ABSTRACT
Some beliefs are rational, others are irrational, and others may be neither rational nor irrational. For several reasons it is no easy matter to determine whether someone’s belief is rational. This chapter investigates the question of whether religious belief is rational. Often, when one belief is based on another the second plays a causal role in the formation of the first. Many of us were taught religious beliefs in much the same way as we were taught some of our beliefs about the world and some of our beliefs about arithmetic. Perhaps on learning of the arguments for God’s existence we came to believe that certain of bur beliefs about the world did provide evidential support for our belief in God. It’s clear, moreover, that properly basic beliefs are fairly easy to come by, particularly when we place the believer at a tender age in a community of believers.
