1.No, because their belief doesn’t make any sense. It even has logical contradictions, which makes it “super impossible”, meaning there’s no possible world where it could be true (the omnipotence paradox proves that omnipotence is logically inconsistent; a god which is nearly omnipotent, nearly omniscient and nearly omnibenevolent wouldn’t allow suffering, which, undoubtably, exists; “God wants to allow free will” isn’t a valid defence, since there’s a lot of suffering that isn’t caused by other humans, like illness and natural catastrophes) (note: I’m adding “nearly” to avoid paradoxes like the omnipotence paradox)
2. belief isn’t a choice, for example, you can’t “chose” to believe that the continent Australia doesn’t actually exist. Therefore, I wouldn’t be able to hold religious believes even if I’d acknowledge that this would bring greater happiness without negative side effects.
However, if we make the hypothetical world even less convenient by adding that, actually, I would be able to effectivly self-deceive, and there would be absolutly no negative side effects, then Yes, I would chose to believe.
3. I’m already highly sympathetic towards the “Effective altruism” movement and donate a lot of money to their causes. The reason I’m not donating literally everything I don’t need for survival is that I’m not morally perfect; I admit that.
My answers:
1.No, because their belief doesn’t make any sense. It even has logical contradictions, which makes it “super impossible”, meaning there’s no possible world where it could be true (the omnipotence paradox proves that omnipotence is logically inconsistent; a god which is nearly omnipotent, nearly omniscient and nearly omnibenevolent wouldn’t allow suffering, which, undoubtably, exists; “God wants to allow free will” isn’t a valid defence, since there’s a lot of suffering that isn’t caused by other humans, like illness and natural catastrophes) (note: I’m adding “nearly” to avoid paradoxes like the omnipotence paradox)
2. belief isn’t a choice, for example, you can’t “chose” to believe that the continent Australia doesn’t actually exist. Therefore, I wouldn’t be able to hold religious believes even if I’d acknowledge that this would bring greater happiness without negative side effects.
However, if we make the hypothetical world even less convenient by adding that, actually, I would be able to effectivly self-deceive, and there would be absolutly no negative side effects, then Yes, I would chose to believe.
3. I’m already highly sympathetic towards the “Effective altruism” movement and donate a lot of money to their causes. The reason I’m not donating literally everything I don’t need for survival is that I’m not morally perfect; I admit that.
(EDIT just to correct spelling)