Derek Thompson

It's okay.

I don't have to have that bar of it being a fact.

It just has to be a belief.

And the bar for a belief is that it has to be a tool that serves me, that makes me better, that helps me serve others better.

It doesn't have to be a fact because a belief is a tool, not a truth.

So I've changed that into this constructive interpretation.

I think on the other side is that I think it behooves religious institutions to not have this purity test.

Nobody asks the Pope daily, do you really have faith in everything that you're preaching?

No, we don't ask.

And so I don't think religious institutions should ask either.

We don't need this purity test.

And if religious institutions want to stop bleeding members, which we know is happening, that churches are closing, that religious institutions are losing members, if they want to welcome more people in,

they have to not give that message that you need blind faith in order to participate.

And I think actually that's a myth.

I think I was wrong about that, that many religions, not all of them, but many institutions do welcome people even if they have doubts.

That in fact, I think part of the reason I didn't feel that backlash that you described of how dare you productivity hack this without utter faith is because many of these religious leaders also struggle without having perfect faith.

In fact, almost all of them told me that having doubts

is part of the religion, that it increases your adherence.

It makes you more thankful of the religion because you get all these benefits without having to let go of logic and what makes practical sense.

And I think, in summary, most of our problems in the world today