quote:
I would suggest that faith is what people have instead of cognitive dissonance.
I think this is partly true, but not completely.
People certainly do use faith as a way to 'choose' what to believe and that can reduce cognitive dissonance.
However, the fact that many creationists are uncomfortable with evolution and many are actually hostile to it suggests that most of the time this doesn't work completely. They clearly feel the contradiction between science and faith and work to reduce it. It's a rare creationist who can say 'I know what science says, I accept there is evidence of evolution, but I choose my faith above this evidence'. Most try to discredit the evidence.
In fact, some creationists go to point of accusing evolutionists of being liars, corrupt etc when confronted with evidence. This is simply a way of reducing their cognitive dissonance.
Edited by Peepul, : No reason given.
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