Why Not Believe in a God Who Is *Not* Active in the World?

[00:00:01] Why not believe in a God who is not active in the world? [00:00:06] Written by Bart Ehrman Read by Ken Teutsch Isn't atheism an extreme position to take if you or well, I give up belief in the Christian God we were I was raised on why give up on the idea of any God entirely? [00:00:26] I'm on a trip giving lectures to a group of folks who, well, want to see Norway, but also want to discuss issues closely related to what we do on the blog, questions about the New Testament, the historical Jesus, early Christianity, related topics in religion, and questions about religion in general. It's a great group with people of a wide range of backgrounds and lots of interesting stories. [00:00:53] Already we have discussed lots of interesting things and one of my fellow travelers has pushed me on why I became an atheist. They agree that there are real problems with believing in an all loving and all powerful God who wants humans to thrive, be happy, be content with life, and who is certainly able to make that happen for everyone if he chooses. Even if there does have to be some kinds of hardships, say hangnails and disappointments in love. In a world of to some extent freely acting agents, that is if free will exists. [00:01:29] But given the massive suffering in extremis, the fact that people, billions of them, by far the majority of Homo sapiens who have ever lived, don't have mild forms of pain but lead and have led excruciatingly painful lives of hunger, want, sleep, starvation, disease, birth defects, random accident, brain damage, etc. Etc. [00:01:53] When God both wants them to be happy and is able to make them happy. [00:01:58] Given all that, it may be hard to believe in an all loving and all powerful God, but why give up on the belief in God altogether? Couldn't there be a different kind of God? [00:02:10] Many of you reading this will have answers about why there could be a God, as traditionally portrayed within Judaism and Christianity, who loves people and wants to help them, yet there is still much suffering. [00:02:22] Many others of you might agree with me and my fellow traveler that despite the answers that are commonly given, it really is just too difficult for us to believe. [00:02:34] But whichever camp you are in, there is still the why should I think it is this kind of either or either the traditional Christian God who wants to help, can help and chooses unusually not to help, or no God at all. [00:02:50] My response to that, the one I gave to my interlocutor two days ago, is that I certainly do think some other kind of God is conceivable. I don't deny that that kind of God or gods may exist But I don't believe he, she, it, they does exist. And this is the big point for me. I don't see any reason to think he, she, it, they does. [00:03:18] I certainly do not think that the question of God is one that we can solve scientifically or logically in the sense that we can prove it one way or the other. [00:03:29] But I do think that if I'm going to believe something exists, I need to have some kind of reason to think so. [00:03:37] And despite my efforts over all the years, I simply can't think of any good reason to suppose there is some kind of superior, supernatural, divine being in the world, universe, reality. [00:03:50] The view that there is an inactive God in the world is usually called Deism. To differentiate it from theism, to make the most simple differentiation between these views. Theism is the view that there is a God who is active in the world, concerned for people, answers prayers, intervenes in things, etc. [00:04:11] And deism is the view that there is a God who is not active, not interested and or does not get involved with the world. [00:04:20] Atheism, of course, is the belief that there is no divine power at all in the world. [00:04:26] Whichever view or any of their variations a person holds, as I indicated, it seems to me they ought to have some reason. [00:04:36] I can see reasons for theism. [00:04:39] People believe they have experienced or seen miracles, or more frequently heard about them and thought they actually happened. That requires a divine intervention in the world of natural law. [00:04:51] Other people think that our very existence, the fact that there is life at all, and especially that at least one life form has consciousness, is solid evidence there is a God. How else do you explain the world around us, the emergence of life from non life and our human ability to think and know about our own existence? [00:05:10] It can't all be molecules all the way down. [00:05:15] I can also see reasons for atheism. The idea of an all powerful, all loving God, sovereign over this world may make sense to some people, but if all these miracles, including life and consciousness, are evidence of this kind of God, then it seems their opposites, the horrible suffering of billions, can equally be evidence against it. [00:05:36] And once it is thought that this God is all loving and all powerful, well, it sure don't seem like it. [00:05:45] I cannot though see reasons for deism. [00:05:48] My strong sense is that the only reason people become deists is because they can't any longer accept theism, but don't want or emotionally can't accept atheism. And so this is their fallback position that provides them comfort and assurance even though they don't have reasons to hold it. [00:06:09] That's the default. [00:06:11] And I think historically, starting with the European Enlightenment, that's why deism kicked in. In the Western world, theodicy killed theism, but thinkers still had a residual sense that there must be a God. [00:06:26] However, they had no reasons for thinking so. [00:06:29] But is that good enough? [00:06:31] If there's not a God who is active in the world, what would make anyone think? He, she, it, they exists just because it seems right? [00:06:40] Is that how we live our lives? Otherwise, do we determine what is right and real based on gut feeling? [00:06:47] Don't we have reasons for thinking? Say that Brazil is larger than Portugal and that society is better off if people are not allowed to murder and steal with impunity. [00:06:58] And that the second law of thermodynamics really does work every time. And that you really cannot divide a number by zero. [00:07:06] And that the world is not hollow. And that it is better to lose a tooth than a brain. And that it is better to invest wisely than to spend your life savings on the lottery. And now that I think about it, I could probably keep making a list till my dying day. [00:07:22] If we have reasons for thinking what we think about everything else, then why not about God? [00:07:29] And if there are reasons for deism, what would they be? [00:07:32] Want to let us know your view? Seriously? I'm not scorning the view. I just can't think of any reason to subscribe to it.