# What's wrong with just believing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 3, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048 "2003-07-03T15:46:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/21 "2003-07-04T17:03:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Latro \* > \*\*Pfah, who needs an OP. \*\* Godless skeptics. [sub]It’s OPs all the way down![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/22 "2003-07-04T17:14:36Z")
What does…God…need…with an…OP?! ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/23 "2003-07-05T06:42:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Well, I _do_ believe in fairies . . . \*\* But that just isn’t enough. What’s wrong with just believing? Just believing will not save the fairies! That’s what! You have to believe _and_ clap! Come on people! Clap if you believe in fairies! ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/24 "2003-07-05T07:02:38Z")
_golf clap_ ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/25 "2003-07-05T10:33:15Z")
I’ve always been told that it doesn’t matter a damn what it is you believe, as long as it doesn’t drag you down, or interfere with anyone else’s life. For instance, my stepmom believes in past lives, and believes that not only am I her stepson in _this_ life, but we have been mother/son (and even brother/sister) in SEVERAL past lives. I accept the fact that she’s convinced of the truth of it, and that’s all that matters, really. Besides, it helps me get free money out of her sometimes. 🆒 My mother believes in Jesus Christ, and while that doesn’t affect _her_ life, it does cause a problem when she thinks I’m going to hell when I die, and tries to “convert” me every time we talk. My father believes that if he stops collecting newspapers, and various other assorted crap he will die. He’s fucked. As for me, I believe…well, I believe I’ll have another beer. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/26 "2003-07-05T12:50:41Z")
If you don’t confuse what you believe with what you know, you’ll be okay; i.e. I know that God exists. No you don’t, you believe that God exists. ---
**Author:** ![GodlessSkeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5f9b8f/32.png) [@GodlessSkeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GodlessSkeptic)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/27 "2003-07-05T13:30:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*Godless skeptics. \*\* You rang? I can vouch for the existence of underwear because I made plaster casts of genetelia imprints in a piece of cloth I discovered while doing laundry in Bluff Creek, CA back in the 60’s. [sub]It’s OPs all the way down![/sub] \*\* [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/28 "2003-07-05T13:50:10Z")
:each hand claps by itself: ---
**Author:** ![dal\_timgar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@dal\_timgar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dal_timgar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/29 "2003-07-05T16:23:12Z")
We are getting into the Sapir-Whorf or Whorfian Hypothesis. Language affects thinking. You are using the word BELIEVE when you should say SUSPECT. Suspect deals with probability. That is why in police work they call someone a suspect when they do not have sufficient evidence to be conclusive. It is possible to have multiple suspects even when it is known there was only one culprit. We do not use language precisely so we do not learn to think precisely. Dal Timgar ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/30 "2003-07-05T19:09:18Z")
Of course the police believe that the suspect did it. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2003, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/31 "2003-07-05T22:52:38Z")
Bravo Annie. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/32 "2003-07-07T16:12:25Z")
The problem with that is, you could blow your own head off with something like believing in not believing. ---
**Author:** ![braintree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@braintree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/braintree)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/33 "2003-07-07T16:29:50Z")
“You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common, they don’t alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit the views…” Doctor Who Is it just me or do both ends of the above description resonate of a certain well-known bird brain from Texas? ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/34 "2003-07-07T17:00:02Z")
_I believe that children are our future …_ ouch! stopping hitting me. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/35 "2003-07-07T19:45:13Z")
When I turned 9, I told the boogeyman I didn’t believe in him and he faded away. He came back when I was 12. He said his therapist had taught him to believe in himself. (Sadly, I can’t find the entry so this is from memory) Some theologians posit the existence of a god of solipsism. This god has no followers, as he would not believe they exist. ---
**Author:** ![Susma\_Rio\_Sep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/35a633/32.png) [@Susma\_Rio\_Sep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susma_Rio_Sep)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048/36 "2003-07-13T12:25:35Z")
KGS says: “My father believes that if he stops collecting newspapers, and various other assorted crap he will die. He’s fucked.” Amen, amen, I say unto you: “Honor thy father and thy mother”. About having another beer, “In beera veritas”. Seriously, though, KGS, did you have a happy childhood? If not, I am here ready, willing, and capable to give you some free psychological guidance counseling, on University of Hardknocks principles. Susma Rio Sep > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KGS \* > \*\*I’ve always been told that it doesn’t matter a damn what it is you believe, as long as it doesn’t drag you down, or interfere with anyone else’s life. > > For instance, my stepmom believes in past lives, and believes that not only am I her stepson in _this_ life, but we have been mother/son (and even brother/sister) in SEVERAL past lives. I accept the fact that she’s convinced of the truth of it, and that’s all that matters, really. Besides, it helps me get free money out of her sometimes. 🆒 > > My mother believes in Jesus Christ, and while that doesn’t affect _her_ life, it does cause a problem when she thinks I’m going to hell when I die, and tries to “convert” me every time we talk. > > My father believes that if he stops collecting newspapers, and various other assorted crap he will die. He’s fucked. > > As for me, I believe…well, I believe I’ll have another beer. \*\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-wrong-with-just-believing/186048.md?page=1)