Is there a God?

I had a thought today (I know. Dangerous. Pointless. Specious. But humorous.) Something always bothered me about the argument that goes: Beliefs in the supernatural are contradictory, inconsistent, and stupid. Therefore: The supernatural does not exist. Though I might have sympathy for the conclusion, the arguments always seemed specious. I realized today that this statement is actually a non sequitur in three acts. Very sneaky, spreading those ‘specious bits’ around that way!

Act one: The supernatural is, by definition, above nature. It is something other than the time, space, matter, energy world we live in. We cannot have any interactions with it. Information and cause and affect can’t transfer between them and testable hypotheses can’t be made about it. There can be no knowing whether it exists or not since any hypothesis about it can’t be tested. Otherwise it would be the super-with-some-causal-gateway-into-the-natural-world natural world. Any belief about it is impossible to prove. This is contradicted by logic (See act 3.) Therefore: Belief in it is illogical. (Non sequitur #1.)

Act two: The belief in a super nature is better thought of as a thought virus. Since belief in a super nature is illogical (See act 1,) people who believe in one, regardless of what their other beliefs about the subject may say, are contaminated at best, or wrong and idiotic at worse. Therefore: People who believe in it are untrustworthy. (Non sequitur #2.)

Act three: Regardless of where this infection comes from (its source is never disclosed,) we can see that it is self-contradictory (See act 2.) Therefore: People who believe in a super nature prove that one doesn’t exist. (Non sequitur #3.)

A better approach would be simply to say: I do not believe in a super nature. There is no way of proving or disproving this, so, in accordance with Occam’s razor, I choose to believe one does not exist. We’re stuck with this world and can’t blame God for our failings. I have no opinion of the beliefs or disbeliefs of others. That’s their business. That said, everyone should be judged by their actions in this world not their beliefs in another.

Please notify Bertrand Russell.