Are theistic arguments truly weak, or do atheists lack the rationality to be convinced of the theistic arguments? (original Quora question)
The problem the question identifies can be summed up in one word: PRETENSE
Atheists pretend to know. Theists pretend not to.
Just as the tautology, ‘Fictitious objects do not exist,’ leaves open the question whether there are fictitious objects, so the tautology, ‘God exists,’ leaves open the question whether there is a God. But what is this further question? How paradoxical it seems to deny that [with] … ’proof the necessary existence of a being greater than which cannot be conceived, no question remains as to whether it exists or not.
John Hick & Arthur Chute McGill (1967) The many-faced argument : recent studies on the ontological argument for the existence of God
And pretense always undermines rationality.
As children, there’s magic in pretend. As “rational” adults, the mention of pretenses seems like a curse. It’s too bad.
Original publish date late 2017