Q&A: Faith
Faith
Question
Hello Rabbi, I listen to and read a lot of your material. I’ve heard you say more than once that the existence of God is a factual claim. I’d be glad if you could point me to places where you prove this thoroughly, preferably audio files rather than books. Thanks.
Answer
I didn’t understand the question. There’s nothing here to prove. When I say that God exists, I’m making a factual claim, just like saying that there is a table here in front of me. A factual claim does not mean that the claim is true or necessarily true, nor does it mean that there is a proof for it. The meaning is that this claim says something (true or false) about the world. The claim “the moon is pink” is also a factual claim, since it says something about the world. In that case, it’s a false factual claim.
This is unlike sentences such as “What time is it?”, “This painting is beautiful,” “The law that establishes X is a good law,” and the like, which do not claim anything about the world, but rather ask a question or express my attitude toward something.
Discussion on Answer
You can argue about that. In my opinion, it is indeed a kind of factual claim.
The claim that the painting is beautiful is also a fact, and the proof is that people argue about it.
You can split hairs over that, but here I only meant to illustrate the point. The topic is the claim about the existence of God, and that is a factual claim.
“Law X is moral” — is that a factual claim? Of course, assuming there is objective morality. Maybe morality is part of the world.