358 RELIGION, MORALITY, FAITH, AND REASONBeing strongly reasonable in accepting T is equivalent to something in
the neighborhood of one’s believing against evidence if one rejects T and
if one suspends judgment regarding T. Being strongly reasonable in
believing that T is compatible with one’s having evidence against T so
long as one’s evidence for T outweighs any reasons that one might have
for rejecting T.
Rationality and explanatory power
Plainly, one is strongly reasonable in accepting a proposition for which
one knows one has a knowledge-extending proof. One is strongly
reasonable in accepting a proposition P that has explanatory power
regarding data that one is aware of, provided one has no reason to think P
false, and one knows of no other theory that has explanatory power
relative to that data, especially if the data in question is hard to explain.^13
What is finally of interest regarding rational assessment is how things
fall when everything relevant, or everything relevant that we can think
of, is taken into account. Anything strongly rationally accepted in that
context is rationally impressive. Whether monotheism, or any other
religious perspective, is strongly rational depends on how it fares relative
to its non-religious competitors as well as its religious contraries. The
argument here, if successful, gives reason to think that monotheism is
strongly reasonable to believe in comparison with the other religious
perspectives considered. Whether it is strongly reasonable to accept when
compared, say, to materialism is a matter into which we have not
inquired.
Belief and blame
The definitions and comments here are not part of what some
philosophers call the ethics of belief – the attempt to specify conditions
under which one is blameworthy or praiseworthy relative to holding
some belief, and when one’s having a belief is morally neutral.^14 They are
part of an effort to say what goes into rational assessment of religious
beliefs, not religious believers.
Our discussion has been concerned with how rational assessment of a
faith can be conducted. We have argued that, contrary to a widely held
view, rational assessment of various faiths or religious traditions is
possible, and we have given suggestions and illustrations as to how it can
be done.