A Matter of Faith or Reason
Whether one believes in God or not, a person musthave a reason for his or her belief. There must be arationale, in some form, that supports the belief orthought process which the individual has. For example,philosopher John Searle does not believe in God, arguingthere is not enough available evidence about how theworld works to justify such a belief. He does not believein the supernatural either, but holds that there is,among intellectuals of the world today who have become sosecularized, a sense where the existence of God or thesupernatural would not matter as much as it would have acentury ago. He presents a logic as to why he does not Plato, on the other hand, presents his reasoning forbelieving in God and/or the supernatural through Socratesdiscussion with a religious fanatic shortly before histrial in the "Euthyphro." Euthyphro is a young,zealously pious man determined to bring a lawsuit againsthis own father over the death of one of their servants.When Socrates questions the propriety of proceedingagainst one's father, rebukes him, asserting that theonly relevant question is whether the killer has actedjustly. concedes that most people will regard prosecution
Searle adds, "On the available evidence we haveabout how the world works, we have to say that we'realone, there is no God, we don't have a cosmic friend,we're on our own. That same presumption that one person knowsmore about the will of the gods is an issue that must beexamined in the larger question of whether faith in Godis a matter of faith based on reason or on reason alone. Faith, which includes bothwill and intellect, is directed toward a person, an idea,or-as in the case of religious faith-a divine being. Where one personsees reason another sees magic and where that person seesmagic, yet another sees God. Therefore, humanity has before it a number ofequally valid reasons for their belief in God. While such alogic points only to the person making the decisionregarding their faith, surely that is all that isrequired in the larger context of whether one believes inGod or not. Moderntheologians agree in emphasizing this total existentialcharacter of faith, thus distinguishing it from the popularconception of faith that identifies it with belief asopposed to knowledge. The question to be considered is what onebases their belief upon. In Socrates' dialogue with Euthyphro he shows theyoung man that it is difficult to infer what the godsthink about justice, for careful attention to traditionreveals that the gods quarrel bitterly about the just,the noble and the good. If humanity is to suppose or agree upon the idea thatthat there is a divine force in the universe, those who havefelt that there has not been sufficient reason to so believesuch a premise may then intellectualize the issue by seeingit as a fact of physics like any other. As a result,instead of just four forces in the universe, a fifth forceis perceived. To return to modern philosopher John Searle, as hetells in a recent interview of a dinner party he attendedwhere Bertrand Russell was the guest of honor. of one's father on behalf of a hired hand as the heightof impiety, but he insists that he understands the willof the gods more plainly and precisely than most. For example,Christian theology has traditionally distinguished betweenthe "subjective" element in faith, which involves thesupernatural action of God upon the human soul, and faith's"objective" component, which is characterized as adherenceto a body of truth.
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Acceptance Essays
