Arguing with Theists

Received this interesting email from one of my best students in response to Jerry Coyne’s article: “The ‘Best Arguments for God’s Existence’ Are Actually Terrible.”

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116251/best-arguments-gods-existence-dont-challenge-atheists

“ Dr. J.

Thanks for the rad article. The idea of god not existing is cohesive and succinct, whereas an existing god means different things to different people …To argue against these gods is exhausting. To many, god is ineffable and it doesn’t matter that it’s existence is unable to be falsified. It is THAT important to them; they’re ensconced in their belief.  I’ll engage believers if they are looking for (an intellectual) fight, but  it is draining. And as far as reading more theology and “good” arguments for the existence of god, Well, I don’t have any more time to entertain that mess. God knows I’ve spent enough time on that in catholic school. What do you think?” DG

I must be cautious commenting on a topic over which billions of words have been spilled. But I have taught philosophy of religion multiple times, and like about 85% of professional philosophers I am not a theist.

http://www.openculture.com/2013/06/what_do_most_philosophers_believe_.html

I agree with DG that non-belief is easy to specify while belief is open to multiple interpretations. Non-belief is understandable.  We understand what it is like NOT to believe in Apollo, Zeus, Thor, Yahweh, Allah, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. And if you believe in Allah and not Yahweh you understand clearly what it means not to believe in Yahweh. That’s why there aren’t 40,000 kinds of atheists but there are 40,000 different kinds of Christianity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations

And DG is right. It is exhausting to argue against these beliefs because theistic beliefs are amorphous and changing. For example, if a god is defined as creator and science provides a better explanation of creation supported by mountains of evidence, then the idea may change to  god as designer. If science provides a better explanation of design then the notion of god may change to god as “fine tuner.” If the idea of a multiverse renders the idea of fine tuner irrelevant–because there are an infinite number of universes and the one in which we exist obviously must appeared fine tuned–then no doubt the belief in gods will evolve yet again.

This evolution is also played out in the social struggle over teaching evolution in America. (Virtually the only first world country where this is an issue.) First there was creationism, and after that was struck down by the courts it evolved into “creation science.” When this oxymoron was struck down by the courts “intelligent design” appeared. Now that teaching ID in science classes has been struck down by American courts (because its not science!) I wouldn’t be surprised to see the argument morph to “fine tuning.” And when that gets struck down in may evolve into “grounder of being.”

Refuting these amorphous ideas is certainly exhausting. As Antony Flew taught us a long time ago, if your belief is not in principle falsifiable it is essentially empty. (http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/Chapter%203%20Religion/CH-3-Documents/ch3-Flew%20Hare%20Mitchell.pdf

In fairness, Basil Mitchell replied that belief in a god is not so much an assertion about the world as it is an attitude of a partisan who trusts that “the stranger is on our side.” Of course this is not possible to falsify  such an attitude and someone may adopt it. It’s like adopting an attitude of optimism even though the situation may not call for it. And if one is really  determined to adopt an attitude, if one wants and needs to have such an attitude, then you probably aren’t going to convince such a person to do otherwise.

So you might as well save your precious life energy for other battles. Neither another’s beliefs nor attitudes are open to much change. If someone believes an angel ACTUALLY led Joseph Smith to uncover some gold plates or that when eating bread and drinking wine they are ACTUALLY eating the body and blood of a 2000 year old dead man or that such a man ACTUALLY rose from the dead… then they probably aren’t going to be open to reasoning.  And life is too short to explain to them why such beliefs are just silly, even though they are self-evidently delusional. Similarly with attitudes. It may be silly to be an optimist in a certain situation–and it may be life threatening–but your aren’t likely to change another’s attitudes so you might as well save your breath. 

On the other hand if someone believes with Tillich that gods ground being, then it is hard to show how that’s silly because its hard to know what that means.  The claim is just cryptic. And then again you have to decide whether you want to spend your life in the byzantine labyrinth of theology or in the light of reason and evidence and science.  I put my trust in the latter.

But if you are really interested in truth, as opposed to believing what’s comforting or adopting whatever attitude strikes your fancy, then it’s probably best to avoid the entire labyrinth. Theologians play their own game, with their own cryptic language, but I prefer to let them play alone. And I generally avoid arguing with obscurantists–life is too short.