The Power of Belief

Let’s say that religion is a symbol that has power because enough people believe in it. I doubt even an atheist would argue with that definition. We’re not talking about the existence of God right now, we’re talking about the power of belief. -That- religion has power is an observable phenomenon. That’s why people interested in acquiring political power will often use buzz words like “God’s law” and “in Jesus name”, and now all of a sudden their words have more weight. They hit emotional nerves deeply rooted in our culture and appeal to a broad demographic of people who share those beliefs. Now, the anti-theist movement sees this trend, and believes that it is detrimental. So in the ever present battle for the “soul of humanity”, they seek to reduce the power that religion has over our culture. I can’t really argue with a lot of their reasoning. But why stop there? We’ve got a whole slew of detrimental symbols that we could be tearing down.

Money. Money is a symbol that only has power because people believe in it. If I go to Wawa and hand the cashier a five dollar bill for a hot dog and a soda, then that relies on the premise that me, the cashier, and the person he’s slaving away to make rich, all agree on what this object and the accompanying gesture means. Try going to some isolated tribe in the rainforests and tell them “Here, I’ll give you this wad of green paper if you give me all your food”. Uh, no. Don’t work like that.

Laws only have power because people believe in them. The fact that criminals exist is undeniable proof that the law is not absolute. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of laws are good ideas. It’s generally a good idea to not go around shooting people and looting their corpses. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s physically possible to break the law. Sure, you’ll get in trouble with the cops if you’re not careful. You know what cops are? They’re people, people who believe in something, usually their own authority by the power invested in them through the state. What’s the state? A bunch of people who believe in certain things.

Politicians only have power because enough people believe in them. That’s the foundation of democracy. Get past the titles, constituents, jurisdiction, underlings, and a politician is a person, just like any other person.

Society is a symbol that only has power because enough people believe in it. That’s the most basic fundamental example of what we’re talking about here. A society is a group of people who share a particular geographical location and need to agree on certain things to maintain their coexistence.

Your identity is a symbol that only has power because enough people believe in it. Sure, you can take out your wallet and show me your ID and “prove” that you are who you say you are. But what does that really prove? You were born because at some point your parents made a subjective and most likely impulsive decision to get jiggy with it, and 9 months later, “wah, wah”. Your name? Another subjective choice your parents made based on the verbal symbolism that had a particular meaning for them. Your address? Well, I hope that’s because you made a choice about where you wanted to live. If not, my sympathies.

We all have our religions. We all have our gods. Be careful who your gods are.