In the iconic scene, Darth Vader tells Luke that his feelings will lead him to the truth. Is this true? My feelings aren’t helping here.
If you rely on feelings to tell you what is true, are your beliefs less stable? Are they less likely to be true? (This is a post about a post about a post about a podcast about beliefs and evidence. I’ll thank the relevant people as I go.)
Experience v. Evidence
In a recent Unbelievable podcast, hosted by Justin Brierley, this question jumps onto the table. Brierley interviews two sons-of-famous-Christian-fathers, Bart Campolo and Sean McDowell. Both grew up in the shadow of their father’s world-wide influence, charismatic speaking, and prolific publishing. Both followed their father’s trail into Christian ministry, but their paths diverge at that point. Somewhere along the way, Bart Campolo lost his belief in God, while Sean’s faith became even stronger. What made the difference?
Some hay has been made on the blogosphere about this. I found out about the story from Jeremy Smith at Faith Ascent , and he read about it on Alisa Childers excellent blog. So thanks to both of them! The narrative being suggested is roughly this: one man built his faith on the sand of experience (feelings), and the other on the solid rock of evidence, so to speak. The former’s crumbled in the storm, and the latter’s held firm.
More To the Story
This narrative may capture one aspect of the stories involved, but surely we can (and should) say more. I’ll share two thoughts. The first is this: “feelings” or “experience” aren’t opposed to evidence, they are evidence. More precisely, I take them to be a kind of evidence, much in the way that chicken is a kind of poultry. I outline several kinds of evidence in this post (see #15-19).
This means that Campolo’s shift from theism to humanism may not be due to a simple lack of evidence. Instead, I think it may have been due to a lack of diversity in his evidence. Investors always advise their clients to “diversify.” I.e., they should invest in many companies so that if one company tanks, they will still have a stable portfolio. It’s the “don’t carry all your eggs in one basket” maxim. My hunch is that McDowell possessed a wider variety of evidence, including experience, philosophical arguments, testimony of reliable sources, and historical evidence. It’s certainly possible that Campolo had plentiful amounts (comparable to McDowell’s) of all these types as well, but I’m guessing this wasn’t the case.
Here’s the second thought: whether or not Campolo enjoyed a copious and variable evidence base, there is another factor that hasn’t been highlighted. Campolo experienced a decades-long struggle with the problem of evil. This experience holds significant evidential power, and can tip the scales against just about any collection of pro-theism evidence, perhaps with a few exceptions. Campolo mentions in the podcast that while ministering in the inner city, he saw horrible things happening to people, including children. He prayed and prayed, with no noticeable results. I can understand how his faith eroded over time in such a milieu. And I don’t know that McDowell ever experienced a “storm” of comparable magnitude. So, that’s a difference that should factor into the explanation.
Conclusion
In sum, stories are complex. Everyone’s evidence base is different, necessarily. Different evidence supports different beliefs. Still, I think the contrast between Campolo and McDowell illustrates the importance of a diversified evidential portfolio, if you’re wanting a stable belief set.