[MD] Are theists irrational?

[markhsmit]

Hi Steve,
Have you seen Godel's proof of God?  It's pretty rational, even
involves high level math.  Try to disprove it.

Mark

On Jan 15, 2010, at 9:13:24 AM, "Steven Peterson" <peterson.steve at gmail.com> wrote:
From:   "Steven Peterson" <peterson.steve at gmail.com>
Subject:    [MD] Are theists irrational?
Date:   January 15, 2010 9:13:24 AM PST
To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
Hi all,

Can an MOQer make the claim that theists are irrational?

Jeffrey Stout from "Rorty on Religion and Politics:
"Because Rorty and I have both been persuaded by our pragmatist
forebears to treat rationality as a more permissive and
context-sensitive notion than Victorian critics of religious
superstition took it to be, we are inclined to agree with William
James that some theists might well be rationally entitled to their
religious commitments. Thus we are not disposed to join Sam Harris and
Peter Singer in impugning the rationality of theists en masse. Like
Harris and Singer, we would like to say that what worries us about
militant Islamic theocracy, the new religious right, and church
opposition to same-sex marriage, but we prefer to do so without using
the concept of rationality as a club."

Why does pragmatism lead Stout and Rorty to want to drop rationality
as a way of distinguishing believers from nonbelievers?

If "some theists [and presumably then not others] might well be
rationally entitled to their religious commitments," how do we tell
which ones are rationally entitled and which ones are not?

Best,
Steve
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