THE PROBLEM WITH BELIEFS -- THEY CAN TRAP US

I read in the paper this morning that the New York State senate rejected a bill that would have made that state the sixth to allow gay marriage.  The measure needed 32 votes and only received 24, a wider-than-expected margin, but closer than many people might have feared possible.

I don't care about the vote.  It's only a matter of time before gay marriage is approved nationwide.  Gay marriage resistance will fade away and law makers will act just as they did to remove miscegenation laws, Sunday blue laws, and the 55 mph speed laws.  As more and more gays become known (they were there all along, but "in the closet) and society begins to see that they are not devil-possessed sexual perverts (at least not anymore than some heterosexuals), society will adopt the same acceptance it has about casual sex, living together without marriage, drinking, card playing and dancing -- all of which have gone through an outstanding metamorphosis of acceptance that would have been unbelievable 50-60 years ago.

No, the New York vote did not surprise or disappoint me.  What caught my eye in the article was the statement by Sen. Eric Adams, D-Brooklyn.  He challenged his colleagues "to set aside their religious beliefs and vote for the bill."  He might as well have challenged them to be honest.

We humans are generally incapable of abandoning our beliefs.

Beliefs are just that, beliefs.  They are not fact.  They are not even remotely based on fact.  They are exactly what they name says: they are what we believe -- not what we know.

Now I am sure that some readers are objecting that -- regarding their religious beliefs, at least -- that they "know" Christ is king, that God exists, that the world is only 6,000 years old, that Jesus turned water into wine, that prayer works, and so forth.  They know this because that's what they have been taught since early childhood and they never stopped, i.e., had no cause, to question these teachings.  Or, they will argue, that these elements of their faith are substantiated by no less an authority than the Christian Bible.  Or, they will refer for validation to a noted clergyman or televangelist.

It can be said with certainty that what any of us knows came from some authority.  We seldom have the ability or the time to independently verify what we are taught as fact.  (Would you be surprised to learn that 2+2 = 4 is not always true?  It is true only in a base 10 number system.)  Just the same, there are some things we must accept on faith, while other things are verifiable by direct observation or science.

We can believe the earth is flat.  We know it is not.  We can believe "our" political leaders do not lie.  We know better.  We believe our spouse is faithful.  Regrettably, more than one spouse has found that to not be the case.

Religious beliefs are the hardest to deal with.  If we see a frosted image on the window of a McDonald's and "believe" it to be the Virgin Mary, who or what will persuade us otherwise.  Thousands of like believers will throng to the site to pay homage to and/or pray before the image.  Nothing will change their belief.

Political beliefs are the next hardest to influence or change.  We believe in the Democratic or Republican or Independent or whatever party philosophy -- often without ever actually knowing what it is we are supposed to believe -- and nothing anyone can say or do will change how we vote.  We vote the party and any politician worth his/her salt will spend an entire campaign repeating the party line, since we are only interested in hearing those arguments that support what we already believe.

Hence, we listen to the president and believe, or not, that he is doing the right thing.  We listen to Rush Limbaugh and believe, or not, that he indeed offers us excellence in broadcasting, i.e., the truth.  We watch the ABC News (or any other network news) and believe the news people there are reporting unbiased accounts of events.  We know better in each of these instances, but we still believe.

Our beliefs allow us to give meaning to the things in life we do not fully understand.  Our beliefs allow us to enter the world of Harry Potter or Santa Clause when we are young.  Our beliefs give us something to hang onto when the world we know seems to offer little of substance. Every so-called miracle (something we cannot explain) bolsters our belief/faith while, like children who first learn the truth about Santa Clause, we reject or ignore evidence that challenges our belief.

Change our beliefs?  Don't be ridiculous.  Most of us cannot change our beliefs any more than we can change the color of our skin -- Michael Jackson being an exception.

The senator from New York should know better than to ask his colleagues to set aside their religious beliefs.  Religious beliefs, like political, social or patriotic beliefs change as the patriotic, social, political or religious climate changes.  We just follow.  Very few of us are willing to or capable of examining and rejecting long-held beliefs -- and certainly not because some politician asked us to.