Some apologists argue that people who believe in a god are happier than those who do not believe in any gods. They suggest that this extra happiness is a reward from their god and, hence, the god they believe in must exist.
It isn’t too hard to see why this argument isn’t offered by more sophisticated apologists and professional theologians. Like so many of the theistic arguments addressed so far, it’s basic factual premise is highly doubtful. In this case, there is no clear reason to believe that theists are in fact any happier than atheists.
Indeed, one of the fundamental problems for theists which regularly comes up and is often a source of doubt is the fact that bad things happen to good people. In his best-selling book of the same name, Harold Kushner admits:
- These misfortunes of good people are not only a problem to the people who suffer and their family. They are a problem to everyone who wants to believe in a just and fair and livable world. They inevitably raise questions about the goodness, the kindness, and even the existence of God.
So not only is the first factual premise of this argument highly dubious, but not even all theists really believe it. Of course, even if we were to accept that the factual premise were true, that does not mean that we also need to ascribe the cause to a god. Michael Scriven probably put it best:
- It is easy to see that there might be another and more natural explanation for this supposed effect, namely, that the mere belief makes them happier, just as the belief of members of a football team that their team is the best in the country may make them feel and play better even if it does not make the team the best, i.e., even though it is not true.
For these reasons, the Argument from Reward fails to provide a rational basis for believing that any sort of god actually exists.
