Divine Hiddenness: Course Correction

Some commenters on this series are saying that the burden of proof in this discussion belongs to theists. They are saying that, to rebut or refute the argument, we must prove there is sufficient evidence to believe in God. Let's recall what the Divine Hiddenness argument really is.

The argument (also called the argument from non-belief), says that the existence of non-belief or agnosticism is strong evidence that no God exists at all. This is a positive argument in behalf of atheism.

I don't think every reader here is taking it that way. In my second post on this I formulated a second version, more consonant with the way these readers seem to view it. (I just went back to that post and added numerals to make that clearer.) Here's another comparison of the versions, more informed by reading I have done in the meantime. (These are condensed versions, not formulated with the precision of a philosophical argument. They work for the purpose of clarifying direction, though.)

(1) There are unbelievers in the world, which fact is inconsistent with the existence of a God who desires people to believe in him; therefore there is no God.
(2) "I don't know why I should believe in God, since evidence for his existence seems ambiguous at best."

(1) is a positive statement on behalf of a viewpoint, and thus its burden of proof rests on its promulgator; critics need only show that it cannot bear that burden. Theists can refute (1) without necessarily proving God exists. (2) is actually not the Argument from Divine Hiddenness (though it's still a good question). We seem to be going both directions at once, for which I'll take the blame; I didn't clarify this well enough at the start. As I said, this is new territory for me. You're watching a learning process as it happens.

The Biblical direction I've started to travel applies to both (1) and (2). I intend to continue with it for a while in order to set forth important background information. I'll let the discussion go where it will for now without worrying much about it, and then sharpen the focus later.

Part of a Series:

1. Divine Hiddenness
2. Direction-Setting
3. The Demand for a Sign
4. Course Correction
5. Deus Absconditus
6. Starting Over
7. Epilogue

Posted: Sat - April 28, 2007 at 07:58 AM |

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson getCategoryName("<$CategoryUUID$>");

Divine Hiddenness: Course Correction

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson