Belief results from a lack of accurate information/knowledge.
I don’t believe in science. Flashback: in previous essays I have presented religious belief as, essentially, an anti-intellectual position. In more familiar terms, it is stupid and induces stupidity. “But you believe the Sun will rise tomorrow.” I can tell you down to the minute when the next sunrise will occur. Just after the turn of the 20th century a shipwreck off a Greek island held the mysterious remains of an amazing artifact. It turned out to be a work of unparalleled engineering (think Swiss clock-making only way more badass), a model of the known solar system in the form of an Olympic-based calendar, accurately predicting the movements of the planets as well as lunar and solar eclipses. The first known computer developed not through divine inspiration, but through human curiosity and ingenuity; it was a product of the scientific method, and the scientific method, not faith, would later reconstruct it. There’s a BBC documentary called The 2000 Year-Old Computer worth watching. We have always been a very clever species.
We have always been a very stupid species.
Not many centuries after the device’s invention a new virulent strain of Judaism congealed called Christianity. Over the years it has done itself no favours by resisting theories such as heliocentrism and evolution. Unfortunately a disturbing number of people in the West, urged on by anti-science fundamentalist pastors, reject evolution and maintain that the biblical book of Genesis is literally true. Some creationists have even attempted to develop theoretical models based on a young Earth. Conspiracies abound. Hilarity ensues. Creationists would simply be a joke if they didn’t have so much money and political influence (an argument for taxation could be made here, if one was so inclined).
Belief is a four-letter word.
There are, of course, valid beliefs: proponents of string theory have mathematical and theoretical reasons to believe they are on to something. String theorists lack understanding; they do not know if the universe is composed of vibrating strings of pure energy or not, but neither does anyone else. You could say that theirs is an evidence-based belief. Conversely, the flat Earth model is an excellent example of a faith-based belief. Photographs from satellites and the ISS pretty much close that debate. Belief is a placeholder for knowledge and is thus a transient state.
Herein lies the problem with faith.
The concordance in my Bible (NIV) does a nice job of summarizing the religious interpretation of faith. Except that faith is not knowing; knowledge renders faith moot as they are mutually exclusive. With knowledge, faith becomes regressive and harmful. Faith is ultimately a rejection of contrary evidence, and its survival in the modern world is contingent upon scientific and historical revisionism. Enter stage left: creationism. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a working mathematical model of the Flood (“the Earth is almost completely covered with water!” is my favourite rationale). The only way that a young earth and a global flood are possible is by rewriting the known physical laws. Completely. And the only way to accomplish that is to throw away the Standard Model and disregard the scientific method. Completely.
Faith is fundamentally dishonest.
Like all religions, Christianity is composed of bits and pieces of other cultures; hell, it is itself a derivative of Judaism that recycles the same origin myth in the Pentateuch. Undaunted, creationists twist and ignore facts in an attempt stuff the universe into a preexisting narrative. A literal Genesis, creationists insist, is instrumental to the Christian faith and necessary for the crucifixion and thus redemption. (A literal Genesis is silly.) Such a creation story could only be physically true by revising fundamental scientific concepts, definitions, and basic facts.
When will we learn?
The last century saw the emergence of Scientology and Mormonism (fourteen years into this one and we aren’t faring much better). The answer is never.
Must. Evolve. Faster.