Is belief voluntary?

[glimpsing]

What do people think? Threads on here have had me pondering this. Some people have said they can't choose their beliefs or lack of them - they just occur or not. Yet society does commonly to hold people accountable for beliefs. There are all sorts of beliefs that are generally not socially acceptable. Personally I think we can choose what to belief, as we encounter new information we can either accept, dismiss it or withhold from forming an opinion on it (as we're not sure where it fits into a bigger picture).

I was thinking today how hope is linked to our beliefs. It is very pertinent for Christians since:

Hebrews 11:1
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

And I was thinking about the things I dare hope for. I can't for example get all 'manifest' this and that making scrap books and notice boards up of everything I think I imagine I might like on some level, such as winning the lottery. Which is interesting to me. Do other people's hopes follow their beliefs? And if beliefs are felt to be involuntary does this control what we have hope for too?

Well, not entirely, not according to you, either, @lazylinguist, that is, if you are consistent with what you posted upthread. A combination of his genetic heritage and upbringing would totally control what he believed was good and compel him to act, from the perspective you expressed...

Ha - good response! I was thinking of replying that something like a decision to give to charity might be an active choice in a way that arriving at a set of beliefs is not. But actually you could argue that according to my previous statements the decision is driven by the mindset of the type of person they have become as a result of their upbringing and inherited nature.

Hmmm.... I must say, OP, I haven't had to make this amount of effort to counter religious arguments in a while, nor enjoyed it this much. You are very unprickly about it too! I raise you a

 to you too @lazylinguist. I must say, I've enjoyed this thread, the responses have been immensely interesting.