--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Each religion makes scores of purportedly…" description: "\"“Each religion makes scores of purportedly factual assertions about everything from the creation of the universe to the afterlife. But on what grounds ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/891/alan-sokal-44922_begging-the-question_each-religion-makes-scores-of-purportedl_1825748.jpg" --- # Each religion makes scores of purportedly factual… ![“Each religion makes scores of purportedly factual assertions about everything from the creation of the universe to the afterlife. But on what grounds can believers presume to know that these assertions are true? The reasons they give are various, but the ultimate justification for most religious…” quote by Alan Sokal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/891/alan-sokal-44922_begging-the-question_each-religion-makes-scores-of-purportedl_1825748.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/891/alan-sokal-44922_begging-the-question_each-religion-makes-scores-of-purportedl_1825748.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/891/alan-sokal-44922_begging-the-question_each-religion-makes-scores-of-purportedl_1825748.jpg) > ““Each religion makes scores of purportedly factual assertions about everything from the creation of the universe to the afterlife. But on what grounds can believers presume to know that these assertions are true? The reasons they give are various, but the ultimate justification for most religious people’s beliefs is a simple one: we believe what we believe because our holy scriptures say so. But how, then, do we know that our holy scriptures are factually accurate? Because the scriptures themselves say so. Theologians specialize in weaving elaborate webs of verbiage to avoid saying anything quite so bluntly, but this gem of circular reasoning really is the epistemological bottom line on which all 'faith' is grounded. In the words of Pope John Paul II: 'By the authority of his absolute transcendence, God who makes himself known is also the source of the credibility of what he reveals.' It goes without saying that this begs the question of whether the texts at issue really were authored or inspired by God, and on what grounds one knows this. 'Faith' is not in fact a rejection of reason, but simply a lazy acceptance of bad reasons. 'Faith' is the pseudo-justification that some people trot out when they want to make claims without the necessary evidence. But of course we never apply these lax standards of evidence to the claims made in the other fellow’s holy scriptures: when it comes to religions other than one’s own, religious people are as rational as everyone else. Only our own religion, whatever it may be, seems to merit some special dispensation from the general standards of evidence. And here, it seems to me, is the crux of the conflict between religion and science. Not the religious rejection of specific scientific theories (be it heliocentrism in the 17th century or evolutionary biology today); over time most religions do find some way to make peace with well-established science. Rather, the scientific worldview and the religious worldview come into conflict over a far more fundamental question: namely, what constitutes evidence. Science relies on publicly reproducible sense experience (that is, experiments and observations) combined with rational reflection on those empirical observations. Religious people acknowledge the validity of that method, but then claim to be in the possession of additional methods for obtaining reliable knowledge of factual matters — methods that go beyond the mere assessment of empirical evidence — such as intuition, revelation, or the reliance on sacred texts. But the trouble is this: What good reason do we have to believe that such methods work, in the sense of steering us systematically (even if not invariably) towards true beliefs rather than towards false ones? At least in the domains where we have been able to test these methods — astronomy, geology and history, for instance — they have not proven terribly reliable. Why should we expect them to work any better when we apply them to problems that are even more difficult, such as the fundamental nature of the universe? Last but not least, these non-empirical methods suffer from an insuperable logical problem: What should we do when different people’s intuitions or revelations conflict? How can we know which of the many purportedly sacred texts — whose assertions frequently contradict one another — are in fact sacred?”” [Alan Sokal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-sokal/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that religious belief often rests on circular reasoning, accepting scripture as truth because it says so, without external evidence, and that this double standard creates conflict with scientific rationalism. **In simple terms:** Religious claims are justified by the scriptures themselves, leading to a double standard versus science. Key Takeaway Question the basis of belief and demand consistent evidence. Themes faith reason double standards conflict evidence Mood skeptical critical inquisitive Type philosophical controversial analytical When to use this quote - debates on religion - academic discussions - interfaith dialogues - science education - policy making Key Concepts circular reasoning epistemology authority bias critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - How do you distinguish between faith and evidence? - Can religious claims be evaluated by the same standards as scientific ones? A Different Perspective Religious believers may argue that faith transcends empirical proof, seeing evidence as irrelevant to divine truth. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beliefs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beliefs/) [Bottom line](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bottom-line/) [Contradictions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradictions/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [Holy books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/holy-books/) [Holy scriptures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/holy-scriptures/) [John paul ii](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/john-paul-ii/) [Logic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/logic/) [Observation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/observation/) [Philosophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/) [Physics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physics/) [Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pope/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Religion And Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion-and-science/) [Religious books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious-books/) [Religious people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious-people/) [Revelation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revelation/) [Sacred](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacred/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science vs religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-vs-religion/) [Scriptures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scriptures/) ## Related quotes > [Justification by religious performances, and meritorious deeds, is nothing better than the old Pharisaism with a Christian name stuck upon it. . . 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But on what grounds can believers presume to know that these assertions are true? The reasons they give are various, but the ultimate justification for most religious people’s beliefs is a simple one: we believe what we believe because our holy scriptures say so. But how, then, do we know that our holy scriptures are factually accurate? Because the scriptures themselves say so. Theologians specialize in weaving elaborate webs of verbiage to avoid saying anything quite so bluntly, but this gem of circular reasoning really is the epistemological bottom line on which all 'faith' is grounded. In the words of Pope John Paul II: 'By the authority of his absolute transcendence, God who makes himself known is also the source of the credibility of what he reveals.' It goes without saying that this begs the question of whether the texts at issue really were authored or inspired by God, and on what grounds one knows this. 'Faith' is not in fact a rejection of reason, but simply a lazy acceptance of bad reasons. 'Faith' is the pseudo-justification that some people trot out when they want to make claims without the necessary evidence. But of course we never apply these lax standards of evidence to the claims made in the other fellow’s holy scriptures: when it comes to religions other than one’s own, religious people are as rational as everyone else. Only our own religion, whatever it may be, seems to merit some special dispensation from the general standards of evidence. And here, it seems to me, is the crux of the conflict between religion and science. Not the religious rejection of specific scientific theories (be it heliocentrism in the 17th century or evolutionary biology today); over time most religions do find some way to make peace with well-established science. Rather, the scientific worldview and the religious worldview come into conflict over a far more fundamental question: namely, what constitutes evidence. Science relies on publicly reproducible sense experience (that is, experiments and observations) combined with rational reflection on those empirical observations. Religious people acknowledge the validity of that method, but then claim to be in the possession of additional methods for obtaining reliable knowledge of factual matters — methods that go beyond the mere assessment of empirical evidence — such as intuition, revelation, or the reliance on sacred texts. But the trouble is this: What good reason do we have to believe that such methods work, in the sense of steering us systematically (even if not invariably) towards true beliefs rather than towards false ones? At least in the domains where we have been able to test these methods — astronomy, geology and history, for instance — they have not proven terribly reliable. Why should we expect them to work any better when we apply them to problems that are even more difficult, such as the fundamental nature of the universe? Last but not least, these non-empirical methods suffer from an insuperable logical problem: What should we do when different people’s intuitions or revelations conflict? 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