Contrast without contempt

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Or, to put it a different way, "I will stop calling you a sinner, if you will stop calling me stupid." Is it possible for people whose beliefs differ to understand one another without expressing some kind of contempt?

Here is an attempt at comparing and contrasting secular humanism (SH) with the church to which I belong, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). I trust that these acronyms will not be too invasive in the prose, and I will use a lower-case version so that it looks less like shouting. I did resist the temptation to use a longer acronym with "belief system" after each of the names. Nevertheless, it is indeed the respective belief systems that I am comparing and contrasting.

A belief system is an entity in World Three*, so alternating paragraphs will be enclosed in special brackets to indicate the world, and which belief system is speaking**. The speeches are entirely of my making and do not necessarily represent the official doctrine*** of either belief system. This is personal, as indicated formally by the bracketing of the entire post as such.

[3sh This life is an accident. The species homo sapiens is the product of a long evolutionary process. Our mind is an illusion, a story we each tell ourselves. No superior beings care what happens to the human race and we must take care of the world ourselves. Many years ago, we invented gods and religions as explanations for the world around us.]

[3lds This life is a test. We are beings with a dual nature. Our spirits are literally children of our Heavenly Father. He created our bodies, starting with Adam and Eve. Our mind awakens as our body's brain matures, but memories of pre-mortal life are veiled from us. We are co-eternal with God, who created the world for us and cares about it and us.]

The tension is already very thick. These are very different belief systems. Continuing, looking for commonality.

[3sh Our body will eventually die. Since our mind is nothing separate from our brain which also dies, we will each cease to exist, and the elements of our body will eventually return to the earth. We will continue to live on in the minds of those who cared about us until they also cease to exist. Some very famous people will be remembered longer.]

[3lds Our body will eventually die. Our spirit will carry our memories into another world, and the elements of our body will eventually return to the earth. We will continue to live on in the minds of those who cared about us. Some very famous people will be remembered longer. Eventually every person will be remembered and resurrected.]

There is quite a lot in common, with regards to death, but an enormous difference in what it means to the individual.

[3sh We are aware that there are misguided people who believe in [3lds]. It is sad that they are so deluded, and we need to present the concepts of [3sh] to them to free them from their slavery to false ideas about how the world really is.]

[3lds We are aware that there are people who believe in [3sh]. If they are willing to listen, we should teach them about [3lds] and testify to them of its truth, so that they can rejoice with us in the knowledge of how the world really is.]

I am hoping to avoid contempt. Some supporters of [3sh] do exhibit a great deal of contempt for believers in religion, so I have included a bit of that bias (with the concept of "delusion"). In fairness, there are also supporters of [3lds] who feel contempt for supporters of [3sh] but I do not, and this is personal.

The next point is really a sideline, exploring one step further this awareness by one group of people, the supporters of one belief system, of the other group who support the other belief system.

[3sh Those of us who care about others' beliefs can only convince these people before they die, and we must insist that they not indoctrinate children because that is unfair to the children and to us, making it harder for us to convince them all.]

[3lds We respect the right of these people to believe as they wish. After they die, they will understand that their belief system was incorrect, and we will continue to minister to them until they accept the Savior, which, ultimately, each one will.]

The difference here is quite large, due to an inherent asymmetry**** having to do with whether or not the belief system includes a belief in life after death.

Finally, let's consider how each belief system determines truth.

[3sh Science is a relatively recent invention which allows us to learn what is true about the world around us. We develop theories and test them with observations made of the real world. We depend upon peer review to ensure that we have a coherent story to tell others. We believe peer-reviewed research in areas we have not studied personally. We are very proud of what we have been able to accomplish in such a short time. There are some questions to which our method does not apply.]

[3lds Everything which is true, including observations of science, is a part of our belief system. Direct revelation from God is the most sure and certain way to know what is true. Each of us knows by direct revelation to us that God has selected certain men to speak for all of us, we believe that they receive revelation from God, and we believe what they say. We believe all that God has revealed and we expect continuing revelation. Not all subjects have been addressed yet by them, so we must be patient.]

If I have correctly characterized the two belief systems, though they use quite different methods to get at the truth, both require faith, in the sense of needing to believe authorities.

This is hardly a conclusion, for there is still much exploration to do. The blog format allows me to try out different ideas and different presentation methods, and hopefully benefit from feedback.

All feedback is welcome. Please be aware that each supporter of either of these belief systems is a flesh-and-blood human being with feelings, who, however odd it may seem to those on the other side of the controversy, does sincerely hold these beliefs to be true and perhaps even self-evident. Please avoid all ad hominem attacks in public comments.

I am particularly soliciting feedback concerning errors in the speeches that I have put into the mouths** of the two belief systems. These are only valuable to the extent that they are accurate. If you are a believer in one of these systems and feel that I have misrepresented or over-simplified your belief, please let me know, either by comment, Google+ post, private message, or email. Thank you in advance.

In conclusion, in this post, I have done my best to produce, at an overview level of detail, an accurate and fair comparison and contrast without contempt.

* For an explanation of worlds one, two, and three, please see a previous post in this blog, "Context without content."
** Strictly speaking, world three entities do not speak, but world two entities (i.e. people) speak on their behalf. Each speech is in my own voice, representing the world three entity as I understand it.
*** The official doctrines of the LDS church can be found by searching on lds.org. SH does not have an organization per se, at least so far as I am aware.
**** In the linked post, LDS is denoted M, and SH is denoted S. The other abbreviations are C for mainstream christianity, and R for groups that believe in reincarnation.
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