Does God Exist? Dialogues on Rational Religion # 1

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Dialogues on Rational Religion, Part 1

Scene of the dialogue: An undergraduate Philosophy of Religion honors class at a diverse American university.

Dialogue participants: Professor Shanice Washington and students DeShawn Russell, Juanita Valdez, Jakub Dabrowski, Robert Devereaux, Yoshiko Yamamoto, Makena Kalenjin.

1.1 What is rational religion?

Professor Washington: Let’s begin our discussion on rational religion today with a question that is central to the philosophy of religion: “Does God exist?”

Yoshiko:  (raising her hand):  Professor Washington, before we start, please explain again what you mean by ‘rational religion’.

Prof: The phrase ‘rational religion’ is a variation of what the 18^th century philosopher David Hume referred to as ‘natural religion’[1].  It is the study of religion from the standpoint of reasons and argument, not from revelation or personal religious experiences. 

When we ask the question “Does God exist?” in our discussion, we are asking for reasons or evidence for affirmative or negative answers to this question.  We will not be asking for nonrational reports of a “direct, personal awareness of God himself” (Rowe, 69).[2]   

Robert: Is ‘nonrational’ synonymous with ‘irrational’?

Prof: Good question.  And the answer is ‘yes and no’. I realize that the word ‘irrational’ is often assumed to be a synonym of ‘nonrational.’  But that is not how we will use it here.  The word ‘irrational’ is also used as a pejorative evaluation of a belief.  To call someone’s belief ‘irrational’ is a way of expressing contempt or disapproval. 

But to call a belief ‘nonrational’ is not pejorative.  It signifies a class of  beliefs  not based on reasons or arguments.  This classification does not imply any evaluation at all, whether pejorative or complimentary.

Our dialogue here is about rational religion.  Hence, following David Hume, we will restrict ourselves to a critical examination of the traditional arguments for the existence of God based on logic, reasons and evidence. 

 However, there is another question we must ask before we start our investigations. Any idea what that question that might be?

Jakub: Is it “Has everyone put away their cell phone?”

Prof: (laughing): Great question but it is not quite what I had in mind.  I will rephrase it: What important ssumption are we making when we ask the question “Does God exist?” 

(to be continued in part 2)

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[1] David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1797); See also Laurence Houlgate,  Understanding David Hume (HoulgateBooks.com, 2018).

[2] Not all nonrational beliefs are religious.  Here is a real-life personal example.  About two days before I found a cat in my house, I became suspicious that the neighbor’s cat might have gotten inside.  There were traces in the house left by a cat, such as cat hair on my favorite chair and an odd smell behind the washing machine.  But once I saw the cat hiding under our bed after hearing a loud meowing sound, my suspicions were confirmed.   

My belief that there is a cat in my house changed from a rational belief justified by evidence (cat hair, fecal smell) to a nonrational belief based not on arguments or evidence, but on a direct, personal experience of the cat.  I no longer believed there was a cat in the house, I now knew this.

Religious beliefs based on revelation alone are also nonrational.  If someone says that they believe in the existence of God because “in the world there are traces of God’s activity,” they are giving a reason for God’s existence.  But if the belief is a report of a direct personal experience of God, this is nonrational in the same way that my knowledge that there is a cat in the house is based on my direct experience of seeing a cat under my bed.