How to Be a Very Friendly Atheist Indeed

Tadeusz Kotarbiński on God and Religion

“…Such a person can be rational when believing in God although he does not have enough knowledge about atheism and he does not look for further evidence for atheism or theism. Of, course we could claim that such a theist, say, a non-reflective theist, in such a situation should withhold his religious beliefs until he has gathered evidence for or against theism (Jonbäck 2015). If a theist does not withhold his beliefs, he makes an epistemic mistake for which he is blameworthy.…”

“…It is so because a theist should strive for the broadening of his thought-horizon and gather more evidence over time. Thus, a theist can be rational in a synchronic sense by believing in accordance with the evidence he currently has, and he can be irrational in a diachronic sense because he has failed to gather more evidence than he currently has (JONBÄCK [2015]). It is, however, disputable whether a theist always has the duty to look for further evidence and whether he is always irrational and blameworthy if he fails to do so.…”

“…It is also possible in this case to claim that a theist is not blameworthy in spite of his mistaken evaluation of all evidence and arguments both for theism and atheism. But there is still another epistemological possibility which is currently in the debate over the rationality of religious beliefs, according to which a reflective theist can regard correctly the evidence for atheism as convincing and yet be considered rational in believing in God (JONBÄCK [2015]). In this case, the reflective theist cannot resort to the classical arguments for theism.…”

“…Then, it seems that a believer cannot be regarded as an irrational person who is blameworthy because he did not withhold his belief in God. Such a modified version of the friendly atheism is called a "very friendly atheism" (JONBÄCK [2015]). …”

“…For a proponent of particularism, a typical way of choosing a particular case of knowledge as paradigmatic for knowledge is to appeal to intuition (JONBÄCK [2015]). If a believer (a theist) grew up in a theistic community, he might very well have the intuition that God exists, and therefore his believing in God is rational and blameless.…”