Is it Rational to Believe in God?
Christians are often portrayed as being irrational for holding certain beliefs, including the existence of God. The “new atheistsâ€, such as Dawkins, Dennett, and Harris have recently increased their efforts to paint Christians in this unflattering light. Are these accusations of irrationality warranted, however? I will confess at the beginning that I have met many irrational Christians. Additionally, I must also confess to having met many irrational non-theists. The question here, however, is – Is it rational to believe in God? I hold that it is.
What does it mean for a belief to be rational? Rationality might be generally understood to be a quality of a belief which is in accord with reason and is usually associated with a belief likely to lead to the truth. Reason, in turn, is that faculty that allows us to think and deliberate, to evaluate propositions and arrive at proper conclusions. I contend that believing in God is rational because there are good arguments which support that belief. Do not misunderstand my claim. I do not claim to prove the existence of God; merely, to show that it is rational to do so. There are many strong rational arguments which support the belief in the existence of God.
Perhaps the best way to understand the rationality of theism is by considering this belief as the inference to the best explanation of the observations. Given our moral intuitions, the order, information and fine-tuning found in the universe, and further that the universe even exists at all, not only is theism a rational belief, but perhaps the most rational inference is theism. Theism has explanatory power whose claims resonate with our intuitions about the way the world really is.