On Medium: Is God a Trickster, Toying with Us to Make Faith Possible?
Here's an article about a theodicy that expects a solid case for atheism, so the evidence for God would be ambiguous to leave room for a choice to exercise religious faith.
Perhaps this trickster God doesn't care so much about how we arrive at a belief in Its existence; maybe the important thing is not how, but WHY.
Christians love to accuse atheists of being insincere, of simply using atheism as an excuse to engage in hedonism and selfishness. If that's true (and it likely is for some, but not all, atheists) then couldn't we use the same logic to evaluate the character of believers?
Maybe some people only believe in God because it gives them a plausible rationale for behaving in ways that would otherwise appear foolish and quixotic. If there is no God and no afterlife, then adhering to impractical ideals like Jesus' sermon on the mount would indeed be quixotic. If there is no God, then there is no reason to help someone who is unlikely to ever be in a situation in which they could return the favor. Maybe believers are just dyed-in-the-wool altruists and idealists who just can't help themselves and so, in an effort to convince themselves and others that they aren't fools, they cling to the belief that a God is witnessing their every selfless act and plans to reward them for that selflessness in the next life.
If this is the case for at least some theists, then perhaps this trickster God is deliberately concealing Itself for the express purpose of separating the sheep from the goats. Bad people tend to choose atheism because it gives them an excuse to be selfish and pragmatic. Good people choose religion because it gives them a rationalization for their altruism.
But who would be the good folks (the sheep) in that scenario? Altruists who don't need religious fantasies to justify their behaviour? Or why should we trust the judgment of a trickster deity? I don't know if the problem is insincerity exactly; rather, it's weakness of will, or gullibility. Whatever the trickster god's reasons for hiding, we might be obliged to ignore that theistic scenario because either that god doesn't exist or we'd have no reason to trust its judgment about whom to favour.
Perhaps this trickster God doesn't care so much about how we arrive at a belief in Its existence; maybe the important thing is not how, but WHY.
ReplyDeleteChristians love to accuse atheists of being insincere, of simply using atheism as an excuse to engage in hedonism and selfishness. If that's true (and it likely is for some, but not all, atheists) then couldn't we use the same logic to evaluate the character of believers?
Maybe some people only believe in God because it gives them a plausible rationale for behaving in ways that would otherwise appear foolish and quixotic. If there is no God and no afterlife, then adhering to impractical ideals like Jesus' sermon on the mount would indeed be quixotic. If there is no God, then there is no reason to help someone who is unlikely to ever be in a situation in which they could return the favor. Maybe believers are just dyed-in-the-wool altruists and idealists who just can't help themselves and so, in an effort to convince themselves and others that they aren't fools, they cling to the belief that a God is witnessing their every selfless act and plans to reward them for that selflessness in the next life.
If this is the case for at least some theists, then perhaps this trickster God is deliberately concealing Itself for the express purpose of separating the sheep from the goats. Bad people tend to choose atheism because it gives them an excuse to be selfish and pragmatic. Good people choose religion because it gives them a rationalization for their altruism.
But who would be the good folks (the sheep) in that scenario? Altruists who don't need religious fantasies to justify their behaviour? Or why should we trust the judgment of a trickster deity? I don't know if the problem is insincerity exactly; rather, it's weakness of will, or gullibility. Whatever the trickster god's reasons for hiding, we might be obliged to ignore that theistic scenario because either that god doesn't exist or we'd have no reason to trust its judgment about whom to favour.
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