Somewhere in the middle

Most of my friends and people I've met over the years haven't been atheists. But you couldn't really describe them as agnostics or theists. They're floating around somewhere in the middle, sort of believing in a God but not really sure.

Antony Flew's book, "There Is A God", which I'm reading through at the moment came up with some very interesting points:

"Anthony Kenny ... suggested that it takes more effort to show that you know something than that you do not (this includes even the claim that the concept of God is not coherent)."
p54

It's so easy not to have a thought-through set of beliefs or at least opinions. It requires effort – a little bit of study and research. Even as a Christian you can be absent from any real convictions. Because convictions require a backbone of knowledge and understanding, and those are formed by gradual growth over time.

But your convictions are surely what makes you useful as a human being.

Interestingly, going back to Flew's book...

"The Thomist philosopher Ralph McInerny reasoned that it is natural for human beings to believe in God because of the order, arrangement, and lawlike character of natural events. So much so, he said, that the idea of God is almost innate, which seems like a prima facie argument against atheism."
p55

No one's born a Christian. And it seems no one's born an atheist or an agnostic. All those things require a system of belief, a formation of opinions, which babies don't have. It seems that floating around somewhere in the middle is the default position. A point from which not everyone progresses.

––––––

Similar blog: It's good to have an opinion, even if you're wrong