The Fallacies of Religious Clerics by N. Fakhr - HTML preview

Referring the Critic to a Hypothetical Answer

Sometimes, when clerics of different religions do not have an answer to a question or criticism, they say that an answer does exist and that prominent religious scholars have already provided it. In this way, they can dismiss the critic while also reassuring the believers who are watching the discussion that “there must be an answer.”

But sometimes the situation is different. A cleric may know that no clear answer has yet been given to the question, and others may know this as well. In that case, he may say that answering such objections is the work of religious scholars, that the issue has not yet been studied sufficiently, and that if scholars examine it carefully, they will certainly find a satisfactory answer. This creates the impression that the question is new and that the scholars simply need some time to study it. If they had begun investigating it earlier, perhaps the answer would already have been found.

But this raises a basic question: How does the cleric who says, “There must be an answer, and scholars will find it in the future,” know this? If the necessary investigation has not yet been carried out and no answer has yet been found, how can anyone be certain in advance that the result of that investigation will support the same religious belief?

In fact, if before beginning an investigation we are already certain that its final answer must support our belief, we are no longer freely searching for the truth. We have accepted the conclusion in advance and are merely searching for an argument that will lead us to the conclusion we already want.