Reasonable doubts about reasonable nonbelief

Abstract

In Divine Hiddenness and Human Reason, J. L. Schellenberg argues that the phenomenon of "reasonable nonbelief" constitutes sufficient reason to doubt the existence of God. In this essay I assert the reasonableness of entertaining doubts about the kind of reasonable nonbelief that Schellenberg needs for a cogent argument. Treating his latest set of arguments in this journal, I dispute his claims about the scope and status of "unreflective nonbelief," his assertion that God would prevent reasonable nonbelief "of any kind and duration," and his confidence that we can know that some doubters are not self-deceived. Copyright © 2008 The Society of Christian Philosophers. All rights reserved.