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Vladimir_Nesov comments on Raise the Age Demographic - Less Wrong
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The problem with this is that rationality is not warm, fuzzy, or comforting. In the example you give, parents are seeking religion so that they don't have to tell their children things like this. Quite frankly, some people just don't want to face the truth if that truth is ugly enough. This is why it's really hard to teach people rationality, because it requires significantly more effort and independent thought than becoming a member of a religious community. While I would certainly like to see more parents teaching rationality to their kids, the unfortunate reality is that a lot of parents would rather have their children be exposed to spiritual untruths rather than unsettling facts. Though the existence of rationalist groups would reduce this effect somewhat, I don't think this totally mitigates the "ugh, I don't want to think about that" mentality that some people have towards rationality.
I don't think "unsettliness" of reality is a relevant factor. It's just hard to master the skills, and harder without a culture that carries them. Seeing the world as it truly is, on the other hand, is also quite rewarding, so one might emphasize either aspect, but it would be filtering of evidence to only pay attention to one of the sides.
I disagree--as I've mentioned here, I've encountered many people who consider a godless universe to be extremely scary, to the point where they refuse to give up theism despite their doubts. However, I do agree that rationality's difficulty is the largest deterring factor.
These people probably don't see clearly enough to characterize their state of mind as being scared of reality as it is. They are instead scared of reality as it appears to them, perhaps through the lens of finding contrasting features to what they perceive as distinguishing the theistic worldview. To the extent the difference is significant, you haven't expressed a disagreement with me, as you are talking about a different claim.