Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
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my light s; in t he general likelihood of people like Hit ler c oming t o a bad end. But
perhaps a formulation less inadequate than most is to be found in the Psalms: 'T he
eart h is weak and all t he inhabit ers t hereof: I bear up t he pillars of it .'
T he mist ake of t he posit ion whic h Flew selec t s for at t ac k is t o regard t his kind
of talk as some sort of explanat ion, as scientists are accustomed to use the word.
As suc h, it would obviously be ludic rous. We no longer believe in God as an At las –
nous n'avons pas besoin de c ette hypothèse. But it is nevertheless true to say that,
as Hume saw, without a blik there c an be no explanation; for it is by our bliks that
we decide what is and what is not an explanation. Suppose we believed that
everything that happened, happened by pure c hanc e. This would not of c ourse be
an assertion; for it is c ompatible with anything happening or not happening, and
so, inc ident ally, is it s c ont radic t ory. But if we had t his belief, we should not be able
to explain or predic t or plan anything. Thus, although we should not be asserting
anything different from those of a more normal belief, there would be a great
difference between us; and this is the sort of difference that there is between those
who really believe in God and t hose who really disbelieve in him.
T he word 'really' is import ant , and may exc it e suspic ion. I put it in, bec ause
when people have had a good Christian upbringing, as have most of those who now
profess not t o believe in any sort of religion, it is very hard t o disc over what t hey
really believe. The reason why they find it so easy to think that they are not
religious, is that they have never got into the frame of mind of one who suffers
from the doubts to whic h religion is the answer. Not for them the terrors of the
primitive jungle. Having abandoned some of the more pic turesque fringes of
religion, they think that they have abandoned the whole thing – whereas in fac t
t hey st ill have got , and c ould not live wit hout , a religion of a c omfort ably
subst ant ial, albeit highly sophist ic at ed, kind, whic h differs from t hat of many
'religious people' in lit t le more t han t his, t hat 'religious people' like t o sing Psalms
about theirs – a very natural and proper thing to do. But nevertheless there may be
a big differenc e lying behind – the difference between two people who, though side
by side, are walking in different direc t ions. I do not know in what direc t ion Flew is
walking; perhaps he does not know either. But we have had some examples
rec ently of various ways in whic h one c an walk away from Christianity, and there
are any number of possibilit ies. Aft er all, man has not c hanged biologic ally sinc e
primit ive t imes; it is his religion t hat has c hanged, and it can easily change again.
And if you do not think that suc h c hanges make a differenc e, get ac quainted with
some Sikhs and some Mussulmans of the same Punjabi stoc k; you will find them
quite different sorts of people.
T here is an import ant difference between Flew's parable and my own which we
have not yet noticed. The explorers do not mind about their garden; they disc uss it
with interest, but not with c onc ern. But my lunatic , poor fellow, minds about dons;
and I mind about the steering of my car; it often has people in it that I care for. It
is bec ause I mind very muc h about what goes on in the garden in whic h I find
myself, that I am unable to share the explorers' detachment.