Scott critiques Chesterton's 'truth-telling thing' argument, suggesting that religion's apparent coherence stems from cultural conditioning rather than inherent truth.
Longer summary
Scott Alexander critiques G.K. Chesterton's 'truth-telling thing' argument for religion. He argues that religion's claims are often wrong when testable, and that the feeling of coherence people get from religion is due to cultural conditioning rather than inherent truth. Scott uses a metaphor of fractured Roman culture being restored by ancient texts to illustrate how exposure to religious doctrines can create a false sense of enlightenment. He suggests that modern Western thought is a mix of Christian and modernist ideas, and that exposure to pure forms of either can feel revelatory, but for different reasons related to how we hold beliefs.
Shorter summary