Lisa, Meet Alex

Lisa Miller, religion editor at Newsweek

Alex Tsakiris has been a friend and a big supporter for Fringe-ology. He is passionate in terms of pushing his guests for some kind of conclusion and I certainly was on the other end of his exasperation when he interviewed me about my book. In the current episode of Skeptiko, he presses Lisa Miller, the religion editor at Newsweek, to profess her beliefs.

I get where he is coming from—I really do. He expresses it articulately in this interview: People live their lives by looking at the data we've got and building a belief system from there.  That's true. It's also true that in some ways that means of operating can be simply irresponsible. Because once we adopt a position on an issue, if we begin to identify with that it can be hard to rationally consider evidence to the contrary. Further, when he is dealing with professional journalists he's speaking to people who have taken it as part of their professional responsibility to, well, keep our powder dry.

Sure, I, we, and presumably Lisa Miller have our beliefs and live by them. But when we are writing or speaking for public consumption, it seems to me to be part of my responsibility to honor it when the subject at hand permits no easy answer. This isn't hedging my bets or playing it safe, from my point of view. It's acknowledging the reality of the situation. Yeah, I could take a position. But sometimes the debate is close enough or there is still so much we need to learn that the most responsible and mature answer seems to me to be: "I don't know."

Alex had a problem with me when I said it; and now he had a problem with Lisa Miller when she said it.

My own position here is what I consider an operational point of view. I think we need to go ahead and construct beliefs and live according to them. I also believe we need to be able to remember that beliefs are just that—opinions.  Not knowledge. One way of acknowledging that, in public discourse, is by emphasizing that three word phrase Alex doesn't like to hear: "I don't know."

So please go check out the whole interview but here's a quick printed excerpt of a particularly telling exchange.

Alex Tsakiris: Do you believe that the best evidence we have suggests our consciousness survives our death?

Lisa Miller: I don't believe that's the best evidence we have. We're back to where we started.

Alex Tsakiris: So you don't believe consciousness survives death.

Lisa Miller: I'm saying that it's possible but I don't know for sure.

Alex Tsakiris: [Laughs] Well, I don't know for sure either. And no one…

Lisa Miller: Well, that's where we all are. That's where we all are on this stuff. We don't know. We don't know whether consciousness survives death. We don't know what Heaven looks like. We don't know whether our grandparents are there. What we have is a hope.

Alex Tsakiris: That's not where most of us are living our lives. Most of us are living our life from making some kind of conclusion from the data we have. So why is it unfair to ask you whether or not…

Lisa Miller: I didn't say it was unfair and I answered your question.  I said I think that there's a possibility but I don't know. I think that it's a great hope of many people.

Alex Tsakiris: Why so noncommittal? I don't understand that.

It goes on from here, but please do check out the whole thing. It's good stuff.