Faith Through Reason?

Yesterday’s adventures in the pond and on the slip n’ slide gave the students on the California High School Summer Program a break from the daily class routine, but today they are back to their usual weekday schedule. After morning Mass and breakfast, the high schoolers dove into some important and challenging conversations. In both of today’s classes, they asked whether the existence of an all-powerful God can be known through reason and proved through argument — and if so, how? 

In the morning’s class, the programmers discussed the answer that Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician and philosopher from the 17^th century, offers on the subject. In Pascal’s Pensées, the Catholic philosopher concludes that, because God is infinite and man is finite, it is impossible for human reason to know whether God exists or what His nature is. Instead of a logical syllogism for God’s existence, Pascal offers unbelievers a wager.

Pascal envisions a scenario in which God’s existence is to be decided by a coin toss and asks the reader to consider what would be lost or gained by picking heads, God exists. If He truly does exist, then the reader gains the infinite reward of eternal life in beatitude; and if He does not, then the reader risks very little, since after this life there is nothing. “If you win you win everything, if you lose you lose nothing,” Pascal argues.

The high schoolers contemplated the role of faith and reason in determining God’s existence and the weight of Pascal’s wager. “We decided that it’s not a good argument for proving God’s existence,” said Colin H., “but it might be a good place to start.” Even after class ended, many crowded outside the classrooms to continue their conversations with tutors and classmates, debating whether Pascal’s argument would help or hinder an atheist seeking for the truth. 

Though their discussions did not bring about universal agreement, eventually the students dispersed to attend midday Mass before eating a lunch of honey-walnut shrimp, rice, and vegetables in St. Joseph’s Commons. 

Back in the classroom for the afternoon class, the students were introduced to a different approach to the question of God’s existence through the writing of St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas disagrees with Pascal by claiming that, though God’s true nature is ultimately incomprehensible to human reason, man can reason to His existence. St. Thomas offers a proof for God’s existence from the intelligible order of creation and the way that even irrational beings seem to act toward their ends in a rational way.

Coupled with St. Thomas’s argument, the students read J. Henri Fabre’s work of natural science, The Bees, which gives an account of how bees, though having no reason, work in a strikingly intelligent way to construct the cells in their hives. Students considered St. Thomas’s proof for an intelligent creator in light of this phenomenon and discussed the objections that St. Thomas raises to his own argument. 

As their first week of classes came to an end today, the students reflected on how their conversations have influenced them over the course of the week. “At first I was surprised by how fun the classes were,” admitted student Cecilia C. “When I came out of our first class, it was so fun that I thought that I couldn’t have learned anything, but now I realize how much everything is sinking in, and I have such a better understanding of what I read after class.” 

To kick off the weekend, the programmers will have another dance practice this afternoon, then enjoy some comedy, watching their peers perform The Importance of Being Earnest and attending a sing-along! Check out the Summer Program Blog tomorrow for a recap of the evening’s events.