A person’s worldview is the best place to begin comparing “craziness” (see About). Too often the label of “crazy” is placed on a person or action without true self-reflection. Self-reflection can also be ineffective if the person does not fully understand the implications of their position. True self-reflection requires understanding of the answer and review and/or comparison with opposing perspectives.

As with most things, the definition and scope of a worldview^[1]Wikipedia contributors. (2019, July 1). World view. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:28, July 18, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_view&oldid=904375766 can vary but defining the term is unnecessary if the questions asked are in scope with any worldview definition.

Questions

The following “worldview” questions will be used to draw-out individual beliefs in each of the parent-beliefs:

• What is the nature of Ultimate Reality?
• What is the nature of Material Reality?
• What is a human being?
• What happens when a human dies?
• Is it possible to “know” anything? (Absolute Truth)
• How is right and wrong determined?
• What is the meaning/purpose of human history/existence?^[2]7 Questions to Get to the Heart of Any Worldview. (2016, April 18) The Fight Of Faith Blog. Retrieved July 16, 2019 from https://fightoffaithblog.com/2016/04/18/7-questions-to-get-to-the-heart-of-any-worldview^[3]The Seven Questions That Define a Worldview. (2006) Marketfaith Ministries. Retrieved July 16, 2019 from http://www.marketfaith.org/the-seven-questions-that-define-a-worldview^[4]8 Questions Every Worldview Must Answer. (2014, February 14) Christianity.com Retrieved July 16, 2019 from https://www.christianity.com/theology/other-religions-beliefs/8-questions-every-worldview-must-answer.html

Parent-beliefs To Consider

• atheism – the absence of belief in the existence of god(s).^[5]Atheism. (2019, May 21). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:04, July 17, 2019 from https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atheism&oldid=6546114.
• deism (impersonal) – the belief in the existence of god(s) that do not interact. ^[6]Deism. (2019, May 15). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:02, July 17, 2019 from https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deism&oldid=6539914.
• theism (personal) – the belief in the existence of god(s) that do interact. ^[7]Theism. (2019, April 1). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:00, July 17, 2019 from https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Theism&oldid=6488339.

Notes On Parent-Beliefs

Atheism is not exactly a “belief”, rather it is a lack of and/or rejection of deism/theism. The rejection of a belief in god(s) does not prevent the parent-“non-belief” from having a worldview but it does prevent one from determining “agreement” without extensive polling and/or debating. Still, an atheist’s confidence in their belief is determined by the amount of acceptance/agreement in society and the facts/observations that support it. Every “reasonably” support theory, excluding ones requiring god(s), should be acceptable to label as a “belief”.

Agnosticism is really mix of atheism and deism/theism where the question of god(s) is viewed as unimportant thereby should be open to agreement with any/some of all the parent-beliefs. To be considered a parent-belief it needs to have unique beliefs.

Deism and theism will include a variety of child-beliefs that may be in conflict. A super-majority (two-thirds or more) agreement of a belief will be determined based on a population percentage of the child-beliefs in a single parent-belief.

• Example 1 (Deism or Theism): Child-beliefs agree that god(s) exist. This would result in 100% agreement within each parent-belief.
• Example 2 (Theism): Only child-beliefs Christianity, Islam, and Judaism can agree on Torah based beliefs. Combining the populations of Christianity and Islam equates to more than 98% of the total Theism population.

This will obviously result in a lack of consideration for unique beliefs in Judaism, Sikhism, Neo-paganism, and many others. This should not present a problem for the purposes of this section unless the populations change drastically.

Some child-beliefs have both deistic and theistic views. Hinduism/Buddhism together create a super-majority in the deism parent-belief like Christianity/Islam do in theism. Because of a drastic difference in beliefs, including Hinduism and Buddhism in the theism parent-belief prevents super-majority agreement for nearly any belief. For this reason, Hinduism and Buddhism will only be included in the deism parent-belief.^[8]see Populations