Are people around the world justified in believing in God? The idea of a supreme being that has created the Earth has been around for centuries. The concept of God has had a large impact on society. Whether it be from geopolitical issues or just minor issues in a small town, the belief of a God has always had influence in the world. Because of all these issues, we should ask about the rationality of the belief in God.
Anslem, a former archbishop, is someone who believes it is rational to believe in God. His main reason to support his faith is the ontological argument. This argument points out that the disbelief in God is self-contradictory therefore God exists. His main argument states that theoretically, God is something so large for the human mind to understand that it cannot conceive of anything greater that also exists. You elevate something above greatest possible being, which for Anselm is God, then that is no longer the greatest possible being. Then that would be the contradiction. One of the reasons that Aquinas believes that it is rational to believe in God is that intelligence was given to humans by God. There would be no other way for humans to receive the intelligence that they have. If there was no God, humans would not have the thinking capabilities that they have.
William Lane Craig has a more basic and simple reason for it to be rational to believe in God. His explanation is: “God is the best explanation of why anything at all exists”. He also goes into the belief that God makes the most sense for the creation of the universe. He discusses how some scientific studies have shown that the universe might not actually be eternal. Another reason for why he believes that it is rational to believe in God is how fine-tuned the universe is. Everything seems to work together as if orchestrated by something bigger and more powerful than human capability alone. God would be the best explanation for this.
It is not rational to believe in God and I disagree with these philosophers. The first reason being the world itself and scientific studies. If God were to be real, then the world not be such a dangerous place. This does not even have to do with humans, however, it is situations out of humans’ control. It is not rational to believe in an omnibenevolent God that allows harm outside of humans’ control. However, believing in God would be rational if humans caused harm to other humans because God gave them free will.
Another reason for why it is not rational to believe in God is the study of science. Anyone that knows about past scientific studies knows that the Earth was created over a long period of time. It is not feasible or believable that the creation of the Earth occurred in seven days as the Old Testament states. Because most scientists accept that the Universe was created over billions of years instead of seven days, it would therefore seem unjustified to believe that the world was created in only seven days by the Creator.
Another reason for why it is not rational to believe in God comes from Sam Harris. Mr. Harris is a neurosurgeon and philosopher from California. One of the ideas that he points out is that faith is used to go around reason and ignore it. This circumvention of reason deceives people into believing something, even though it is not true. Many religious people use this technique in order to help defend God in their mind.
One of the main problems in Anselm’s argument is that God is so all encompassing that the human mind cannot comprehend it. Just because humans cannot comprehend something, such as God, does not make God automatically real. Then Anselm brings in the contradiction for if the human mind cannot think of anything greater then God that also exists, then God is real. Humans cannot comprehend lots of different things. It does not necessarily make those real as well. There are several things we cannot comprehend. The first being free will. Most humans at some point or another begin to think about whether or not free will exists. Most of the time it is really something that cannot be comprehended. This does not mean that free will is real though because humans cannot comprehend it or imagine something better. Another great example of this would be a perfect, functioning government. This has never existed all throughout history. However, just because humans cannot comprehend it, does that make it real? Again, the answer to that would definitely be no. Also, the argument that Saint Anslem presents here is circular and results in a contradiction. The reason that this argument is circular is because the idea of the greatest possible being already assumes its existence, and Saint Anslem simply equates the greatest possible with God to prove God existence.
An objection one might have on this is that God goes beyond free will, a perfect government, and many other deep and complex ideas. The counter argument to that would be that just because God is a bit more complex than free will and a perfect government, does not mean that just because one cannot comprehend Him, does not mean that He is real.
One of the theories of Aquinas shows it is rational to believe in God because God gave intelligence to humans. He believes that humans would not be smart any other way if it were not for God. There have been plenty of scientific studies nowadays that poke holes in this argument. Many biological studies on the brain have shown how this argument has issues. At the time that Aquinas made this argument, it would have made more sense, as scientific studies were very limited in that period. This argument that he brings is circular and brings it down on its own. It is circular because God gave intelligence to humans, therefore God exists. The premise “God gave intelligence to humans” seems to already assume the existence of God, because God must exist to give intelligence to humans.
The only way that one could salvage this argument is to prove that it is not circular. This is an extraordinarily because it is so obviously circular. Therefore, the argument is invalid.
William Lane Craig has multiple and unique reasons for believing in God. The first being that “God is the best explanation for why anything exists”. There are many weaknesses in this argument. Something existing, does not mean that God is the creator of it. He goes into how every contingent being has some reason for existing, therefore God. But what he is saying is that because humans have no idea who created the universe, God makes the most logical sense. William Lane Craig begs the question by assuming the universe was already created by a being. Then he views God as the most logical choice, which therefore causes circular logic.
An objection someone could have, just like the argument with Aquinas, is whether or not they can prove that it is actually circular. The argument is clearly circular, so therefore the argument is invalid.
So, all this confirms the idea that, contrary to the beliefs of philosophers and many people, belief in God is absolutely not rational.
Works Cited
- Biography.com Editors. “Saint Thomas Aquinas”. Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 2 Aug. 2019, http://biography.com/religious-figure/saint-thomas-aquinas
- “Does God Exist?” Reasonable Faith, http://reasonablefaith.org/writings/popular-writings/existence-nature-of-god/does-god-exist1/
- Harris, Sam. “Religion as a Black Market for Irrationality”. Sam Harris, 4 Dec. 2017, http://samharris.org/religion-as-a-black-market-for-irrationality/
- Himma, Kenneth E. “Anselm: Ontological Argument for God's Existence”. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://iep.utm.edu/ont-arg/
- Muriniti, Peter. “10 More Things We Can't Comprehend”. Listverse, 18 June 2014, http://listverse.com/2012/08/20/10-more-things-we-cant-comprehend/
- Williams, Shawna. “The Biological Roots of Intelligence”. The Scientist Magazine®, http://the-scientist.com/features/the-biological-roots-of-intelligence-64931
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Critical Essay on Belief in God and Its Rationality.
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