Religion and Skepticism

The World Question Center asks of scientists and intellectuals, "what have you changed your mind about and why?" Paging through the responses is pretty interesting and provides a buffet of interesting ideas in take home sizes.

One of my favorites is this nugget of wisdom from Rupert Sheldrake:

I used to think of skepticism as a primary intellectual virtue, whose goal was truth. I have changed my mind. I now see it as a weapon.

Creationists opened my eyes. They use the techniques of critical thinking to expose weaknesses in the evidence for natural selection, gaps in the fossil record and problems with evolutionary theory. Is this because they are seeking truth? No. They believe they already know the truth. Skepticism is a weapon to defend their beliefs by attacking their opponents.
.
.
.
In practice, the goal of skepticism is not the discovery of truth, but the exposure of other people's errors. It plays a useful role in science, religion, scholarship, and common sense. But we need to remember that it is a weapon serving belief or self-interest; we need to be skeptical of skeptics. The more militant the skeptic, the stronger the belief.

As a firm believer in the power of critical thinking and skepticism myself, I take his point to heart.