Philosophia Christi

Volume 20, Issue 1, 2018

Symposium on Dualism and Physicalism

Rowe’s Friendly Atheism and the Epistemology of Religious Disagreement

In this paper, I engage William Rowe’s “Friendly Atheism” to illuminate the discussion of religious disagreement. I argue that his view gives way to an epistemic principle about how two “intellectual peers” might remain steadfast in what they believe their total available evidence supports and thereby reasonably disagree about their religious beliefs (or lack thereof ). I consider a key objection from Uniqueness thesis proponents and show how there are additional epistemic considerations to help fix the proposed problem.