Religion

Does the fact that other religions exist give us reason to disbelieve any one religion, or is this not a relevant piece of evidence?

Comments

I suppose it has something to do with how you see those religions as relating to each other. One might see them as all different parts to the same truth, in which case their existence does not serve to disprove the basic truth that they all embody. The only question then would be which one is the most acceptable or accurate, and there could be grounds for selection based on their respective internal features, e.g. their attitude to what we might regard as significant ethical issues, the ceremonies they support and so on.

Even if you saw one religion as the only viable one and the rest as just wrong, their existence would not be a problem. It would just be the case that many people make mistakes when thinking religiously and will continue to do so until they realise which religion is the true one. Whichever one that might be.

Here's a more general question, and one of substantial recent interest: Does the fact that there are other people who disagree with me, by itself, give me reason to doubt my own beliefs? The interest of the question, to me, derives from the fact that there are arguments, founded upon very general and widely held epistemological premises, that would lead to the conclusion that it should. However, that conclusion, it seems to me, is pretty clearly untenable: There is very little I believe with which someone, somewhere, does not disagree, and many of my most deeply held beliefs (the fundamental equality of all people, for example) are ones with which many people vehemently disagree.

As regards religion, I am generally in agreement with Oliver's remarks. I would add that one's attitude towards this question also depends upon how one regards religion itself, in particular, the extent to which one thinks cognitive attitudes, like belief, are fundamental to a religious life---the point being, of course, that, if such cognitive attitudes are not fundamental, then different forms of religion need not "disagree" in the way one might have supposed.

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