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August 5, 1992

Does God Exist? - A Passing Thought (1992)

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Origins of the Belief in God

There are many conjectures, offered by prominent thinkers across diverse fields, regarding the origin of belief in God. We cannot exhaust them here, but will instead illustrate a few representative perspectives. David Hume believed that primitive religion began with polytheism, arising from early humans’ constant exposure to the many contingencies of everyday life – disease, hurricanes, heat, floods – which led them to posit multiple deities responsible for different phenomena. Monotheism, according to Hume, emerged later, as humans developed a sense of law-abiding universality in the world. The basic idea – if not the developmental direction – was already noted by Philo: that monotheism correlates with peace, while polytheism aligns with war. Most anthropologists agree with Hume’s chronology: that early humanity began as polytheistic and later moved toward monotheism. Bronisław Malinowski, the Polish-born Oxford anthropologist, disagreed with this account. He maintained that early man was originally monotheistic, but degenerated into polytheism, only to rise again with Abraham and Moses toward monotheism once more. According to biblical tradition, as found in the Torah, Adam was a monotheist; polytheism entered the human experience later, particularly with the generation of Enosh. Freud, following in the footsteps of several atheists and agnostics, argued that the origin of belief in God lies in fear and the dread of the unknown. According to Freud, when a child realizes that he will always remain a child in relation to the vastness of the world – that is, he will never be fully in control – he projects the image of the father onto a divine figure. Religion, then, is born of psychological need: a projection of a father-image to satisfy the desire for an all-powerful protector. Whatever the historical, theological, psychological, or anthropological origin of religion may be, we must avoid what philosophers call the "genetic fallacy" – the assumption that the origi…
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Speech

Student Discussion on Belief in God (1969)

After the initial presentation, in response to several prepared questions, the session was thrown open to general discussion. I am flattered at the assumption behind your invitation that in twenty minutes I can cover Belief in the Unproven, Religion as a Crutch, the Existence of God, Why God Created the World, and God Concerned with Man and History. It speaks volumes, and also requires volumes. Obviously, I make no pretense at being able to answer all your questions, because I have no illusions about my ability to answer all of my ques- tions. If I may begin with a counselling point, I think that this is the first approach to take to students. Avoid the pretense that you have all the answers. In the attempt to struggle with questions, one of the main things to convey to them is a feeling that it is possible to have unresolved problems and to continue nevertheless with unscathed emunah and mitzvot maasiot -- even while you struggle with those prob- lems. What you in essence are doing is not giving him information as much as transmitting an attitude of confidence that you have a certain confidence and he can take the same confidence from you. If you have a good, warm relationship with the boy then this confidence that you have in your ultimate commitment, despite your problems, can be trans- mitted. It is not much different from a healthy attitude towards sex education. The physiological information can be given by anyone. (My personal feeling is that it should not be the parents who give anatorn!- cal information to their children.) But when it comes to everything -2- else, to the inculcation of attitude and personal orientation, the most that a parent can do to a child is say - look, this is an area b eyond your present experience. You simply have to have faith that it is a wonderful thing, it can be great; but it can also be dangerous. This sense of confidence can be transmitted. Notice that I am not using the word ”faith.” Faith is a more personal element. But wi…
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Outline

The Ontological Argument for God (1969)

Gave ontological argument (so named by Kant) in 2 forms: A) Anselm's original form: even afro/ can understand that god = a being than which nothing greater can be conceived. Such a being can exist in mind only, or also in reality. Now real existence bigger than something only in mind. Then, if this Being – than... _______ exists only in mind, it's a reality w/in reality is greater than it – which is an inner control______ ____ it ____ is reality. B) Anselm's second form: all that exists is either
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