Well said. This is why I distinguish “Why do you believe in God” from “What are the best arguments for Theism?” I think I’ll try to tailor my questions to be more personal. Some of these people actually were raised atheist, so we have prima facie no more reason to ascribe “working backwards from a desired conclusion” to them than to ourselves.
Theistic philosophers raised as atheists? Hmm, here is a question you could ask:
“Remember your past self, 3 years before you became a theist. And think, not of the reasons for being a theist you know now, but the one that originally convinced you. What was the reason, and if you could travel back in time and describe that reason, would that past self agree that that was a good reason to become a theist?”
Well said. This is why I distinguish “Why do you believe in God” from “What are the best arguments for Theism?” I think I’ll try to tailor my questions to be more personal. Some of these people actually were raised atheist, so we have prima facie no more reason to ascribe “working backwards from a desired conclusion” to them than to ourselves.
Theistic philosophers raised as atheists? Hmm, here is a question you could ask:
“Remember your past self, 3 years before you became a theist. And think, not of the reasons for being a theist you know now, but the one that originally convinced you. What was the reason, and if you could travel back in time and describe that reason, would that past self agree that that was a good reason to become a theist?”