Abstract:

In his significant book Believing by Faith: An Essay in the Epistemology and Ethics of Religious Belief, John Bishop argues a modest and supra-evidential fideistic argument in favor of religious beliefs. According to his argument, one can take religious beliefs as true in his practical reasoning while he recognizes that these beliefs lack adequate domestic support for their truth. In doing so, he emphasizes highly important some epistemic and moral considerations. These considerations are that believer does not ignore his epistemic duties, is epistemically aware of his situation, evaluates his religious beliefs not only epistemically but also morally. In this essay, I will claim mainly that one cannot have authentic faith on the grounds of Bishop’s argument and thus it is inadequate. The basic reason for the claim is that when one is fully aware that there is no adequate evidence for the existence of God, he cannot strongly believe in God. Also, I will discuss some objections to the argument.