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continuum and place the story of Genesis closer to the ‘true’ end of continuum.
Beliefs represent what you agree with and what you usually think is true.
There are certain things that you believe to be absolutely true, some you
believe to be probably true, some you are not sure about, and some you think
are false, probably or absolutely. According to the social psychologist Milton
Rokeach, a belief system ‘may be defined as having represented within it,
in some organized psychological but not necessarily logical form, each and
every one of a person’s countless beliefs about physical and social reality’.
You cannot observe a belief. You can only observe a persons behaviour
and assume that it came about because of a particular belief. Beliefs are not
necessarily logical. They are largely determined by what you want to believe,
by what you are able to believe, by what you have been conditioned to believe,
and by basic needs which may influence you to have a certain belief in order
to satisfy those needs.
Some belies are more central than others. The more central a belief is,
the more likely it is that it will resist change. If it does change, however, the
repercussions on the whole belief system will be widespread.
It is not always easy to determine which of the beliefs a person holds are
central and which ones are less important. According to Rokeach, the impor-
tance of a belief depends on how it is connected to other beliefs and what
consequences it has on those other beliefs. Central beliefs are connected to
other beliefs and have deeper consequences on this large number of beliefs
than less central beliefs do. Connectedness and consequences are more likely
to be strong in the case of beliefs about your own existence and who you are.
Relatedness to your existence is also evident in your attachment to your own
name; you want it pronounced and spelled correctly; in some cases you can
hear your own name spoken when nothing else in the conversation can be
accurately discriminated. Beliefs learned from direct experience and shared
by others are much connected to you and hence very central. By examining
some of your beliefs in relation to their centrality for you, it is possible for
you to distinguish among the following five types of beliefs which Rokeach
identifies.

Primitive Beliefs: 100 Per Cent Consensus
Primitive beliefs are the most central beliefs of all. You learn them from
direct experience. They are supported and reinforced by unanimous con-
sensus among the people with whom you associate. They are fundamental,
seldom questioned, taken-for-granted axioms, which rarely come up for
controversy. It is as though you were saying, ‘I believe this and I also believe
that everyone else believes it too’. Beliefs in the existence and constancy of
things are primitive beliefs. Even though you see a rectangular table from

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