Religion is another way of knowing
Stating "religion is another way of knowing" is an appeal to an egalitarian impulse for equity. It constitutes an argument by pathos. It also constitutes a support of relativism.
"All ways of knowing are have equal influence when justifying knowledge claims in religion. Therefore there is no way of knowing that is more important than the other. Many see faith as the more stereotypical way of knowing that has the most influence when justifying knowledge claims in religion. However something that seems as opposing as reason has at least the same if not more influence when justifying knowledge claims in religion. Religion is very personal. Everyone interprets religion differently."
- — Caitlin Low [1]
The argument is similar to the argument from divine sense, which suggests there is a distinct faculty in humans that directly provides religious knowledge. It is also related to the idea of nonoverlapping magisteria, which claims that religion and science make claims in distinct areas which are "two separate realms of human experience".
Counter arguments
If we consider religion to be "another way of knowing", what other methods of forming beliefs might be imagined? Consulting a Magic 8-Ball is also another way of knowing. Or, to make it more general, guessing is another way of knowing. It's premise that religion or another other method of arriving at belief is equally valid is a broken compass argument.
Discussions often turns into "How do you know that this knowledge is true?". Using the word "knowledge" might look like it implies that the data is true by definition, but this is not the case. We can read the Harry Potter books and gain knowledge about Harry Potter and the world in which the story is set. It is knowledge, and it's true in a sense that it is true to the description given in the book, but it is not a factual description of a real, existing world.
Science purposely has mechanisms and procedures to verify and confirm collected knowledge, whereas religion does not. Religion makes claims to knowledge, and sticks to those claims no matter what.
References
- ↑ Caitlin Low, Faith as a Way of Knowing, March 13, 2014
See also