John Horgan's agnostic viewpoint. (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, February 24, 2015, 19:21 (3559 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Sounds like someone I know: -http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2015/02/23/can-faith-and-science-coexist/
 
I disagree with his view of theodicy. The problem of evil is due to giving God pure loving attributes per religions. We do not know if that is true. It is a human attribute to assume God loves us. Horgan notes that below in his comment in the second paragraph.
 
I agree with you that the problem of evil is no reason for disbelief in God, but Horgan actually says that is a major reason why he rejects religion. That is not the same thing - he could believe in a deistic God and rid himself of the problem of evil. I like his section on why he is not an atheist, but I wish he had explained why he is not a theist.
 
Your own attempt at neutrality in relation to the character of God is always interesting. The existence of God then becomes more of an intellectual exercise, to solve the mystery of how we got here. If I were satisfied with your solution of “God did it”, I would still want to know why he did it, and I would also want to know what relevance he has for US. If he has none (i.e. if he is an uncaring deist God), then he might as well not exist anyway.