Negative atheism? (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, January 09, 2015, 20:53 (3396 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: And so unless you really believe he's [Davies} lying, why do you think he's prepared to argue the case for God and yet remains an agnostic?-DAVID: Because as I read his works, he brings up very many of the reasons for God that I accept, and at the end of his discussions he suddenly pulls up short. He actually seems to be a deist to me, and I have written that. -I'm afraid your interpretation doesn't tell me why you think Davies - or myself for that matter - is prepared to argue the case for God and yet remain agnostic. -DAVID: Read this review of Davies' statements to see how I interpret him. He comes right to the edge, and so far stops short:-http://www.arn.org/docs/williams/pw_daviesreview.htm-I suspect you are very much like him-I am flattered. Of course he stops short. He would need a divine revelation to convince him. But he doesn't come right to the edge at all, which is why the author of the article keeps shoving his own religious oar in. Davies rejects both theism and atheism. He also explicitly rejects the hypothesis of a God who knows just what he's doing: “I don't think that there is a super-being with a project, who has figured out what the end goal ought to be and has set the universe up in order to work through that agenda....” -However, his beliefs and non-beliefs are not the real point here. I was simply objecting to your assumption that someone who appreciates all the arguments in favour of design must be a closet theist and only denies it because he's protecting his career. No, there are many folk who genuinely see both sides and are not prepared to jump either way because NEITHER side can make out a convincing case.