As for atheism, I don’t mean those that think religion is good for us and we ought to believe it whether or not it’s true. I meant rational thinkers who actually believe God realistically could exist. It’s definitely interesting to think about trying to convince yourself to believe in God, or just act that way, but is it possible to actually believe with a straight face?
Well, you asked for the most legitimate criticisms of rejecting religious faith.
Religious faith is not a rational epistemology; we don’t arrive at faith by analyzing evidence in an unbiased way.
I can make a pragmatic argument for embracing faith anyway, because rational epistemology isn’t the only important thing in the world nor necessarily the most important (although it’s what this community is about).
But if you further constrain the request to seeking legitimate arguments for treating religious faith (either in general, or that of one particular denomination) as a rational epistemology, then I can’t help you. Analyzing observed evidence in an unbiased way simply doesn’t support faith in YHWH as worshiped by 20th-century Jews (which is the religious faith I rejected in my youth), and I know of no legitimate epistemological criticism that would conclude that it does, nor of any other denomination that doesn’t have the same difficulty.
Now, if you want to broaden your search to include not only counterarguments against rejecting religious faith of specific denominations, but also counterarguments against rejecting some more amorphous proto-religious belief like “there exist mega-powerful entities in the universe capable of feats I can barely conceive of” (without any specific further claims like “and the greatest one of them all divided the Red Sea to free our ancestors from slavery in Egypt” or “and the greatest one of them all wrote this book so humanity would know how to behave” or even “and they pay attention to and direct human activity”) then I’d say the most legitimate counterargument is Copernican: I start out with low confidence that my species is the most powerful entity in the universe, and while the lack of observed evidence of such mega-powerful entities necessarily raises that confidence, it might not legitimately raise it enough to accept.
But we’ve now wandered pretty far afield from “my way of thinking,” as I’m perfectly comfortable positing the existence of mega-powerful entities in the universe capable of feats I can barely conceive of.
if you further constrain the request to seeking legitimate arguments for treating religious faith (either in general, or that of one particular denomination) as a rational epistemology, then I can’t help you.
Thank you for answering my question. If I read it right you’re saying “No, it’s not possible to reconcile religion and rationality, or at least I can’t refer you to any sane person who tried.”
If I understand what you’re using “religion” and “rationality” to mean, then I would agree with the first part. (In particular, I understand you to be referring exclusively to epistemic rationality.)
As for the second part, there are no doubt millions of sane people who tried. Hell, I’ve tried it myself. The difficulty is not in finding one, but rather in finding one who provides you with what you’re looking for.
As for atheism, I don’t mean those that think religion is good for us and we ought to believe it whether or not it’s true. I meant rational thinkers who actually believe God realistically could exist. It’s definitely interesting to think about trying to convince yourself to believe in God, or just act that way, but is it possible to actually believe with a straight face?
Well, you asked for the most legitimate criticisms of rejecting religious faith.
Religious faith is not a rational epistemology; we don’t arrive at faith by analyzing evidence in an unbiased way.
I can make a pragmatic argument for embracing faith anyway, because rational epistemology isn’t the only important thing in the world nor necessarily the most important (although it’s what this community is about).
But if you further constrain the request to seeking legitimate arguments for treating religious faith (either in general, or that of one particular denomination) as a rational epistemology, then I can’t help you. Analyzing observed evidence in an unbiased way simply doesn’t support faith in YHWH as worshiped by 20th-century Jews (which is the religious faith I rejected in my youth), and I know of no legitimate epistemological criticism that would conclude that it does, nor of any other denomination that doesn’t have the same difficulty.
Now, if you want to broaden your search to include not only counterarguments against rejecting religious faith of specific denominations, but also counterarguments against rejecting some more amorphous proto-religious belief like “there exist mega-powerful entities in the universe capable of feats I can barely conceive of” (without any specific further claims like “and the greatest one of them all divided the Red Sea to free our ancestors from slavery in Egypt” or “and the greatest one of them all wrote this book so humanity would know how to behave” or even “and they pay attention to and direct human activity”) then I’d say the most legitimate counterargument is Copernican: I start out with low confidence that my species is the most powerful entity in the universe, and while the lack of observed evidence of such mega-powerful entities necessarily raises that confidence, it might not legitimately raise it enough to accept.
But we’ve now wandered pretty far afield from “my way of thinking,” as I’m perfectly comfortable positing the existence of mega-powerful entities in the universe capable of feats I can barely conceive of.
Thank you for answering my question. If I read it right you’re saying “No, it’s not possible to reconcile religion and rationality, or at least I can’t refer you to any sane person who tried.”
If I understand what you’re using “religion” and “rationality” to mean, then I would agree with the first part. (In particular, I understand you to be referring exclusively to epistemic rationality.)
As for the second part, there are no doubt millions of sane people who tried. Hell, I’ve tried it myself. The difficulty is not in finding one, but rather in finding one who provides you with what you’re looking for.