On churches and truth

The failure of this blog to get traction is a problem that has been vexing me since I begun writing it.  But I think I may be getting some insight into the nature of the problem.  Briefly stated: why is this blog failing?  Because the truth is a slippery thing.  Is that the reason?  No, not exactly.  More precision is required.

Let me try this:  not only is the truth a slippery thing, but most people appear to think otherwise.  When that happens, they fall into what I will call "the trap of belief".  It is human nature to want to believe in things, but it is this very thing that causes you to fall into this trap.  When that happens, you join a "church", and start believing in something in which is said to be "the truth".  Those who join this church manage to convince each other, who are members of this church, that they are all in possession of this truth.  Those who don't believe are also believed to be misguided, or even evil.

I have tended to avoid belonging to any church.  Yet, I have believed things very strongly.  I am no different from anybody else.

If I am correct about this theory, the statement that I don't belong to a church will be interpreted to mean that I don't believe in anything at all.  Yet, I have believed in things and I have seen in personal experience how a belief in something can lead you to the wrong conclusions.  Just because you believe in something strongly, doesn't make it any more or less true.  Truth is independent from whatever you believe.  Your feelings about it are irrelevant to whatever the truth may be.  Yet, the majority of people, maybe even the vast majority of people, think just exactly the opposite.  The thought is that if you believe in something hard enough, it will be even more likely to be true.

A quote, which may illuminate the point:

Faith is one of the forces by which men live, and the total absence of it means collapse.
~ William James

A few examples of the "churches", aside from the long established churches, such as the Catholic Church

1. Modern day liberalism, which is most often said to be practiced by the Democrat Party.  This has also been described as "secular humanism".  Democrats claim to practice this, but I doubt it.  They are said to practice it by others, but I doubt the accuracy of that source as well.
2. There appears to be a church distinct from this church, which has now managed to get a large number of adherents in the Republican Party:  It is related to Ayn Rand's Objectivism.   It is reflected in the movement associated with the Libertarians.  They are somewhat in tune with the Republican party on the subject of limited government, but also somewhat in tune with the Democrats in terms of personal freedom and non-interventionism in foreign policy.
3. Various cults and beliefs associated loosely with the currents and eddies of modern life-- I will add amongst this list the believers in the Rossi- Focardi E-cat.   I strongly suspect belief in the E-cat has trumped logic, reason, and evidence.  Those people have joined this church apparently believe those who question their beliefs are evil- or as Rossi says "snakes".  I will also include their detractors, who are also following an irrational course by labeling those who believe in the E-cat to be followers of "pathological science".  They may be both right, or both wrong.  Or one of them may be right, but both cannot be right.

It pains me to write that about the followers of the E-cat, but my experience in writing about it has always been to be consistent with finding out the truth, whatever it may be.  For awhile, I started to believe in the E-cat.  Then, I started to doubt.  At the moment, I am quite confused, so I'll say that I am somewhere in the middle.  Of course, being in the middle gets you into trouble too amongst the believers on both sides.  Here's a humorous quote:  "Those in the middle of the road get run over."  Humor can be helpful sometimes.  But not when somebody wants to stick a knife in you.

It's painful to be in the middle because you manage to offend everybody and please nobody.  As for my own beliefs, well, I believe that solutions can be found.  But you have to be willing to look for them.  If you already think that you have all the answers, then why look any further?  But what happens when you stop looking?  All too often, people seem to think that they don't need to look beyond their own noses because everything that needs to be known is already present between their own ears.  So, they aren't much willing to listen to anything that disturbs the peace of the smug self confidence that their beliefs give to them.