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Why I Don't Believe in God...and Why You Shouldn't, Either: The Short, Simple Version
As far as I can tell, belief in God is an epistemic mistake. It is like belief in an imperceptible leprechaun named "Percival."
Sure, Percival might be standing right across the room from me, wearing his imperceptible kilt and his imperceptible
tam o'shanter, smoking his imperceptible corncob pipe, winking one of his imperceptible eyes at me and pointing toward
an imperceptible pot of gold at the end of an imperceptible rainbow; it could be. It's conceivable. I cannot prove
otherwise. But I shouldn't believe that he is without really good reason, and neither should you, and neither
should anybody else. Conceivability is not good reason for belief.
Now, if Filbert P. Finnegan chooses to believe in Percival, that is certainly his right, and I would be alarmed if anyone
tried to tell him that he was not allowed to believe in Percival. And if Filbert P. Finnegan chooses to meet weekly with his
friends and fellow believers to worship their exalted imperceptible leprechaun, that, too, is his right, and I would
be alarmed if anyone tried to tell him that he wasn't allowed to meet with his friends and fellow believers to worship their
exalted Percival. And if Filbert P. Finnegan chooses to believe that the imperceptible Percival is in fact responsible for
all that is good in the world, that is his right, too, and again, I would be alarmed if anyone tried to tell him that he was not
allowed to hold his belief. And if Filbert P. Finnegan and his fellow believers go out in the world and perform acts of
kindness and goodness on Percival's instructions--or so they say--then I will be grateful for their actions and I will be
glad that their particular delusion is a benign one. Of course, I will still think that neither Filbert nor his friends should
believe in Percival; I will still think that it is a delusion. I will still think that he shouldn't hold the sort of belief
for which there seems to be no good justification. But if he and his fellow believers are being good and kind--well, I'll
object on epistemic grounds, but that's all.
However, if Filbert P. Finnegan and his fellow believers in Percival the imperceptible leprechaun start supporting hateful
social policies on the basis of what they think Percival tells them; if they start passing laws, or supporting politicians who
make laws, that I object to, on the basis of what they think Percival tells them; then I must seriously object to their
wrongheaded belief in Percival. If they start telling other people what they may and may not say, and what they may
and may not do, and with whom, not because their speech or action does any harm, but simply because, they say, it
offends Percival--well, then I mind their holding their epistemically mistaken beliefs--I mind a lot, then. If their
belief in Percival the imperceptible leprechaun starts adversely affecting people's lives--if it starts adversely affecting
my life, or the society in which I live--then I will mind their epistemically mistaken beliefs a lot. And if they
teach their children--society's children--the next generation of citizens and policymakers and lawmakers and
people--if they teach defenseless kids to believe in Percival, too--then I will mind their epistemically mistaken
beliefs a lot.
But my main objection, for the moment, is an epistemic one. We should try to believe what's true, and try not to believe
what's false; and where we have no good reason for belief one way or the other, we should simply withhold belief. Is it
conceivable that Percival the imperceptible leprechaun is standing right across the room from me? Yes. Do I have any
good reason to believe that there really is such an entity or that he really is standing across the room from me? No. I
should withhold belief. I shouldn't believe in Percival, not even a little tiny bit.
Is it conceivable that God created the universe and is watching over me even now? Yes. Do I have any good reason
to believe that there really is such an entity or that he really is watching over me? No. I should withhold belief. I
shouldn't believe in God, not even a little tiny bit.
(© 2007 by Keith Brian Johnson)
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