RELIGION, BELIEF AND LITERALNESS

Abstract

The unbelieving Bertrand Russell was once asked in an interview: 'Lord Russell, what would you say if after your death you are confronted with God and asked to give account of yourself?' Russell answered: 'I would say, Lord, it seems that I made a mistake, but why did you not provide better evidence for your existence'? What is of interest to me here, is the presupposition at work in this example. The believer is presupposed to hold the following to be true: God is a reality, a real person, who, if He so chooses, can also manifest Himself to the unbeliever. Many people would agree with this. However, it is important to inquire what follows from this: this state of affairs assumes that the meaning of religion and faith has to do with an objective reality the existence of which may in principle also be affirmed from an external, neutral and un-religious perspective. Such talk of the objective existence of God forms the basis of an external approach to religion. Yet it is difficult to accept this point of view. It implies that the existence of God and hence that which is taken to be the ultimate justification of religion can be discussed in more or less the same manner in which the question whether or not a particular event (such as healing) may be considered miraculous. The latter question can never be settled on the basis of an internal, religious standpoint: Pious reflection does not suffice to determine whether