A Rational Defence of Theism
My purpose in this essay is to contend that religion and religious beliefs do not discount a person’s ability to rationalize.
Indeed, the idea of God exists in the mind. Perhaps therefore, it was constructed in that same human mind. However, it should be noted that the idea of God exists even in the mind of an atheist. How can then a mentally imperfect being, (us humans), create the notion of a mentally perfect being without apparent cause or reason? The idea of a God is one that contains absolute perfection, but a person’s mind is limited by finite perfection, as is everything else in the world. Therefore, by deduction, there has to be a perfect being transcendent to the universe from which the idea of perfection can originate. Theism asserts this with the idea of God, but atheism, in rejecting the notion of God, illogically does so, for atheists have to conceive a notion of God to reject it in the first place. In this way, the theistic view can be said to be actually more logical from the physical evidence manifested in the human mind that we have in the real world.
In addition, morality exists. From criminals to policemen, every human being has some sense of morality. Everyone has some level of mental obligation to do what they perceive is good and avoid doing what they perceive is evil. This manifests in the presence of government and law, or even in self-help books, all aiming to mould one to a state of a certain degree of ‘good’, and not one of ‘evil’. The atheistic view denies God, and therefore, through reason, atheists could be said to be indifferent to the concepts of right and wrong. If atheists were moral, would it not then be incongruent with their belief that God does not exist, as God dictates a moral code to humans and morality unquestionably exists? Therefore, the theistic view, which is compatible with moral obligation, must be correct. Moral obligation cannot possibly originate in the mind of man, and therefore must originate in the mind
Indeed, the idea of God exists in the mind. Perhaps therefore, it was constructed in that same human mind. However, it should be noted that the idea of God exists even in the mind of an atheist. How can then a mentally imperfect being, (us humans), create the notion of a mentally perfect being without apparent cause or reason? The idea of a God is one that contains absolute perfection, but a person’s mind is limited by finite perfection, as is everything else in the world. Therefore, by deduction, there has to be a perfect being transcendent to the universe from which the idea of perfection can originate. Theism asserts this with the idea of God, but atheism, in rejecting the notion of God, illogically does so, for atheists have to conceive a notion of God to reject it in the first place. In this way, the theistic view can be said to be actually more logical from the physical evidence manifested in the human mind that we have in the real world.
In addition, morality exists. From criminals to policemen, every human being has some sense of morality. Everyone has some level of mental obligation to do what they perceive is good and avoid doing what they perceive is evil. This manifests in the presence of government and law, or even in self-help books, all aiming to mould one to a state of a certain degree of ‘good’, and not one of ‘evil’. The atheistic view denies God, and therefore, through reason, atheists could be said to be indifferent to the concepts of right and wrong. If atheists were moral, would it not then be incongruent with their belief that God does not exist, as God dictates a moral code to humans and morality unquestionably exists? Therefore, the theistic view, which is compatible with moral obligation, must be correct. Moral obligation cannot possibly originate in the mind of man, and therefore must originate in the mind