Do not believe what you have heard;
Do not believe in traditions just because they have been handed down for many generations;
Do not believe in anything just because it is rumored and spoken by many;
Do not believe merely because a written statement of some old sage is produced;
Do not believe in conjectures;
Do not believe in that as truth to which you have become attached by habit;
Do not believe merely the authority of your teachers and elders;
After observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and gain of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
~The Buddha~
[Kālāma Sutta, Aṇguttara Nikaya 3, 65]