How We Believe_ Science and the Search for God - Michael Shermer [67]
Such mystical experiences and conversions are not uncommon in history. Constantine’s “vision” at the Milvian Bridge, preceding his victory over Maxentius in A.D. 312, cemented the Christian religion into his worldview and into our world. Augustine heard voices telling him, “Pick it up, read it; pick it up, read it!” upon which “I got to my feet … to open the Bible and read the first passage I should light upon.” The passage told him to sell his belongings and give the money to the poor. This he did, and as he notes in his Confessions, “as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.” John Calvin reported in his Commentary on the Psalms that he had “a sudden conversion.” Martin Luther was reportedly struck to the ground by a lightning bolt and cried in terror: “St. Anne, help me! I will become a monk.”
Counterargument. As we saw in the previous chapter, these experiences are most probably the result of temporal lobe seizures or some other aberration in brain physiology. But it is the weakest of the so-called proofs of God, since not only is it not really a proof, it relies on personal experience, which by definition cannot be shared with others. I made the argument myself when I was a born-again Christian, and tried it out on my philosophy professor, Richard Hardison, who responded with a statement to our philosophy class that provides a potent refutation:
The goals of a society that you have valued, and the achievements of the people that you have respected, have depended on objectivity. Even the occasional mystic who impressed you, stepped out of his mysticism when he made the analysis that you read. His very communication, by the nature of communication, was objective. Mystical “truths” by their very nature, must be solely personal. They can have no possible external validation. Nor can they produce any possible communication with those who do not share the particular mysticism. There is a fundamental flaw in all mysticisms: the mystic often seeks external support of his position and in the process, denies his mysticism.
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Fideism, or the Credo Quia Consolans Argument. Of all the philosophical arguments for God, perhaps this stands up the best since it does not attempt to be a proof at all. Instead it is quite honest in its admission of the personal nature of belief. It says simply: “I believe because it is consoling.” In his book, The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener, Martin Gardner defines and defends fideism at length. It is a pragmatic argument, taken from the philosophers William James, Charles Peirce, and Miguel Unamuno. At its core it says that (1) in issues of extreme importance to human existence, (2) when the evidence is inconclusive one way or the other, and (3) you must make a choice, it is acceptable to take a leap of faith. Martin Gardner, the skeptic of all skeptics, is a fideist. He even admits that atheists have slightly better arguments than theists. But for personal, emotional reasons he was willing to make the leap.
Counterargument. One flaw in this argument is that it is based on the philosophy of pragmatism, which states that knowledge is valid if it “works” for you. But this does not necessarily apply to all ideas, including God. Some things we really can know, based on external validation. Another flaw is that fideism reduces belief to personality type. As recent research into personality development shows, one’s acceptance or rejection of ideas is as much a function of one’s family dynamics and personality characteristics as it is of empirical evidence. If beliefs are going to be based on emotion rather than argument or evidence, it would seem to eliminate the need for reason and science altogether. Why draw the line at some belief just because it feels good? Why not just say that God is an unknowable concept, an unsolvable mystery, and go about your life without the need for proofs?
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The Moral Argument. Humans are moral beings and animals are not. Where did we