Weekly Meeting 11/14/2024
Skeptical theists argue that our cognitive limitations undermine evidential arguments from evil against God’s existence, as such arguments assume we possess greater sensitivity to justifying reasons for allowing evil than we actually do. Critics counter this by proposing the “Skeptical Parity Thesis” (SPT), which claims that atheological arguments from evil and evidential arguments for God’s existence (e.g., from fine-tuning) are equally affected by our cognitive limitations—either both fail or neither does. The SPT suggests that natural theologians cannot use skeptical theism to dismiss arguments from evil without also undermining their own evidential arguments for God. Ted Poston has argued against SPT, proposing a moderate skeptical theism compatible with natural theology. This paper demonstrates that Poston’s argument is unsuccessful, as it overlooks relevant symmetries between the two types of arguments. However, it also explores the potential for a form of skeptical theism that respects these symmetries while remaining consistent with natural theology.
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Ratio Christi (Latin “reason for Christ”) serves to defend the Christian faith in honest dialogue with both our skeptical & believing friends at Texas A&M. Together, we investigate the historical, philosophical, and scientific reasons for the truth, rationality, and significance of the message of Jesus Christ, a discipline known as apologetics. If you are a student, faculty, or staff at Texas A&M University, we invite you to join us. Contact us at https://tx.ag/RatioChristi
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