Edward Mallia is a conformist whose belief in religious belief is implied, not expressed. Read between the lines of his write-up on ‘The twilight of the gods?’ (July 15) and you’ll see that, while pretending to stand on the sidelines of the debate between Mgr Joseph Farrugia and Joseph Caruana, he is subtly and obliquely arguing on behalf of belief in virgin birth, the resurrection of the body, miracles and the supernatural.

“Virgin birth (asexual reproduction) does occur in nature and bona fide scientists have even arranged a form of it in sheep (remember Dolly?),” he wrote. But he failed to explain that the cloning of the sheep was not done through supernatural agents.

“As for ‘rising from the dead’,” continued Mallia, “the Lazarus case has good empirical evidence to back it up.” He did not provide the empirical evidence to back his claim.

Mallia accuses Caruana of “excluding any empirical evidence for miracles”. Neither does Mallia himself include any empirical evidence for miracles.

Mallia refers to “a built-in moral law... with a universal substrate”. This moral law was called “the categorical imperative” by Kant (whom he quotes). Kant described the “built-in moral law” as “coming not from on high but as a commandment or a prohibition of my own reason”.

Mallia goes on to say that “empirical science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of the supernatural”. It’s up to those who believe in the supernatural to prove it. Those who say that God or the supernatural cannot be disproved are guilty of a logical fallacy called “the argument from ignorance”. Believers in God or the supernatural must show there is positive evidence in favour of their belief.

Mallia concludes by observing that “the methods of theologians and philosophers... cannot be fairly dismissed as worthless”. It all depends on what “methods” theologians and philosophers use. As David Hume wrote: “If we take in our hand any volume of divinity or metaphysics, let us ask: ‘Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence?’ No. Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.”

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