Collective opinions of religion are inflexible dogma
• Hodgepodge
It will doubtlessly surprise some readers of my weblogs that I don't consider myself a man of strong opinions. Inescapably I have lots of views, many of them contradictory, few of them strongly held. Sentences aren't easily framed without a point of view. So I write as I speak to my friends, not as I might if I were explaining myself to a stranger. Few strangers merit that effort.
Here's one man's opinion of opinions.
There are perhaps three types of opinion. The first is the educated man's opinion that certain popular beliefs are stupid. The second is the sort that drove Flaubert to near madness, the opinion that certain original thoughts are stupid. Third, there is the conventional "wisdom" about what is correct.
Opinions flourish only in periods or cultures without a dominant religion. A medieval monk in his Cluniac abbey or a contemporary mullah in his mosque and, indeed, a fine Victorian gentleman, had little use for original opinions. The collective opinions of religion are inflexible dogma, not interesting expressions of private thought. The best opinions are contrarian, not conformist, although that is in itself a matter of opinion.
Stephen Bayley, Telegraph: Opinionated – and proud to admit it