Question Is faith in something intangible ultimately delusional?

Accepted:
October 6, 2005

Comments

Is this another way of asking whether belief in the existence of Godmust be irrational in light of God's intangibility? If so, I wouldanswer No. There are many things that I cannot touch in whoseexistence I believe. For instance, I believe in the existence of Mars,but I'll never touch it. You might think that's a bad example because,while I can't actually touch Mars, I could in principle touch it: intheory, I could build a space ship that will bring me to Mars. God, onthe other hand, seems to be something that I couldn't even in principletouch: according to many, God simply isn't located anywhere in thephysical universe. But don't we believe in the existence ofintangible things even in that stronger sense of "intangible"? Forinstance, most of us believe that the Equator exists, but it's nottangible (you can't trip over the Equator). Or, to take Richard's example, we all believe that the play A Comedy of Errorsexists, even though it can't be touched, ripped up, or burned. Orfinally, most of us think that numbers (like the number 8) existthough they don't seem to be at all located in the physical realm. Soif one is irrational to believe in God's existence, that's not becauseGodis something intangible.

Or perhaps you meant to be asking whether it's irrational to believe in an intangible God's existence on the basis of no evidence.If a person thinks the answer to that question is Yes, then God'sintangibility again seems irrelevant: that person would likewise holdthat it's irrational to believe in a tangible object's existence if one had no evidence at all for it. If there is irrationality here, its source is our lack of evidence and not the intangibility of the being that is believed to exist.

Question Is faith in something intangible ultimately delusional? Accepted:October 6, 2005

Question Is faith in something intangible ultimately delusional?

Accepted:
October 6, 2005