Would it be fair to say that you are disagreeing with my claim that Catholicism should have an advantage for being true?
No. I’m just saying that we have a lot of opposition, comparatively more than other denominations. And so our advantage for having the Truth is muted somewhat, to the extent that people have been blinded to the Truth.
Are there real world consequences (generally speaking) for following false religions or holding false beliefs?
Interesting question. I’ll have to think about that. I think the main consequence is just whatever the fruits of that religion are for them. Christians generally agree that following God’s will for them is the only thing that will make them ultimately happy. Catholics seem also to have a much more developed understanding of suffering in the Christian life than most, as well. If the CC is God’s One True Church, and He thus desires everyone to ultimately be a part of that family, then people have their greatest potential for joy in communion with the Church.
In theory that works, but I agree that humans experience the world relatively, so it is hard for them to experience a negative based on missed potential.
Of course, where hard facts are lacking people will form opinions about the truth.
But substitue faith for opinion and you have religion, generally speaking.
God exists (or not), as a matter of fact. But we are (mostly) reduced to faith, i.e. opinion, in the matter.
I think you’re using a very muddy definition of “faith.” Faith is not opinion, not if there is an ultimate Truth and faith in the sense that it is more normally defined is real. If it is not real and there is no absolute truth, then yes, faith is a form of opinion.
I also don’t agree that honest people interested in seeking truth form opinions about truth. Instead, they choose to believe what they are currently convinced is truth. If they are honest seekers, they are open to being convinced in another way (though they may hold to so much evidence that this will be difficult). They do not form opinions because they want to just accept what they understand as objective truth to the best of their ability. Forming an opinion would be to project one’s own desires or feelings upon that which one was convinced was objectively true. Honest people may have their own personal understanding or interpretation of something they hold as independently true, but they will likely not necessarily see a contradiction between how they personally understand or perceive a truth and how another might perceive that same truth.
Faith, on the other hand, involves uniting one’s physical, verifiable experience of the world with less tangible experiences, with the (name removed by moderator)ut from outside intelligence, with the evidence of logic and the less physical senses and intelligences, even where there may be a gap in knowledge. For there is knowledge beyond the physical evidence measurable by science.
I hope those thoughts aren’t too convoluted.
