We all have inaccurate beliefs about ourselves and about the world. Many of these may even seem to serve us in the short term – although most don’t, but in the long run any belief that is not consistent with reality— with how things actually work will lead us astray. And cause us to engage in self-defeating behaviors, make bad decisions and limit the realization of our potential.

Two examples:

A clear one: “I am not good enough to do X”.

As a result you never try, so of course you never become good enough. Talent isn’t innate, it may be predisposed, but it is always nurtured.

A more subtle one: “I am helping those in need, because we are all God’s children”.

Helping people in need is undeniably a good thing, if done in a way that truly helps over the long term. Many great deeds have been done at the behest of religious morality.

But a morality grounded in Judeo-Christian beliefs is dangerous. While adherence to this faith may confer many moral actions it also confers many immoral actions. With the extent of the immorality being directly proportional to how strictly the creed is adhered to.

Adhere very strictly and you stone women and rape slaves.

Most people in modern society, however do not interpret the bible literally, but rather use it as a guide. So it could be arguing that believing in the bible causes you to stone women is a straw man. But I will still argue that any non-zero amount of adherence to Judeo-Christian principles are likely to lead to damaging moral inferences.

(That is unless the valuable insights of the religion are truly abstracted with 100% precision — such as being good to your neighbor — but at that point it is so differentiated from a Judeo-Christian belief system that it does not make sense to call it the same thing)

How does using the bible as a guide lead to damaging moral inferences?

Maybe it’s just limiting a woman’s right to chose to contraception. Maybe it’s missing out on transformative experiences by delaying sex until marriage. Or maybe the hubris that comes from believing you are doing “God’s work” blinds you from accepting feedback from friends, family and customers. The possibilities are quite vast in this case, since the belief in an omniscient, omnipotent, intervening force is so erroneous.

Inaccurate beliefs about ourselves and the world limit the realization of our potential. So examine your unexamined beliefs. Throw them into the gauntlet of discourse. See if they hold their weight. If not, change them!

You and the world will be all the better for it.