Beliefs are indeed intensely personal.  In the recent public discussion in our Politically Correct society, beliefs have been wrongfully framed in the context of ‘tolerance’.  The word ‘tolerance’ is being misused in this instance for the purpose of supporting some individuals who conspire to profit from the current view.  There are limits to be placed on beliefs that are both fitting and moral, which are those limits meant to reduce harm from being committed against any individual or society.  This would include any harm to their person or property, their freedoms, access to justice, and the right to invest their own values in the way they see fit.  Freedom from harm is the moral absolute that must underpin any approach to individual and civic governance.  To purposefully and deliberately harm others in these ways would be evil.  All actions that accidentally harm others are immoral by definition, but deliberate actions that harm others are evil.

With the ‘no-harm’ principle in place, it follows to ask a critical question that will change everything:  Can beliefs be immoral, wrong and evil?  Is there a principled basis from which to analyze any belief?  And if this principle reveals that this or that belief is evil or immoral, what does this mean for the present ‘tolerance’ context?

Principles are measurable interfaces between our behavior and the world around us.  They are based on ‘wide-scope’, highly integrated concepts that cannot be ignored without consequence because of their adherence to reality.  Principles clearly delineate between good and moral actions vs. evil and immoral actions.  You can probably have faith in the laws of Newton, and that the sun will rise tomorrow.  But baseless, blind faith always leads to disintegrated actions that are effectively disconnected from reality. These actions are almost always harmful to others, and they require harmful rationalizations that twist context so a person can accept fantasy in the face of the facts.  

How Can A Belief Be Evil?

All beliefs are either true or false.  

Our Beliefs underpin or undermine the logic we use to drive any important action we take in life.   Beliefs that are not based in rational and logical thought are more likely to cause harm to others and society… whether that harmful action be intentional or accidental.  

That is not to say that examples of ‘harmful truths’ cannot be found, but these cases need to be subject to further examination against the ‘no-harm’ principle.  If a truth is found to be harmful to an individual or society, that truth must be viewed in a more integrated context.  

It is not just the baseless beliefs that do the all the harm to others and ourselves.  Rather, more significant damaged is caused by the WAY these beliefs are accepted by an individual.  Harmful rationalizations used to deceive ourselves and others take hold of our logic processes when we allow beliefs based on faith.   Acceptance of a false belief, especially ones that are clearly fantasy or incongruent with verified facts, will always make us prone to harming others.  To live contrary to reality one must exert force, such as brutal force, fraud, lies and coercion, in order to live.  (The inescapable truth, or reality always asserts itself – that’s why it is called reality.)  This is necessary in order to reconcile fantasy/faith behavior when we see it doing harm to ourselves, others and society.  The more trust that an individual puts in ‘faith-based’ decisions, the more likely they are to hold numerous ‘harm-causing’ beliefs that impact on their actions.  If there are even a few of these beliefs, it is logical to say that at least one of them is likely to cause harm.  Further to this, it could be said that damage would increase along with the increasing number of faith-backed decisions made.  

People who make faith-based decisions make a larger, or key decision that a rational person would never make; Which is, that it is acceptable to believe something because they feel it is true, rather than because they can prove it.  The ultimate myth of feelings holding precedence over logic has to be faced honestly and smashed by every individual before they can avoid harmful behavior.  These two approaches towards belief cannot be reconciled because blind faith does not properly integrate the critical process needed to make moral decisions.  In fact, deciding against all faith-based decisions from now on is the only way to ensure that you are not causing harm.  

Therefore, deciding to believe in things that are based in faith, from this point on, is a deliberate decision to harm others.  Anyone who has read up to this point is now aware that the more mystical decisions they make, the more likely they are to cause harm to another or society.  Our beliefs drive our actions and our beliefs need to be true in order to be beneficial.  The more out of synch with reality a belief is, the more damage it is likely to do to others and society.  Any reader who accepts that faith is better than fact, is now deliberately causing harm, and that is beyond immoral, it is evil.

Only our actions can be judged as moral or immoral, and all important and meaningful actions are rooted in our beliefs.  Since all beliefs are true or untrue, they can, by logical extension, be viewed as harmful or beneficial, and therefore moral or immoral.  True beliefs enhance our health, happiness, love and prosperity.  The more faith-based decisions we allow, the more likely it is we will harm others.   Prior to reading this, one could be doing harm accidentally, perhaps with the best of intentions to do good, and only be immoral because there was no intent to harm.  And the final conclusion is that it is evil, to get up from this and to deliberately continue to believe anything with blind faith.