James Miller reflects on a particular privilege of those who base their opinions on evidence.
This article will end with a question for you all. But first I want to talk about something that I’ve found to be one of the most mentally rejuvenating experiences one can have: changing your mind.
Despite a reputation among my peers as an inexorable foe when debating, a rock in the river that none of their ideas cling to, many of my opinions are radically different now to how they were five years ago.
To name a few: I was against the 2003 invasion of Iraq until I learnt more about Saddam Hussein; I was much more sceptical of climate change before reading more studies and reports; I supported more ‘terror laws’ until I learnt more about civil liberties. Animal rights? Didn’t really give two hoots until I thought about what it really meant. The ever-controversial Hijab? I was very against it, until I realised that I was holding it to a different standard to Christian nuns’ headwear. (The niqab – covering the face – I still think is degrading and disempowering).
All of these things, you’ll notice, were basically ill-thought out opinions that I moved beyond by learning. I’ve voraciously consumed book after book to find out more about the world and the people in it, and it’s such a rewarding experience.
Much like the tipping point when putting together a jigsaw, the true picture of things starts to appear. And while the final piece of the puzzle will never slip into place, because (sadly!) you can’t know everything, the feeling that you’ve just arrived at an informed, supported and well-reasoned opinion about the world is almost dizzying. Especially so if it contradicts something you once held to be unshakeably true.
So why don’t we see more people changing their minds? I was astonished a few months ago when the former Archbishop of Canterbury changed his mind in the ‘right-to-die’ debate. It was the first time I’d seen someone in the public eye with a previously-entrenched opinion change their mind so radically. I couldn’t stop talking about it.
But that’s one case. It’s just one instance where someone has come out and figuratively said: ‘I now disagree fundamentally with the opinion I held previously.’ It almost seems brave, doesn’t it?
I think that perhaps there are two facets to why we don’t see this happen more. There’s how we receive ideas, and also how they’re linked to notions of identity.
The majority of us learn our first ideas from our parents, teachers, and friends. We all know that most Christians had Christian parents, most Muslims have Muslim parents etc. (I’d wager that most Conservatives, Labourites or Lib Dems have parents who instilled those views into them too). And in our younger years opinions are like fashions – you want the ‘right’ ones to fit in with your peers.
It’s only as we get older that some of us really start to look to the world – rather than the people we’re close to – to inform our views. My own anecdotal experience suggests that not everyone does this. It seems that often people accept points made on the basis of authority, or tradition, and don’t have an internal drive, or mission, to find out what they themselves actually make of things.
Which leads on to the second point: ideas as identity. It’s hard not to bundle the two things together sometimes. We hear sentences that start: ‘As a Christian…’, ‘The Conservatives think that…’. or ‘A socialist view would be…’. These constructs are allowing ideas or ideologies to govern who we are, rather than using who we are to form our ideologies.
And it’s something that we’re all often guilty of. I’ve caught myself before saying ‘As a humanist…’ at the start of a sentence. This is limiting – it’s suggesting that my view is couched in a set of values that are prescribed by a group. What I really mean is that I have taken a particular view point, and that view blends in with the backdrop of humanism.
Tying together ideas and identity can dangerous. It can be allowing oneself to be absorbed into tribalism, or group think. A desire to conform to the rules or lines of thinking set down by others: ‘I believe x, because x is what a Christian/Buddhist/capitalist/feminist should think.’
Just as silly, and equally lazy, is imposing such constraints from the outside-in. Racism, sexism, homophobia – these are all things that only persist because we marry ideas and identities. A racist viewpoint is largely saying ‘I don’t like Black/white/Asian people because I believe x, y and z to be true about all Black/white/Asian people.’ It’s a patently absurd view to take, but it persists nonetheless.
I’ve been personally riled up by it on a few occasions. Seeing articles or videos that lump atheists together, or suggest that ‘atheism is turning into a religion’ boil my blood. Does anyone seriously think that a lack of belief in something is enough to successfully predict what that person does believe?
These are the kinds of things we need to deconstruct. We need to untie ideas from identity, and encourage people to question their own views. Gently remind someone that believing something because their parents told them to, isn’t a particularly good reason to believe something.
What people need is to experience changing their minds on a topic that’s bigger than them. It does two things. It reminds them that most ideas don’t dictate who they are, and (for the most part) how to act each day. Changing your mind doesn’t shatter the earth beneath your feet.
But it also brings the unique delight of opening up new realms of thought and discovery. When a scientist is proven wrong, he or she goes down another avenue. We need that mentality to be more pervasive across society.
Let’s discuss concepts and ideas without cultural baggage. Let’s promote the joy of learning and seeking truth. Let’s get rid of the notion that changing your mind is a weakness, or a betrayal of your identity.
Because ultimately, ‘free thinking’ means being free to dissent, free to be sceptical, and free to change one’s mind. Your ideas might have labels for them, like humanist or Christian ideas, but I think that those labels aren’t for you as a whole.
So here’s the question I promised you at the beginning, and I’d really love to see some interesting answers: on what topic(s) have you changed your mind, and why? You never know, you might change the mind of someone else in the comment section too.
James Miller is an in-house writer for a public organisation and proud supporter of the BHA.
Changing your mind is usually seen as a weakness — that you’re not “confident”. And if you’re not “confident”, you can’t be “trusted”. But you know what, nobody SHOULD be 100% confident about anything. If they claim to be, then you should not trust them! At most, you should be 99.999% certain about anything. Being able to change your mind when that other .001% of evidence comes in should be seen as a strength — something to admire.
