Following on from the previous post…<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us say: ‘Either God is or he is not.’ But to which view shall we be inclined? Reason cannot decide this question.” <\/span>Blaise Pascal.<\/p>\n Like Pascal, many theists believe reason cannot determine whether or not God exists. Indeed, many suppose that, because God, if he exists, transcends the physical reality to which we have access, it is in principle impossible for determine whether God exists to settle the matter simply observing it. Science, and empirical observation more generally, can provide, at best, a few clues. They cannot settle the question beyond reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n I reject that view. It seems to me that by observing the world around us, we can answer the question of whether God exists. In fact, think it\u2019s pretty obvious there\u2019s no God.<\/p>\n That last claim may surprise even some atheists. How could it be pretty obvious<\/span> there\u2019s no God? Surely this is a tortuously difficult and complex question over which the greatest minds have pondered for millennia, without ever reaching any real consensus. How, then, can the answer be pretty obvious<\/span>?<\/p>\n Well, I think the (evidential) problem of evil, combined with an absence of any half decent argument for the all-powerful, maximally good God of traditional monotheism, shows beyond reasonable doubt there’s no such being. We really need to do little more than look out the window<\/span> to see there’s no such God.<\/p>\n True, many theists will be outraged by that, and will suggest all sorts of subtleties and sophistications. Indeed, they typically say: “But what about the arguments of theologians X, Y and Z? Until you’ve dealt in depth with all their many moves and arguments, you surely cannot say it’s pretty obvious<\/span> there’s no God.”<\/p>\n Trouble is, much the same sophisticated evasions etc. can be made in defence of belief in an evil God (as my The God of Eth<\/span><\/a> begins to illustrate). Yet it remains pretty obvious<\/span> there’s no such evil being. The moral is obvious….<\/p>\n