Quotes about faith and science

"Rarely do any of us sit down before a table of facts, weigh them pro and con, and choose the most logical and rational explanation, regardless of what we previously believed. Most of us, most of the time, come to our beliefs for a variety of reasons having little to do with empirical evidence and logical reasoning. Rather, such variables as genetic predisposition, parental predilection, sibling influence, peer pressure, educational experience and life impressions all shape the personality preferences that, in conjunction with numerous social and cultural influences, lead us to our beliefs. We then sort through the body of data and select those that most confirm what we already believe, and ignore or rationalize away those that do not." -Michael Shermer



http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/majority

“The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widely spread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.”
― Bertrand Russell, Marriage and Morals

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
― Mark Twain


Leo Tolstoy
“Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.”
― Leo Tolstoy, A Confession


Criss Jami
“When you're the only sane person, you look like the only insane person.”
― Criss Jami, Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality


Henrik Ibsen
“I don't imagine you will dispute the fact that at present the stupid people are in an absolutely overwhelming majority all the world over.”
― Henrik Ibsen

If you think that what the majority of intellectuals think should automatically be taken as truth without checking the evidence for yourself and checking what God says, then in the past you would have believed with many intellectuals that/in:
--dung and urine are good ingredients in medicines (Egyptians),
--turtles/snakes/elephants, etc. were holding up the earth(many non-Jewish cultures)
--a flat earth, spontaneous generation, a static universe that doesn't move (with only ~2-5000 stars total), geocentrism, that the moon and planets were perfectly circular, that the universe rotates around the earth, that cannonballs fly in a curve and then drop straight down when they lose their energy (Greeks/Aristotle/Arabs, atheists, others)
--that bleeding patients is healthy (Greeks), that bacteria was of no consequence (Greeks up to middle ages)
--that smoking was a good remedy for lung problems (doctors even into the 1900s).
--that drugs are a better way to solve sickness than nutrition (into the mid/late 1900s)
and many other examples.