Thought of the Day 05.26.09

“I’ll believe God exists when you prove it to me.”

At first this sounds like a fairly reasonable demand, especially since we live in an age where demonstrable proof is valued so highly and also considering that the consequence of faith are so substantial. But what exactly is the speaker demanding here? Is he saying he’ll reject God if there is any possibility the hypothesis could be wrong? Is he demanding tangible evidence of the sort he would need in a criminal trial?

Unfortunately for him, neither of these standards is appropriate to the question. To see why, we must realize that doubt is a position, too. And certainly neither standard has been satisfied in establishing the atheist view. What we really need is a better standard, such as, “Which hypothesis best explains all the data we have and has the most moral, intellectual, and aesthetic appeal?”

See, some beliefs are like dilemmas. You may feel like there aren’t any ideal options, but the situation demands a choice. In such cases, merely noting the flaws in an option doesn’t justify rejecting it unless an alternative with fewer flaws is offered to replace it.