Objections to Faith — No, No, a Thousand Times No!
This is a “help the author” post. Working on my in-progress book The Skeptical Believer this week, I have created the following very tentative and incomplete list of categories of objections to religious faith in general, and to the Christian faith in particular. I AM ASKING FOR A RESPONSE! Please let me know (through “comments” or “contact” ) what you think of this list, what is missing or misstated or inaccurate or unfair or anything else. Thanks in advance.
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At the very end of the gospel of John, the evangelist makes a famous observation: “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25, NLT)
If we knew them all, there would be more chapters to the story of Jesus than could possibly be written down. The same could be said for all the objections to that story and to the larger story that it defines. There are as many ways of refusing this story as there are people who have heard and refused it. Disbelief, like belief, is as individualized as one’s fingerprint, but there are some large categories into which most objections to faith fall, and I think it is helpful to reflect on them. For now I will mostly list them. The reflections and ruminations on some are scattered throughout the book.
Since this is a book addressed to people who process much of life through their minds, I will begin with the intellect, though I do not think it contains the most important objections even for intellectuals. What follows is mostly an overlapping list, with a few clarifying comments. It is far from complete and includes terms subject to a variety of definitions.
Some Categories of Objections to Faith
INTELLECTUAL OBJECTIONS.
These are the objections that arise from systems of human thought—some ancient and lasting, some newer and fleeting—that find the claims of Christianity objectionable on the grounds of offense to their understanding of reality.
Offenses to reason—the general charge that faith involves believing things that reason demonstrates are false, illusory or highly improbable.
Offenses to naturalism and materialism—the more specific charge that faith is incompatible with the truths proven by the scientific method.
Offenses to historicism—the objection that faith refuses to acknowledge that it is the product of particular cultural and historical forces and has no greater claim to truth or universality than any other view of reality.
Offenses to relativism—the broad view, which lurks beneath the surface in many contemporary views of reality, that all truth claims are simply assertions of opinion and desire (and power) and have neither universal nor eternal validity.
EMOTIONAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL OBJECTIONS.
These are objections based on highly personal, interior states of feeling (which may or may not have an intellectual component).
Objections based on pain—one’s own suffering and the suffering of others in the world makes Christian claims unbelievable and even offensive.
Objections based on unanswered prayer—God does give me the things I pray for, thereby calling into question God’s existence or goodness or promise-keeping.
Objections based on one’s own sense of worthlessness or failure—one feels inadequate or undeserving of God’s love or attention.
Objections based on self-esteem—one feels competent, independent, self-actualized and therefore not needing the things faith offers.
Objections based on self-determination—Christianity violates one’s right to choose what to believe and how to live.
Objections based on irrelevance—the claims of faith do not feel relevant to one’s daily life and commitments.
Objections based on busyness—the day to day demands of life are too pressing to add spiritual considerations.
Objections based on indifference—the claims of faith are simply not interesting or attractive.
OBJECTIONS BASED ON THE HISTORICAL EXPRESSIONS OF CHRISTIANITY.
These are objections based on the history of the church and the actions of individual Christians.
Objections based on failures of the church—the church has so often been the source of injustice, violence and ethical failure that its claims are not credible.
Objections based on internal divisions—the church has so often fragmented and attacked other believers that its claims are not credible.
Objections based on comparative ethical performance—Christians are no better than anyone else, and often worse, thereby undercutting their claims.
Objections based on diversity of views within the church—Christians don’t even agree with each other about their basic claims, thereby rendering their claims difficult to establish, much less embrace.
Objections based on political association—Christianity is too often tied to conservative (status quo) politics
OBJECTIONS BASED ON SPECIFIC CHRISTIAN TEACHINGS.
These are objections, some intellectual and others more visceral, to specific points of Christian theology and instruction. Following are a few of the more familiar examples.
Objections based on the doctrine of hell—ethically and conceptually offensive.
Objections based on the doctrine of election—offensive to a sense of fairness.
Objections based on the doctrine of sin—seems antiquated, judgmental and psychologically unsophisticated.
Objections based on the belief in miracles—offensive to scientific reason and common experience.
Objections based on Christian claims of absoluteness and universality—an offense to pluralism and diversity.
Objections based on confession and self-denial—an offense to notions of self-worth and self-esteem.
Objections based on the view of God—too authoritarian, vengeful, paternal and generally unattractive.
Objections based on the Incarnation of Christ—too mythical, exclusive, and culturally rooted.
Objections based on the Christian view of history—too linear, insular, and teleological.
Objections based on the Christian view of persons—too negative, psychologically unsophisticated, and generally unappealing
OBJECTIONS BASED ON TOLERANCE.
Objections based on a complex of related contemporary values.
Objections based on tolerance—offenses to the value of affirming the equal validity of widely divergent world views and values.
Objections based on openness—offenses to the value of consciously seeking out views that might challenge and change one’s own.
Objections based on flexibility—offenses to the value of holding all convictions tentatively and being able to readily change in light of ongoing experience.
OBJECTIONS BASED ON THE ZEITGEIST.
These, like some of those above, are objections based primarily on the dominant ideas, values and ways of seeing of our particular moment in history.
Objections based on the notion of progress—offenses to the sense that we are smarter, more informed and further along developmentally than those who went before us.
Objections based on the priority of time over eternity—offenses to the (existential) sense that this world is the only reality that we have and need to address.
Objections based on the priority of the physical and material over the spiritual—offenses to the conviction that reality is entirely physical and that talk of the spiritual is illusory and harmful.
Objections based on the suspicion of overarching explanations—offenses to our skepticism about any ideology or story (metanarrative) that claims too much, especially if those claims impinge on our own ideologies and stories.
OBJECTIONS BASED ON LIFE STYLE AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
These are objections based on one’s specific life experience.
Objections based on pragmatism—the “it doesn’t work for me” objection, varying from “I tried it and it didn’t work” to the conjectural “That would never work for me.”
Objections based on how one has been treated by Christians—testimonies to mistreatment by the church and by individual believers.
Objections based on informal experience with Christians—off-putting experiences with Christians in the workplace and other shared spaces.
Objections based on one’s overall image of Christians and Christianity—based on media, word of mouth, the views of colleagues and friends, and other personal sources.
Objections based on impact on one’s life style—based on how one is living and the perceived impact of having to live differently.
OTHER CATEGORIES OF OBJECTION?
[Please suggest]
Why is any of this important for the skeptical believer? First, because the skeptical believer seriously entertains many of these objections. Second, because identifying the nature of one’s objections to faith—as opposed to a vague, on-going dissatisfaction—can help one more honestly consider the possible responses to these objections—theoretically and in one’s own mind and heart.
It’s worth knowing why you believe something, and also why you don’t—so that both can be more thoroughly tested than is generally the case.