Haiti: God and scepticism (1)

januari 30th, 2010

When watching the news clips of people speaking about prayer and faith in the face of an earthquake, I was reminded of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake [9]. in philosophy [10], this event is best remembered in the context of Voltaire’s criticism of Leibniz [11]‘ claim that this is the best of all possible worlds [12]. After all, it is rather difficult to reconcile the idea of a benevolent and all powerful God [13] with such natural disasters. David Hume [14] also wrote on this problem and explicitly criticized Leibniz.
Rather than focus on the problem of evil [15], the point I am addressing is that it seems rather odd to pray to God in such a context. After all, if it is assumed that God exists and has the usual attributes (all good, all powerful and all knowing) then praying would make no sense. This is because the earthquake was allowed (or perhaps caused) by God. He knows about the event and hence prayer is not needed to let God know that a disaster has struck. Since He is all powerful, He could render aid. However, if He did not want the disaster to strike, then it would not have occurred. Praying to God would be like asking for help from the person who is punching you in the face-obviously that person is not going to render aid.

(Response from Kim Batteau: This is an old and well-known objection, the atheist’s creed: 1. If God is good, all-powerful and all-knowing, he would not allow evil and suffering to exist. 2. Evil and suffering exist. 3. Therefore God does not exist. The atheist’s creed is apparently an impeccable instance of logic. However it is flawed in many ways. The chief flaws are 1) the lack of a clear meaning to the term evil and 2) the lack of grounds for the objection to suffering in a world without God. For if there is no God, then all states of affairs and all events are simply natural states of affairs and natural events, and nature without God is morally neutral. “Evil” (however defined) and suffering (an emotional state of animals) are then simply natural states or natural events. One cannot object to “evil” or “suffering,” for that is to object to the way nature works, and that is illogical (on the premise that God does not exist).)

Finally, if God is good then He would not need to be asked to help. A good being does not watch from the sidelines waiting for someone to beg for help. Further, if the initial disaster is compatible with God’s goodness (and perhaps part of his plan), then allowing people to continue to suffer would seem to be just as compatible. As such, praying for assistance would seem to make no sense at all (except insofar as a psychological salve).
As far as faith goes, it also seems odd to be sustained by faith in such situations. After all, God has shown that He is willing to allow terrible things to happen (or cause them to occur). Having faith in such contexts would seem to be somewhat like remaining in love with a cruel abuser. At the very least, if you look among the aid groups then you will see no angels. Oddly enough, God never shows up for His disasters.
Fortunately, people do. So, it makes sense to ask other people for help. Unlike God, we respond and take action. Then again, perhaps the reason for this is that there is no one here to help us but us. [16]

(Reponse from Kim Batteau: “there is no one here to help us but us.” This is apparently a logical conclusion, but it is seriously flawed in a universe without God. Why should I help anyone but myself? According to evolution, the best adapted forms of life will survive, whether or not I help anyone or not. I should only help those who are most adapted to survive, since my only criterion for good is survival. But I cannot know ahead of time whether selfishness or altruism will help the best adapted to survive or not. For example, it may prove that cockroaches, or various bacteria or viruses, are more likely to survive on this earth than human beings. It doesn’t matter anyway, since what I know or don’t know is irrevelant to the survival of the most adapted forms of life. Helping anyone or anything in a world without God is illogical. The Marquis de Sade said: if God does not exist, everything is permitted. He was of course 100% correct.)
[17]
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Article printed from Talking Philosophy: http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com
URL to article: http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=1542
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lisbon1755hangingdetail.JPG
[2] natural disasters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_disaster
[3] strike: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strike_action
[4] faith: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith
[5] earthquake: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake
[6] Haiti: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=18.5333333333,-72.3333333333&spn=10.0,10.0&q=18.5333333333,-72.3333333333%20%28Haiti%29&t=h
[7] news: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News
[8] prayer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer
[9] 1755 Lisbon earthquake: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=36.0,-11.0&spn=5.0,5.0&q=36.0,-11.0%20%281755%20Lisbon%20earthquake%29&t=h
[10] philosophy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy
[11] Leibniz: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Leibniz
[12] best of all possible worlds: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_of_all_possible_worlds
[13] God: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God
[14] David Hume: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hume
[15] problem of evil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil
[16] help us but us.: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/
[17] Image: http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/b6ff4f33-9b3b-4ecc-aad3-d112a3a44f4e/

Entry Filed under: Apologetiek