Nice link to Hugh LaFollette intervewing John Haldane on ‘Why I am a Theist’. For the record, LaFollette is not at East Tennessee State. He’s currently at University of South Florida.
John Haldane
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Thanks for the link Mike. It's a somewhat interesting half hour, though obviously far too brief for any really satisfying depth. Especially at the end, his resolution to the POE seems utterly unconvincing ("there's a hierarchy and some parts of creation will have to suffer while others flourish, and rational animals should be at the top of that hierarchy."...huh?). I would've have liked to have heard more. Guess I will have to make time to go out and read his books at some point.
The response to the poe is about two minutes long, but the sort of line he takes wouldn't be convincing given two weeks. The interview was mainly to help sales, I take it (witness the "it's all there in the book" pitch) but still fairly interesting.
I am somewhat dismayed that Haldane's faith is so brittle that if his arguments fail, he would doubt God's existence. I agree with him that knowledge of God must be, in principle, open to reason - but it seems to me that belief in God is reasonable without there being reasons for it, much as there are no reasons justifying sense perception but it is justified in a basic way.