ABSTRACT
This chapter describes Thomas Hobbes' theory of human nature, the defects of which hinder our attempt to examine the concept of trust, in order to examine the idea of trust in God. It focuses on two philosophers, Phillipa Foot and Peter Geach, who both like Hobbes, believe that it pays to be good. So religious trust still looks as if a life of injustice might just provide a payoff, but Peter Geach argues, against Foot, that the odds are always in favor of a just life. The final judgment of the utility of justice is only made after death and it makes sense to trust those who exhort a life of justice because God's punishment of the unjust is certain. Religious practices are viewed, at best, as a group of activities pertaining more to one's social background than to faith, and in which the practices of one's parents and grandparents are carried on for reasons of tradition alone.
