Norman Geras is surprised to encounter this argument:
A god whose existence you can prove is a god to whom you cannot pray, postmodern theology argues, and prayer - not proof - is where religion rises or falls.
And where have we head this before?
"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."
"But," says Man, "the Babel Fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves that You exist, and so therefore, by Your own arguments, You don't. Q.E.D."
"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.
"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.Most leading theologians claim that this argument is a load of dingo's kidneys, but that didn't stop Oolon Colluphid making a small fortune when he used it as the central theme of his best-selling book, Well That About Wraps It Up For God.
Douglas Adams, of course.
Terry Pratchett's witches have a somewhat related attitude to the gods of the Discworld; the gods clearly exist, so believing in them would be like believing in the postman. What would be the point?
Likewise, I don't believe in evolution, any more than I believe in gravity. Scientific facts don't require belief; they work whether anyone believes in them or not. Faith and belief are best reserved for things that don't exist.
Anyway, if you insist on believing in something that might exist, suppose it finally manifests itself and turns out not to be as advertised? No, better to avoid the headaches and just stick to believing in things that stay safely in the realm of the unprovable.
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