Asses the view that it is rational to believe that there is a God

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Marie Thomson                                                                                      Paul Sperring

Asses the view that it is rational to believe that there is a God

Rational: To be rational is to think logically and within reason. To base your thoughts on evidence, and then use that evidence to come to a “rational” conclusion.

Motivation: To be motivated to do or think something, normally the motivation will be because it will benefit you in the long run.

Many philosophers use theses types of words when talking about whether or not it is rational to believe in god. Pascal for instance thinks that you should believe in God as you will gain more from it when you pass away if he does exist, i.e. going to heaven, whereas if you don’t believe in God and it turns out he does in fact exists you will lose more. This is often referred to as Pascal’s wager and Pascal is a prudentialist, which means believing in something because it’s in your own interests.

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Another argument for the belief in God is Fideism, this is where you believe in God because it is absurd not to. You take a leap of faith, e.g. if you wanted to jump from one cliff to another you would just jump because you would believe that God would help you and not left you fall, as appose to talking a bridge and only jumping half way.

        Plantinga is another philosopher who believes it is rational to believe in God, as he thinks that God is a belief that ends all other beliefs, it cannot be justified by ...

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