To answer your question Mr. Miller, after a lifetime of being a devoted Mormon, I changed my mind and became an atheist. At first, the experience was painful, because I “betrayed the trust” of my entire social network. But eventually, it was the best thing to ever happen to me, because I can really, finally, be myself.
My point is not that Mormonism is bad and you have to be atheist to be happy — that’s not what I am saying at all (maybe some people will be happier going the opposite way). My point is, letting go of even closely held beliefs — beliefs that define who and what you are on a fundamental level — can be liberating in a way that defies description.
Oh the author will regret asking….
As you are right to point out, I would struggle to think of an issue that I’ve not changed my mind about, perhaps I still hold the belief that blues and rock are the best musical genres to exist. I’m hoping to maintain this belief.
As a child, coming from an Ex-USSR country, I believed that there was a God. Why wouldn’t you if everyone around you tells you to from an early age? The same way everyone around you would speak badly of homosexuality (see the crimes committed against them in Russia)… the same way that anyone that does not look like yourself is somehow inferior.
I used to fear that God was watching my every step and that I will be punished for any wrong doing or perhaps even go to hell. I cannot remember at what age I started to question the plausibility of there being a God, but I think I saw sense before the age of 10 or thereabouts.
Views on homosexuality changed overtime. Having moved countries in my teens I got exposed to different views and ideas. I had the chance to speak to some over the web, and I quickly realized that they were no different. Do I care that they’re not reproducing? I think the bigger issue facing the world is over-population. We should be grateful! As for their right to be parents… I don’t see why not, what are the chances that having had to go through all the hoops in order to become parents, they will do an excellent job.
I would like to say that I do my best not to hold any racist views, but do I have a bias? Possibly. I tend to be quite suspicious of people from my own country and neighboring countries. Predominantly because of the beliefs (listed above) held by many which in my opinion are wrong. Am I racist towards racists? If I carry on thinking about this it will blow my mind.
I used to think that politicians worked in our interest. Whenever they’d announce that we were going to participate in another war, I’d think, alright… it’s inevitable and they must have good reasons for it. When you start questioning you realize that it isn’t as simple as that. How often is our involvement purely in prevention of interruptions to our oil & gas supplies?
Recently we witnessed the events in Ukraine and interestingly enough no one did anything. You’d think, why is it that they do not deserve our help? Is it perhaps because most of the Russian gas flows through Ukraine and feeds the rest of the Europe? So, it is alright for us to stay silent and pretend it’s not taking place just because of our greed. Politicians talk about fracking being the cure to our dependency on foreign energy. Instead, why don’t we invest in renewable energy and aim towards passive-housing in order to reduce that demand…. it’s never in our interest.
Quite negatively, taking my own past into account, I’ve never seen religion bring anything good, other than division, now I no longer feel that god is watching my every move. Am I misbehaving and breaking the law? No, in fact I think having opened up my eyes and admitted that there is so much more to learn it has made me a better person.
These are my opinions.
Now at 70+, I can identify with the authors satisfaction on ‘growing up’ and somewhat saddened that this is not always the case amongst my friends and peers. Childhood indoctrination and received opinion lasts long into the allotted span and some are impervious to ever expanding knowledge and science based reasoning. There are many topics on which the acceptance of facts and evidence have changed my mind but, in terms of people, Peter Tatchell is my marker for ‘ From Weirdo To Hero’.
Understanding how and why your mind changes is more important than just being convinced by new opinions.
The biggest change of mind I’ve had is probably religion – but I’m still pretty young despite it being a few years ago, so that’s not unusual.
I feel that I am still learning an awful lot every day, though, and there are plenty of small things I change my mind on every day, therefore.
An interesting and well written piece.
To do it justice, any comment should be worthy of the original blog, so I shall cogitate before posting.
On the other hand…
Growing up I have always been very opinionated but as I mature I believe that the way many perceive issues as well as myself as i am sure I am no different, people are accustomed to taking a black or white approach to the majority of questionable issues when there is always a major grey area no matter how much you read upon a subject. I think it is more an issue of acceptance that people struggle with, that sometimes there is not a view which is wrong nor right. As you have stated, your view changed once you had become more educated in an area of study, would you now still openly listen to views against a re-educated opinion you have and do you think there are some issues which are not so straight forward as a for or against.
I guess my biggest changes of mind have been about religious belief. From growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, through a series of explorations of other religions, into the Methodist ministry as a liberal(ish) Christian and now in retirement as a far-over liberal of the sort most would not recognise as any sort of Christian. And I’ve not finished yet.
The most recent thing I’ve changed my mind on is Santa/Father Christmas and how to approach this with the kids.
Initially my partner and I had settled on keeping the secret from them and letting them figure it out for themselves in the same way as our families have done it.
Although we have always said that we never wanted to outright lie to them, we figured we were going to destroy their childhoods if took away every bit of magic and they were going to be hated on the playground for spilling the beans.
Anyway, after reading up a bit online about how other non-religious families have approached it, I have settled on telling them the truth as soon as they ask us.
Obviously I will talk to them about being sensitive to the feelings of others on the topic and explain that we can still do all the same things at Christmas and play the game just because it’s fun.
But we are decided that we are not going to cave and start telling our children something is real when we know it isn’t just to help everyone else keep the secret.
I really hope our kids don’t hate us for it when they’re older!