January 17, 2007

This Post is Old!

The post you are reading is years old and may not represent my current views. I started blogging around the time I first began to study philosophy, age 17. In my view, the point of philosophy is to expose our beliefs to rational scrutiny so we can revise them and get better beliefs that are more likely to be true. That's what I've been up to all these years, and this blog has been part of that process. For my latest thoughts, please see the front page.

Quote of the Day

Philosophy of religion, I believe, is best viewed as a process of critical dialog...

Such a critical dialog is risky. Probably everyone has heard a story of a student in a strict religious environment who loses his faith as a result of the critical challenges hurled at him at a university. But there is something unhealthy and even dishonest about a faith which hides from such a challenge. Can one really believe in God wholeheartedly and at the same time assert that one can only continue to believe by refusing to consider the evidence against one's belief? Such a "belief" seems perilously close to a half-conscious conviction that in fact God may not be real, combined with a wish to hid this truth from oneself...

A genuine and robust faith will not shrink from the process of testing, for it is confident that it will pass the test. If I genuinely believe that God is real (or that he is an illusion), I will not be afraid to examine alternative views and listen to problems and objections raised by others. Through this process I am confident that my faith will be deepened and strengthened.

      - C. Stephen Evans, "Critical Dialog in Philosophy of Religion," in Michael Peterson, et al., eds., Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings, p. 129 (reprinted from C. Stephen Evans, Philosophy of Religion: Thinking about Faith, pp. 17-29).

Posted by Kenny at January 17, 2007 4:29 PM
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