| Abstract: |
It is argued that mutually inconsistent religious beliefs do not necessarily produce cognitive conflict in their adherents. Examples gathered from research undertaken in Thailand are presented showing that there are various ways people use to cope with a logical contradiction between one master religious principle to which they subscribe and certain other specific beliefs and practices to which they also subscribe. It is suggested that for Thai Buddhists, and perhaps for most people everywhere, the test of the compatibility of religious beliefs and practices is not whether they are logically consistent but whether they are felt to cohere, that is, whether they are felt to be true. Several hypotheses are developed to account for how people manage to acquire and sustain the conviction that the various elements of their religion are true.
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