My Religious Beliefs are Irrational; So Are Yours

Occasionally, I will get into a discussion with an atheist who wants to discuss my religion in rational terms. Or I’ll encounter a Christian whose apologetics for the faith are couched in the language of rationality and logic. I don’t think that you can depend on rationality. I took this test and this test at TPM and found the results quite frustrating since the tests are designed to test the consistency and rationality of religious beliefs.

My religious beliefs are not based on empirical evidence, nor are they derived from logic. They are, I reckon, the gift of God and are not voluntarily adopted. I believe what I believe because I believe it. There’s no arguing the point. The atheist may or may not recognize that his own belief that there is no God no way is as irrational as my belief in a God. It may be predicated ultimately on the arbitrary normative proposition that belief should be predicated on empirical evidence. It may be that he simply believes, with no underlying reason, that there is no God in the same way that I believe that there is.

I know that I can’t prove that my belief is true, so I don’t do a whole lot of apologetics. I’ll talk about my belief to anyone who is interested, but I know that persuasion is pointless. I’ll admit that my belief may seem foolish to the rational mind. If God loves the world, why is there so much suffering? It’s a mystery that I expect will be revealed to me in due course, or not. I sometimes think that we are incredible ingrates. “Thanks for the Universe, God, but a little less suffering would have been nice.”