A Quiet Revolution

In a dialogue with an imaginary atheist who found it impossible to believe and asked how he might believe in God, the French philosopher Pascal replied that he should do what believers do; have masses said, genuflect, make the sign of the cross, etc. Pascal promised that the atheist would soon believe and would be amazed. Pascal’s advice shows great insight into the relationship between our actions and our beliefs.  It’s common sense that our actions flow from our beliefs. As we think, so we act. But the causality also works in the other direction. As we act, so we believe.

We don’t often consider this form of influence on our beliefs. This is why Pascal’s observation was very wise. Our actions can help, or even change our beliefs. Human beings hate cognitive dissonance, we want and strive to be consistent in our actions and our beliefs. In fact, marketers understand this fact about human beings and exploit it. Every time you sign a petition you are taking an action and being primed to continue performing more actions consistent with that simple first one; actions like donating money to a cause.

Battle of the Deep

Pascal’s atheist admits that his atheism is not rational, it has other roots. Like the Psalmist said: “Sin speaks to the sinner in the depths of his heart.”  St. Paul also gives witness to this greatest of all dissonance — sin. What I know is wrong is what I do, Paul lamented, and the good that I want to do I can’t. This is the tension between the spirit and the flesh. The law of sin at work in our members. This creates a great tension in our souls. In the depths of our heart there is a great battle to identify our whole being with either sin or with God. That is why atheism is not a victory of reason, but a victory of sin. The atheist (the ‘new atheist’ in particular) is an atheist because he has solved the dissonance in favor of sin. His passions have won, God can not exist because he is good and the author of all goodness, and the atheist must rationalize his evil.

So Pascal prescribes a course of actions designed to combat those non-rational elements of unbelief.

But it can work the other way around. Our behaviors can inadvertently lead us to erroneous beliefs.

Trojan Horse?

I think this was the case with contraception. Contraception was widely adopted because it seemed like a convenient way for married couples to have sex while avoiding pregnancy. No one really gave it a second thought. But there were all kinds of hidden implications lurking within that contraceptive behavior. Actions have their own internal logic, even when we aren’t completely aware of them. It’s logical that if sex can be separated from fertility; if our idea of sex can be divorced from fertility then it must follow that homosexual behavior and other forms of sexuality that have no intrinsic relation to fertility must also be OK.

If our idea of sex can change so as not to encompass fertility, then what objection could there be to homosexuality or same sex marriage?

The great push for the normalization of homosexuality and same sex marriage is unthinkable if the contraception revolution didn’t happen first. I believe this is a case of behavior changing beliefs. At first, no one was interested in normalizing homosexuality or same sex marriage; people (mostly married couples) just wanted a convenient way to have sex without getting pregnant. So they took the bait. And several decades later, that population can see nothing wrong with homosexuality or same sex marriage, and why should they? Once you accept the implicit premises of contraception by letting it change your behavior, the other beliefs will surely come after.

As we act, so we believe.