Myths and Moral Choices<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In an excellent article a couple years ago titled \u201cThe Moral Instinct,\u201d Harvard professor Stephen Pinker (best known for his work on the evolution of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/09\/myths-and-moral-choices.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Myths and Moral Choices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an excellent article a couple years ago titled \u201cThe Moral Instinct,\u201d Harvard professor Stephen Pinker (best known for his work on the evolution of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/09\/myths-and-moral-choices.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-25T15:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/09\/myths-and-moral-choices.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/09\/myths-and-moral-choices.html\",\"name\":\"Myths and Moral Choices\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-25T15:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-09-25T15:49:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"In an excellent article a couple years ago titled \u201cThe Moral Instinct,\u201d Harvard professor Stephen Pinker (best known for his work on the evolution of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/09\/myths-and-moral-choices.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/09\/myths-and-moral-choices.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/09\/myths-and-moral-choices.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Myths and Moral Choices\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. 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{"id":492,"date":"2009-09-25T15:49:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-25T15:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/09\/myths-and-moral-choices\/"},"modified":"2009-09-25T15:49:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-25T15:49:00","slug":"myths-and-moral-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/09\/myths-and-moral-choices.html","title":{"rendered":"Myths and Moral Choices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In an excellent article a couple years ago titled \u201cThe Moral Instinct<\/a>,\u201d Harvard professor Stephen Pinker (best known for his work on the evolution of language) argues that we all make moral choices instinctively, then look for some principle to justify the decisions we make. The practical point of Pinker\u2019s hypothesis is that those who do things we find objectionable rarely think they\u2019re doing anything wrong, so attempting to shame them into changing rarely does any good.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a recent example. The Journal of Consumer Research<\/em> <\/a>from the University of Chicago studied Hummer owners. Access to the full study requires subscription, but a press release<\/a> summarizes the findings: \u201cHummer drivers believe they are defending America\u2019s frontier lifestyle against anti-American critics.\u201d<\/p>\n

And \u201cThe moralistic critique of their consumption choices readily inspired Hummer owners to adopt the role of the moral protagonist who defends American national ideals.\u201d<\/p>\n

It matters what we believe \u2013 we are driven by our myths, even if those myths no longer reflect reality. If you want to change people\u2019s behavior, you must change their foundational myths. <\/p>\n

This is one of the reasons why Paganism is a growing religion, and why the spread of Paganism is such a good thing. Our myths of gender equality, the interconnectedness of all things, and the sacredness of the Earth not only speak to our individual needs, they speak to the real needs of people in our time.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"