Do and did philosophers claim to believe in god to get the pope off their back?

Question

Take a regular everyday Christians reaction to your saying; Jesus is not god. Multiply that by a Guillotine. Makes a believer out of you.

Answer 1

First, I am a Christian, and of course don't think Christ is God. I imagine many people in history have lied about their beliefs to save their necks, your point????

Answer 2

Believing in God and believing that Jesus is God are two different things. Also, the Guillotine was not identified with the Catholic or any other church.

However, paring away the inaccuracies in the question, at the heart of it is a legitimate point. Descartes says he considered avoiding publishing after seeing the trouble Galileo had. Descartes also follows his masterful establishment of the basics ("I think, therefore I am.") with an attempt at a proof of God's existence that really doesn't hold water, but might have avoided persecution.

Moving on to a philosopher a few centuries later (namely, me), I suspect the real problem is the attempt to offer "proofs" where the evidence is open to multiple conclusions. I doubt that any proof of the existence or nonexistence of a god can ever be sound, which leaves each person safe to choose which to believe, based on what works for her or him.

That's "safe" from a logical point of view. Whether public expression of one's beliefs is safe is another matter, which gets back to the point of the question. Having no sound basis for settling the question intellectually, religions (including, on occasion, atheists) tend to want to eliminate or at least suppress opposing views.

If, as I happen to believe, there is a God and He works through Christ for the redemption of humanity, it seems to me it would be completely and utterly pointless for that God (in contrast with many of the churches claiming to represent Him) to demand uniformity of belief for all people. Rather, the diversity of beliefs is a matter for appreciation, accommodation, and even celebration.

That seems to be a tough notion for many Christians to swallow, but the same can be said for many other groups as well. I've only read one of the New Atheists (Sam Harris) so far, but he seems to be as intolerant of opposing views as any medieval or renaissance churchman.

Answer 3

Some probably did (to get the pope off their back), others probably do sincerely believe there is a god (I fail to see how being a christian and being a philosopher are necessarily mutually exclusive).

I've never heard that being an atheist or non-christian is a requisite to being a philosopher, but then again I'm not a lawyer.

Answer 4

Philosophy often relates to cause and effect and whether it is logical to assume a relationship. In medieval times it is possible that Philosopher's did pretend to believe for their own safety however I do not believe that they "Do" as this refers to the present where a plethora of beliefs exist and are accepted. Some of the beliefs that exist today are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Shinto, Wicca, Agnostic, and Atheist.

Also, it is the form of belief that would have affected their public statements, not necessarily belief in God. A belief in God does not rule out the study of Philosophy since relationships are often supposed. Philosophy and belief have a lot in common as they both look at relationships between various events and attempt to come up with a reason.

Answer 5

Yes, many did and do bec under the threat of torture & possible death, they had to make concessions and disguise or dress up their arguments with professions of belief in God just to please the Pope and the other religious fanatics t stay free and alive. Many left their writings to be published posthumously. Hume and Galileo before him, come to mind. Nietzsche too. Some believed in god but resented having to twist their intellections to fit the anti-intellectual religious people who would promptly harm them like for example the irrational Moslems today in certain countries would on behalf of the Koran. There is a reason that real Scholars from Moslem countries live in the US and Europe. Anyway, I hope my A satisfies your thought-provoking Q!

offtopic comment: I see some replies talking about God and somehow they seem to miss the point of your Q in defense of their faith. I find that angle unnecessary and absurd. Alot of philosophy is not about God and does not revolve about God and need not. Religion and philosophy may overlap in certain areas but they are separate human activities with many differences. There is no contesting the historical record that philosophers had to fear the Church in Medieval and Rennaisance times continuing forward even to this day in many Moslem and yes, some Christian countries with religious fanatics preying for Rapture.

Answer 6

Most philosophers are too independent breed of thinkers to be coerced into embracing something they can't accept, with their mind. It is indeed rare that external motivation will genuinely persuade one to believe anything, let alone God A person who denies the rightful position of Jesus as God is certainly not a Christian. A person is a Christian, because he believes that God came in the flesh to offer Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. Any person less than God could not perform such a duty, because they are not perfectly sinless as God is perfectly sinless.