Religious skepticism

Religious skepticism is the critical examination or suspension of belief concerning religious claims, doctrines, experiences, and institutions. It ranges from questioning particular teachings to withholding judgment about religious belief generally.

Epistemology: The branch of philosophy that studies knowledge, justification, and rational belief. Religious skepticism asks what would count as knowledge or adequate grounds for religious belief.
Problem of evil: The argument that suffering and evil count against the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing, perfectly good God. It challenges a central conception of God by examining the reality of suffering.
David Hume: An eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher known for arguments about miracles, causation, and religious belief. His critique of testimony for miracles became a lasting model of skeptical scrutiny.
Apologetics: The reasoned defense of religious beliefs against objections and criticisms. It responds directly to the challenges that skeptical arguments raise.
Religious belief: Belief in religious claims, beings, doctrines, or practices. Skepticism evaluates or withholds assent from the beliefs it addresses.
Divine hiddenness: The argument that a perfectly loving God would make existence sufficiently clear to sincere seekers. It treats the absence of unmistakable divine presence as evidence against some theistic claims.
Baruch Spinoza: A seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher who interpreted scripture historically and rejected a supernatural conception of God. His naturalistic reading of scripture challenged religious authority and conventional theology.
Fideism: The view that religious belief rests primarily on faith rather than rational proof or evidence. It answers demands for evidence by assigning faith a distinct or overriding role.
Agnosticism: The view that the existence of God or ultimate reality is unknown or unknowable. It is one possible position reached by suspending judgment about religious claims.
Religious experience: An experience interpreted as an encounter with a divine or transcendent reality. Skepticism asks whether such experiences reliably support the interpretations attached to them.

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