Should People Really Believe What They Want?

I used to teach Bible studies at several colleges for years. It was something that I had come to enjoy because I was able to speak to various crowds large and small. What the best part was the conversations during and afterwards. You see you have to understand on college campuses -- everyone is a philosopher. Everyone has their theories and ideas many of which the students think are unique and never thought of, but chances are their parents have already had those thoughts, realized that it was stupid and then moved on. But you have to let these late teens and early twenty year olds have their time of self discovery and "quests for truth."

A common question and comment that I got during that time was, "Everyone should be able to believe and do what they want." And everytime I heard that comment I would tell that student that they really did not honestly believe that statement. Of course they would go into a deep dramatic rhetoric on why the statement was valid. They would use the recently learned reasoning skills that they had learned in the first year mandatory philosophy class that I too had taken years earlier. After they finished I would offer these points on why most rational people do not really believe that statement that, "Everyone should be able to do and believe what they want."

If I said that people should be able to pray in public, some would agree and some would disagree. If I said that people should be able to have abortions some would agree and some would disagree. If I said that people should be able to sacrifice animals to their gods, some would agree and some would disagree. If I said that people should be able to kill others , there would be much less agreement. If I said that people should be able to to rape and molest children for their religion, there would be far less agreement, if any at all. And don't start saying that these are extreme cases, because the fact is, that there are religions for which these things are apart.

The fact is there is innate within people a sense of right and wrong that in a lot of cases doesn't have to be explained. This means that there is a standard somewhere. So, the quest becomes to find the standard. Even if you don't agree with everything within that standard. Usually that is enough said. What do you think? Send me your comments.