This was a beautifully written piece, it brings to life many good points that often fly under the "radar".
The last decade of my life was transformative in the sense that being critical of my faith didn't give me the answers I thought I'd find-- and while I do still live a "good" life, I don't do it under the canapé of a "god". I don't pray, I don't believe, but it would be impossible for me to say I didn't take some lessons with me.
So yeah, I totally agree that, for a theist, a holy life speaks mountains, but at the same time fideism is the weirdest thing in the world. "God exists and that's that" is a gross position to take. It's the duty of a devout theist to (1) ask themselves every single question until their head hurts and (2) defend their faith. When defense turns into a spectator sport, then yeah, call it is what it is: dumb (or weird, or sus, or any reiteration of such)
I think this kind of glosses over just how technical the Christian arguments became. They weren't becoming atheist Christopher Hitchins they were cribbing from the Christisn modal metaphyscians of the 70s.
This was a beautifully written piece, it brings to life many good points that often fly under the "radar".
The last decade of my life was transformative in the sense that being critical of my faith didn't give me the answers I thought I'd find-- and while I do still live a "good" life, I don't do it under the canapé of a "god". I don't pray, I don't believe, but it would be impossible for me to say I didn't take some lessons with me.
So yeah, I totally agree that, for a theist, a holy life speaks mountains, but at the same time fideism is the weirdest thing in the world. "God exists and that's that" is a gross position to take. It's the duty of a devout theist to (1) ask themselves every single question until their head hurts and (2) defend their faith. When defense turns into a spectator sport, then yeah, call it is what it is: dumb (or weird, or sus, or any reiteration of such)
I think this kind of glosses over just how technical the Christian arguments became. They weren't becoming atheist Christopher Hitchins they were cribbing from the Christisn modal metaphyscians of the 70s.