandon your current belief-system in light of contradicting evidence. Are you ready? Could you leave your fellowship if you found out it is doing you and other people more harm than good? Would you be ready to abandon your atheism if evidence pointed to the existence of a god? I bet you wouldn't. Let me tell you why.

You Think you are Right Because of Confirmation Bias and Social Conditioning

Most of us, who believe in something or in a "nothing", are ready to defend and justify our beliefs rationally. Most of us actually believe that our beliefs are founded on evidence, which in most cases isn't true. Our beliefs are based on feelings, and only justified by evidence when needed. Let me give an example:

I was brought up in a Christian environment. Every once in a while, I encountered atheists, who challenged my beliefs. Only the fact that someone was touching my most fundamental beliefs feelt bad. In addition, some of them were arrogant and rude. It made me feel strongly against atheism and atheists. I had to defend my position, for which I needed some facts to prove my point.

The arguments were hard to find, because I hadn't needed them previously. Most of the arguments I provided didn't even work, because we had different basic beliefs and assumptions about reality. I thought my belief was based upon reason, logic, facts and evidence, but it wasn't. It was based on feelings and on how I interpreted evidence from my religious frame of reference.

Confirmation bias is a well known phenomenon, a cognitive fallacy. It is widely taken advantage of in marketing efforts. Once you have the underlying feeling that a product is good, very little evidence is needed to make you buy. The evidence is only for justifying the purchase (maybe to your spouse), not for wanting it in the first place. So most likely your conviction isn't based on facts, but on your environment. In a secular environment you will be conditioned to be an atheist or agnostic, and in a religious environment you will be conditioned to be a theist. So much for rational basis for beliefs.

History also shows that very few people have changed their beliefs because of arguments. Arguments are mostly good for defending a position.

Being Different is Uncomfortable

How much discomfort is the truth worth? Is the emotional cost of being different worth the emotional or practical benefits of being right, and of being sure of it?

Only a person who has disagreed with the majority knows how hard social pressure can be. We are social animals, and a good part of how fulfilling our lives are comes from being accepted. Being unaccepted can feel as bad as death (citation needed). Religious communities can be very harsh towards atheists or believers of something else. The same applies to how predominant atheist communities treat religious beliefs. Scientists who don't believe in molecule-to-man evolution are having a hard time. They are being suppressed in many ways. Again, citation needed, but you can also just google around if you want proof.

The point is, being accepted in your environment is a significant factor. If you are going to resist the tide, you need to be very independent and emotionally strong. For most people, arguments and evidence won't be strong enough to justify "being different".

Change is uncomfortable

We love stability and comfort. The better we can predict everything around us, the more comfortable we are. We develop habits and practices that take care of daily mundane stuff, so we can have relative peace of mind when we are having some free time. We know who we can rely on. We know who likes what, and which friends to enjoy certain activities with. Everything works. We are rarely surprised by any unexpected turn of events.

If you are to change your belief-system, you will encounter some massive changes. The people you once spent time with, might not accept the new "you". Your spouse might not understand you. Your children might be harmed by the disharmony and conflicting communication. You get it. Change might be extremely uncomfortable, and must be justified with some very convincing arguments.

Integrity or Comfort?

So what if you do some soul-searching, and find out that your conviction is based on social conditioning or feelings? If that discovery doesn't disturb you, you're good to go. However, if you find it lacking as a foundation upon which you build your life, you need to do some digging. But then, are you ready to change your conviction if it turns out to be fallacious?

You might find that your beliefs are contradictory. You might find that the huge sacrifices required by your faith aren't justified. If you're not ready to abandon your beliefs in light of better evidence, you are untrue. You would be better off just sticking to your beliefs and living on, so you don't accidentally find some disconfirming evidence. You love comfort more than the truth. That's the fact, but it's ok if it fits into your current philosophy. There's also a chance is doesn't.

What's the point of searching for the truth (or some truth), if it won't change anything? Stop searching and live on.

If you're an atheist, finding out the truth is the opposite of what you believe would make a huge difference. The maxim, "ultimately nothing matters", will be changed to, "everything matters all the time". If you aren't ready to embrace the new paradigm, you'd better just keep living within your comfort zone. Why care about arguments and evidence? What does it ultimately matter? Why take the mutual pain of convincing a theist of the viability of atheism? Just let him be - you'll both be more comfortable.

If you're a theist, be careful. If you found out your life has been based on lies, would you be ready to give up your faith? If not, what's the point of searching, really? You might find better arguments to support your faith, but you are also exposed to the risk of undermining your integrity. The discomfort of swapping beliefs might overcome the discomfort of living a hypocritical life? You might face the difficult choice between living half-heartedly in your current position and making a painful change. Are you prepared? If not, don't proceed. Keep your faith and don't expose yourself to critical thinkers.

There are three ways of living:

1. Total or partial ignorance. This is for most people. This allows for staying within the comfort zone.
2. Intellectual dishonesty and self-deception. This happens if someone finds evidence contradicting current beliefs, but isn't willing to act according to it. This is bad, because one looses the benefits of both ignorance and integrity. In the case that theism is true, the loss is infinite.
3. Integrity and intellectual honesty. This is for people who value truth over comfort. I believe this group contains both atheists and theists. These people confront extreme discomfort, but achieve great hights in many ways. Such people are also unusually flexible and open-minded. These are very rare people, but extremely valuable to humanity.

Discomfort, caused by social pressure, or disasters, will often be the reason for people to switch philosophies. Some of the people will just let go of what they had, and become agnostics. Some become apatheists, drifting through life without any ultimate purpose or goal. Some will notice the absurdity of life without an all-encompassing philosophy. They face the dilemma whether to dig deep or to simply try to enjoy life.

I highly encourage critical thinking, but only for those who value truth over comfort. For others, it will be of little use -- probably only producing pain.