[MD] Are theists irrational?

[markhsmit]

Hi John,
Weren't many of the great philosophers believers?
I may be wrong, but that is what I seem to remember.
Many of the great physicists, chemists, mathematicians 
were believers as well.  How do you rectify that with
the irrationality of theism?

Just curious.

Mark

On Jan 15, 2010, at 10:10:39 AM, "John Carl" <ridgecoyote at gmail.com> wrote:
From:   "John Carl" <ridgecoyote at gmail.com>
Subject:    Re: [MD] Are theists irrational?
Date:   January 15, 2010 10:10:39 AM PST
To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
Steve,

Good question.

My opinion is that not all theists are irrational, though most probably are,
going on the evidence. But taking a postulate as fundamental is a big no-no
in metaphysical speculation.

You ask how we can tell the difference between the rational theist and the
non-rational and I'd say the difference is right at the point of being
willing to be objective about one's beliefs.


John the anti-postulator




On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 9:13 AM, Steven Peterson
<peterson.steve at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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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