Leroy Rasberry

At its core, faith represents a profound departure from reason—a willing suspension of disbelief that often persists despite contradictory evidence. The unreasonableness of faith manifests in how belief systems demand allegiance to ideas that cannot be proven, framing doubt as weakness rather than intellectual honesty. This phenomenon extends beyond religion into politics, ideology, and personal identity, where cognitive biases like confirmation bias and the backfire effect protect cherished beliefs from factual challenges. Evolutionary psychology suggests this unreasonableness may have served tribal cohesion in ancient times, but in our modern world, it fuels polarization, conspiracy theories, and science denial. The stubborn persistence of faith against reason reveals uncomfortable truths about human cognition: we are not truth-seeking machines, but meaning-making creatures who often prioritize comforting falsehoods over unsettling realities. Through examining cult indoctrination, extremist radicalization, and everyday magical thinking, we see how faith systematically overrides reason through emotional manipulation, social pressure, and neurological reward systems. This unreasonableness carries real-world consequences—from vaccine hesitancy to climate change denial—making its study not just philosophically interesting but existentially urgent. Understanding why and how faith resists reason may be our best hope for developing cognitive tools to navigate an increasingly complex information landscape where irrational beliefs spread faster than ever before in human history.

The Christian pastor life story project investigates why human minds so readily embrace and defend irrational beliefs. We analyze faith not as theological truth but as a psychological and cultural phenomenon, studying how belief systems bypass critical thinking through emotional appeals, social conditioning, and cognitive biases. Our interdisciplinary approach combines neuroscience, anthropology, and behavioral psychology to map the mechanisms that make faith resistant to reason—from the neurology of conversion experiences to the social dynamics of belief maintenance. Through case studies of religious extremism, political fanaticism, and New Age movements, we demonstrate how unreasoned faith follows predictable patterns regardless of content. This research offers practical insights for educators, policymakers, and individuals seeking to cultivate more evidence-based thinking in an age of misinformation. By exposing the unreasonableness at faith's core, we aim to develop better tools for separating healthy skepticism from destructive denialism, and spiritual seeking from dogmatic clinging. Visit us to explore why faith so often triumphs over facts, and how we might build a more reasonable future.