"Deepest Differences" by Sire and Peraino

James W. Sire and Carl Peraino, Deepest Differences: A Christian-Atheist Dialogue (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2009). $15.00, 203 pages.

Does God exist? The question is perennial. Indeed, it is of such long standing that one wonders whether an answer to which all sides give their consent is even possible.

Deepest Differences by James W. Sire and Carl Peraino displays some of the arguments and counterarguments offered for Christian theism and evolutionary naturalism. Sire (the Christian) and Peraino (the atheist) are friendly interlocutors, having met through a book club. Their book is an edited version of a series of more than 70 emails they exchanged between April 14 and July 19, 2007. None of the arguments each advances is original. What makes this book valuable is its demonstration that intellectual antagonists can engage in dialogue that is both personally warm and intellectually pointed, not to mention inconclusive.

Having said that, the book disappointed me in two basic ways. First, like many of the so-called “new atheists,” it is obvious that Peraino has not read (and probably is not much interested in reading) major works in theology or the philosophy of religion. He has read Hume and Russell, and evidently thinks their arguments dispositive, but I’m pretty sure he would (rightly) criticize any theist whose scientific reading was decades or even centuries old. Just as all theists need to read Darwin, so all atheists should at least try to engage contemporary Christian theistic philosophers such as Richard Swinburne and Alvin Plantinga. At one point, Sire, drawing on the groundbreaking work of Thomas Kuhn has to explain to Peraino that scientific method involves more than observation, hypothesis, and verification/falsification. It’s almost as if Peraino didn’t know that kind of debate in the philosophy of science even existed. Sire seems (to me anyway) better read on a wider range of topics. Plus, his writings over the years have explicitly addressed these kinds of issues, while Peraino’s writings are more narrowly tailored to technical issues in biochemistry, especially related to oncology.

Second, Sire frustrated me by letting several arguments drop to the ground. At one point, Peraino rhetorically hammers Sire for the violence committed by Christians in Christ’s name. Sire agrees that the violence is deplorable and argues that such violence has no warrant in genuine Christianity. Fair enough, but Sire should’ve exploited the weakness of this argument in at least two ways: (1) Yes, Christians have committed violence in the name of Christ, but atheists have committed violence in the name of their scientific materialism. Fair being fair, if “Christian” violence discredits Christianity, then “atheist” violence discredits atheism. (2) Peraino might respond that atheism properly understood does not entail violence, that such violence was an aberration. But fair being fair, this argument is available to Christian theists too.

Another argument that Sire does not pursue vigorously enough for my taste revolves around Peraino’s understanding of the mind. For Peraino, the mind is simply what emerges from complex brain interactions with nature and nurture. His account is both materialist and determinist. Consciousness, in other words, is the effect of complex biochemical causes, which are sufficient to produce the results. Describing his take on his differences with Sire, Peraino writes: “key structural and functional elements of our brains differ, consequent to dissimilarities in our genetic heritage and early formative experiences.”

Now, there is obviously some connection between the mind and the brain. Brain damage can result in decreased intellectual capacities. Mind-altering drugs (whether legal or illegal) can produce hallucinations and change moods. Sire agrees that there is some connection between mind and brain, but correctly argues (in my opinion) that mental states are not identical to brain states without remainder. Ideas are not the same thing as biochemical processes in the brain. The mind is the brain but not only the brain.

Peraino thinks Sire’s position is bizarre, but logically, it’s his position that is absurd. Consider, after all, that if his materialist and determinist account of the mind is true, then (1) neither he nor Sire can help their beliefs for they simply are what nature and nurture acting on their respective brain structures have determined them to be. On this account, if Peraino could concoct a drug that altered the “God part” of Sire’s brain, Sire would become an atheist. Or, even more ridiculously, if Sire could concoct a biochemical “atheism antidote” to alter the irreligious part of Peraino’s brain, Peraino would become a theist. (2) If this materialist and determinist account of the mind is true, how can we ever know it is true, since our belief that is true is simply the result of nature and nurture acting on brain structures? Our philosophical and religious conclusions are not the results of intellectual deliberation. Rather, our intellectual deliberation is simply the result of external causes working on our brains. (3) Indeed, on Peraino’s account, why argue about such matters in the first place? Debate assumes that non-material ideas may be articulated and evaluated based on their empirical correspondence to reality and/or logical coherence, to name just two criteria. But since our ideas (a kind of mental state) are just brain states, and since brain states are determined by material causes, why bother debating? Indeed, on a materialist account, how could a non-material idea ever change someone’s mind, which is simply a material process of nature and nurture acting on brain structure? Sire should’ve pursued these implications of Peraino’s belief as a reductio ad absurdumof that belief. He didn’t, at least not sufficiently enough for my taste.

Despite my disappointments, I think Deepest Differences is a valuable book to read. If you haven’t already thought about the Christian-atheist dialogue, this book will get you thinking. And if you have thought about them, it will help show the way toward a respectful but sharp manner of debating.

GeorgePWood.com

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"Deepest Differences" by Sire and Peraino

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