I am looking for examples of how people attempt to protect their belief system - immunize it against rational criticism - by appealing to mystery.
Religious examples are good (do provide them), but I also want non-religious examples, e.g. people dealing with apparent scientific refutations of the claims of crystal healers, etc. by suggesting that science is limited in its scope and we must acknowledge "there are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio", etc.
If the examples can be accessed on the internet, that helps. It's for forthcoming book. I imagine there are skeptical websites that have many examples but I am struggling a bit to find them...
Comments
Of course, Tim Minchin's beat-poem 'Storm' comes to mind (lyrics here: ). http://podblack.com/2009/01/tim-minchins-storm-now-featured-online/
Then there's parapsychology and some of the examples they give - I did an essay on how more recently quantum theory is being used, as a part of my studies: http://podblack.com/2008/11/on-quantum-and-parapsychology/
If you like, I can round up a few skeptical friends to give you more examples - I would suggest that you check out the investigations done at the Mind, Body and Spirit festivals by the Skeptic Zone podcast, where we have sound-bites from people. There's also the Australian Skeptic magazine, which is online at the Australian Skeptic site? Dr Rachael Dunlop may be of use there. :)
http://www.corinthiannaturopathiccollege.com/course_description
talks about the "mystery of the mind" in one of their subject descriptions. I would guess there should be rich pickings out there. Good luck with your book - We shall certainly buy it when it is published.
I am a former evangelical theologian and I used the mystery card often. Here are some examples:
1) Trinity--how can three be one?
2) Atonement--how can it be just to punish an innocent in place of the guilty?
3) Evil--how can a good God allow evil, especially natural evil
4) Incarnation--how can one person be both divine and human at the same time?
*(I don't mean that this applies to all dualists, but I think something like this works on a popular level).
"(...) And thus they will pursue you from cause to cause until you are glad to take refuge in the will of God, that is, the asylum of ignorance."
"It has been established beyond doubt and accepted by many researchers, that the placebo-controlled randomised controlled trial is not a fitting research tool with which to test homeopathy."
She doesn't, of course, offer any alternative... (And do note the contradiction with the paragraph just above it: "Many previous studies have demonstrated that homeopathy has an effect over and above placebo." She'll take the trials, so long as they aren't the meticulous RCTs!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysterium_fidei_(Latin_phrase)
"The existence of theological mysteries is a doctrine of Catholic faith defined by the Vatican Council, which declares: "If any one say that in Divine Revelation there are contained no mysteries properly so called (vera et proprie dicta mysteria), but that through reason rightly developed (per rationem rite excultam) all the dogmas of faith can be understood and demonstrated from natural principles: let him be anathema"
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10662a.htm
tbh, I've found it surprisingly difficult to find examples of someone saying 'it's a mystery' - perhaps this argument is on its way out...? Here's what I did find. First an off-topic For Your Interest, with relevance to the God of Eth, I found this while Googling 'Why does God allow suffering' (which produced a multitude of 'mystery' responses of varying stripes):
"While there is much evil in the world, there is even more that is good. This is proved by the mere fact that people normally try to hang on to life as long as they can."
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t023.html
Here are some specific 'mystery moves' from religion:
"We ourselves do not establish the standards of what is right. Only the Creator of all reality can do that. [...] Having settled this by faith, we are then free to seek for ways in which we can profit spiritually from the sufferings in life."
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t023.html
"I have nothing to say that makes sense of this horror - all I know is that the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus is that he is with us."
- Archbishop of York, John Sentamu
Quoted at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8467755.stm (it continues: "Canon Giles Fraser, preferred to respond "not with clever argument but with prayer".")
The Book of Job is worth a read.
"Job's friends do not waver from their belief that Job must have sinned to incite God's punishment. As the speeches progress, Job's friends increasingly berate him for refusing to confess his sins, although they themselves are at a loss as to which sin he has committed. The three friends continue to argue that Job must have sinned, and therefore must deserve his misfortune. They also assume, in their view of theology, that God always rewards good and punishes evil, with no apparent exceptions allowed. There seems to be no room in their understanding of God for divine discretion and mystery in allowing and arranging suffering for purposes other than retribution. "
Eventually God Himself turns up and, to be frank, blusters:
"The thrust is not merely that God has experiences that Job does not, but also that God is King over the world and is not necessarily subject to questions from His creatures, including men."
Preceeding two quotes from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Job#Speeches_of_Eliphaz.2C_Bildad.2C_and_Zophar
Is that the kind of thing you are after?
Gif
This seems a rather begging-the-question thing to look for. I would be more interested in people who have had their belief systems challenged by mystery. What does one make, for instance, of Haldane's "The Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose."
While you see the religionists as appealing to mystery to maintain their beliefs, I see the non-religionists as ignoring mystery (of consciousness, mainly) to maintain theirs.
http://www.risingsunhealing.com/artMysteryOfReiki.html
Oh it's a mystery all right...!
http://apolojet.wordpress.com/category/apologetics/problem-of-evil/
Best Attorney
Then there are the political and economics theorists who always have an explanation why things didn't turn out the way they predicted.....
Regards,
Bill.