One God: No More, No Less

[Michie]

#1

Interesting article about man's built in need & flawed understanding of God before He revealed Himself. The debate is interesting as well. I have to say it never occurred to me that atheists may be looking at this backwards.

An ancient Chinese myth tells of ten Suns that existed in primordial times. Prideful and intemperate, as pagan gods are often wont to be, these Suns rode together over the surface of the Earth each day, their combined heat scorching it. Insensitive to the plight of the mortals, the Suns refused to take turns in the sky, and were eventually struck down until only one Sun remained.

I was reminded of this story when I read yet again another example of an atheist inviting religious believers to go “one god more” when critically evaluating their beliefs. For instance, here is noted skeptic Michael Shermer at a recent debate about science and belief in God: “Ten-thousand different religions, a thousand different gods. Our opponents agree with us that 999 of those gods are false gods. They are atheists like we are atheists. What I’m asking you to do is just go one God further with us.”

Continued- One God: No More, No Less

 

[MKJ]

That is an interesting article, and it confirms something that I have noticed. When you talk to people about theism, they really have no idea of the philosophical reasons that monotheism is believed, or the questions that caused philosophers to come to that conclusion.

They see no difference between one imaginary god, or ten, or anything else - from their perspective they are things people imagined for no clear reason.

Unfortunately, Christians sometimes make it more confusing for them by starting too far along in the discussion - trying to convince them of a Christian vision of God before the individual even knows what is meant by god at a most basic sense, or why that might be an important idea.

I think it comes from lack of good education - how many people in school are taught what is required to have knowledge, what that means - even university level science students often seem to have no idea about the epistemological questions their own realm of study gives rise to, and supposedly they are learning the fundamentals and ultimately to be experts in their fields.

 

[judechild]

Agreeing completely that people don't understand the basics of philosophical thought, which causesthe lack of understanding monotheism. A good example is a review I read once on the Euthyphro; the wannabe philosopher gleefully stated that Socrates had completely destroyed the idea of a connection between morality and the Divine... he didn't realize that Socrates and Plato were philosophical monotheists, and that Socrates' questioning is meant to destroy the idea of a foundation for morality and the gods - rather than one, all-powerful God.

 

[MKJ]

Agreeing completely that people don't understand the basics of philosophical thought, which causesthe lack of understanding monotheism. A good example is a review I read once on the Euthyphro; the wannabe philosopher gleefully stated that Socrates had completely destroyed the idea of a connection between morality and the Divine... he didn't realize that Socrates and Plato were philosophical monotheists, and that Socrates' questioning is meant to destroy the idea of a foundation for morality and the gods - rather than one, all-powerful God.

I have run into a few examples og that sort of misunderstanding about the ancient philosophers - people trying to use them to show that the ancients did not believe in god. One pointed out to me that Socrates was executed for impiety!

I am always kind of .

 

[QuantaCura]

Yes, philosophically, atheism is much more closely related to idolatry and polytheism than classical monotheism is.

Here is some more good stuff on why the "one god further" argument is born of ignorance and makes no sense:

Edward Feser: The “one god further” objection

Edward Feser: A further thought on the “one god further” objection